חוֹל

Genesis 22:17 וְכַח֕וֹל and like the sand

I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

Here: A second image of the uncountable, this time from the ground. Earlier God compared Abraham's descendants to 'the dust of the earth' (13:16). Together, stars and sand cover the world from top to bottom.

Genesis 32:12 כְּח֣וֹל like [the] sand of

But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”

Here: 'Like the sand of.' Sand is the standard Hebrew picture of a number too large to count. It is the image God used for Abraham (22:17), not the 'dust of the earth' God used for Jacob at Bethel (28:14).

Genesis 41:49 כְּח֥וֹל like [the] sand of

So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance, like the sand of the sea, that he stopped keeping track of it; for it was beyond measure.

Exodus 2:12 בַּחֽוֹל׃ in the sand

After looking this way and that and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.

Deuteronomy 33:19 חֽוֹל׃ ס sand

They will call the peoples to a mountain; there they will offer sacrifices of righteousness. For they will feast on the abundance of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand.”

Joshua 11:4 כַּח֛וֹל like the sand

So these kings came out with all their armies, a multitude as numerous as the sand on the seashore, along with a great number of horses and chariots.

Here: 'Like the sand.' This is the stock Hebrew picture for a number too large to count. Israelite hearers knew it best from God's promise to Abraham (Genesis 22:17).

Judges 7:12 כַּח֛וֹל like the sand

Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and all the other people of the east had settled in the valley like a swarm of locusts, and their camels were as countless as the sand on the seashore.

Here: The familiar biblical picture of something you cannot count. It is used for Abraham's promised descendants (Gen 22:17) and for enemy armies gathered against Israel (Josh 11:4; 1 Sam 13:5).

1 Samuel 13:5 כַּח֛וֹל like the sand

Now the Philistines assembled to fight against Israel with three thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.

Here: The first word of a stock picture for a number too large to count.

2 Samuel 17:11 כַּח֥וֹל like the sand

Instead, I advise that all Israel from Dan to Beersheba—a multitude like the sand on the seashore—be gathered to you, and that you yourself lead them into battle.

1 Kings 4:20 כַּח֥וֹל like the sand

The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore, and they were eating and drinking and rejoicing.

Here: Sand is the standard Hebrew picture for a number too large to count. Here it calls up God's promise to Abraham that his offspring would be 'like the sand on the seashore' (Gen 22:17).

1 Kings 4:29 כַּח֕וֹל like the sand

And God gave Solomon wisdom, exceedingly deep insight, and understanding beyond measure, like the sand on the seashore.

Here: The stock biblical picture of something too many to count (the promise to Abraham, Gen 22:17; Israel's population in 1 Kgs 4:20). Applied to the mind, it means wisdom without measurable limit.

Job 6:3 מֵח֣וֹל more than [the] sand of

For then it would outweigh the sand of the seas—no wonder my words have been rash.

Job 29:18 וְ֝כַח֗וֹל and like <the> sand

So I thought: ‘I will die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand.

Psalm 78:27 וּֽכְח֥וֹל and like [the] sand of

He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea.

Psalm 139:18 מֵח֣וֹל more than sand

If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.

Here: "More than sand". The little prefix mē- means "than" here. Sand on the seashore was Israel's everyday picture of a number nobody could reach, the same picture used in God's promise to Abraham.

Proverbs 27:3 הַח֑וֹל <the> sand

A stone is heavy and sand is a burden, but aggravation from a fool outweighs them both.

Isaiah 10:22 כְּח֣וֹל like [the] sand of

Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overflowing with righteousness.

Here: 'Like the sand of.' This is the stock phrase of the promise to Abraham and Jacob (Genesis 22:17; 32:12), so it calls up the promise of countless descendants.

Isaiah 48:19 כַחוֹל֙ like the sand

Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand, and your offspring as numerous as its grains; their name would never be cut off or eliminated from My presence.”

Jeremiah 5:22 חוֹל֙ [the] sand

Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.

Here: Ordinary beach sand, the weakest and loosest material there is, chosen as the wall against the sea. It also sounds like taḥílu ("writhe"): the people who should be writhing are set beside the sand that obeys.

Jeremiah 15:8 מֵח֣וֹל more than [the] sand of

I will make their widows more numerous than the sand of the sea. I will bring a destroyer at noon against the mothers of young men. I will suddenly bring upon them anguish and dismay.

Jeremiah 33:22 ח֣וֹל [the] sand of

As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister before Me.”

Here: Sand of the shore, the usual Hebrew picture of a number too great to count (Genesis 22:17; 32:12; Hosea 1:10).

Hosea 1:10 כְּח֣וֹל like [the] sand of

Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’

Here: The proverbial image for numbers too great to count. It is the language of the promise to the patriarchs (Gen 22:17; 32:12) and of the high point under Solomon (1 Kgs 4:20).

Habakkuk 1:9 כַּח֖וֹל like <the> sand

All of them come bent on violence; their hordes advance like the east wind; they gather prisoners like sand.