Hebrew word · H2393

חֶזְקָה

ukhechezkato

strength

Strength, force, the state of being strong. It is a rare noun, related to the common verb chazaq, "be strong, take hold, grow firm."

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated November 01, 2026

What it means

strength, strong, being strong, force

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: Strength, force, the state of being strong. It is a rare noun, related to the common verb chazaq, "be strong, take hold, grow firm."
Against the English: KJV and YLT turn it into an action ("strengthened himself"), WEB and others into a state ("he was strong"). BSB's "royal power" drops the plain idea of strength and adds "royal," which is not in the word. NASB's "established and strong" applies strength to the kingdom, though the Hebrew "his" refers to Rehoboam.
Used elsewhere in the period: The closest parallel is 2 Chronicles 26:16 on King Uzziah, with the identical form: "and at his strength, his heart grew high, to his ruin." Other uses include Isaiah 8:11 and Daniel 11:2. The related verb is a running theme of this reign: priests and Levites came south and "strengthened" the kingdom for three years (11:17), and Rehoboam "strengthened himself" again after his humbling (12:13).

Range of meaning: Strength or force, or the state of having grown strong. With the preposition "as" and a pronoun it marks a time: "when he became strong."
Against the English: KJV has "by his strength through his riches"; BSB has "by the power of his wealth." Both lose the sense of time and of a process. WEB ("when he has grown strong") and NASB keep it.
Used elsewhere in the period: The exact form וּכְחֶזְקָתוֹ appears in 2 Chr 12:1 (Rehoboam, "when he was strong, he forsook the law of the LORD") and 2 Chr 26:16 (Uzziah, "when he was strong, his heart was lifted up"). Isa 8:11 has "with strength of hand." The noun belongs to the later stage of Hebrew that Chronicles and Daniel share.

2 Chronicles · 2

2 Chronicles 12:1 וּכְחֶזְקָת֔וֹ and according to strengthening his

After Rehoboam had established his sovereignty and royal power, he and all Israel with him forsook the Law of the LORD.

Here: "And at his strength," meaning once he had become strong. The "his" is masculine and so points to Rehoboam himself, not to the kingdom, which is a feminine noun in Hebrew.
2 Chronicles 26:16 וּכְחֶזְקָת֗וֹ and according to strengthening his

But when Uzziah became powerful, his arrogance led to his own destruction. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, for he entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.

Here: "And when he became strong" (literally "and as his strength"). It picks up the last word of v.15, "until he was strong" (ḥāzāq), so the strength God gave him turns straight into the thing that undoes him. The exact same form opens Rehoboam's fall in 2 Chr 12:1.

Isaiah · 1

Isaiah 8:11 כְּחֶזְקַ֣ת according to [the] strength of

For this is what the LORD has spoken to me with a strong hand, instructing me not to walk in the way of this people:

Daniel · 1

Daniel 11:2 וּכְחֶזְקָת֣וֹ and according to strength his

Now then, I will tell you the truth: Three more kings will arise in Persia, and then a fourth, who will be far richer than all the others. By the power of his wealth, he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece.

Here: "And as he becomes strong." The construction marks time: once he has grown powerful. Chronicles uses exactly this form for kings whose new strength led them to overreach (2 Chr 12:1; 26:16).

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.