Hebrew word · H2394

חׇזְקָה

uvechazekah

force

Force, strength. It is a rare noun from the root ch-z-q ('be strong, seize'). In its few other uses it means force used against someone: 'by force' (1 Samuel 2:16), 'with force and harshness you ruled them' (Ezekiel 34:4), 'sharply, violently' (Judges 8:1).

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

force, might, strength, violence

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

In depth

From the study of Jonah 3:8

Range of meaning

Force, strength. It is a rare noun from the root ch-z-q ('be strong, seize'). In its few other uses it means force used against someone: 'by force' (1 Samuel 2:16), 'with force and harshness you ruled them' (Ezekiel 34:4), 'sharply, violently' (Judges 8:1). The related noun chezqah means strength, sometimes with a bad sense (2 Chronicles 26:16).

Against the English

KJV 'mightily' keeps the idea of force. BSB and NASB 'earnestly' and NIV 'urgently' express sincerity or urgency, but they lose the sense of raw intensity and volume, and the word's link to the use of force.

Used elsewhere in the period

HALOT and BDB list this phrase as 'with strength, vehemently'. The LXX renders it ektenōs, 'intently, with stretched-out effort', the word later used of earnest prayer in Acts 12:5 and Luke 22:44.

From the study of Judges 4:3

Range of meaning

Strength or force. In the phrase bechozqah it means 'forcefully, by force, vehemently'. It is a rare word: Judg 8:1 (Ephraim 'contended with him vehemently'), 1 Sam 2:16 ('I will take it by force'), Ezek 34:4 ('with force and harshness you ruled them'), Jonah 3:8 ('let them cry to God mightily').

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'mightily' is accurate but sounds neutral or even positive today. 'Harshly' (BSB), 'cruelly' and 'severely' (other versions) capture better the sense of power misused, as in Ezekiel 34.

Used elsewhere in the period

Its closest parallel is Ezek 34:4, which condemns bad rulers who governed 'with force' (bechozqah). There it is the mark of tyranny. It comes from the root chazaq, 'be strong', the same root used of Pharaoh's 'hardened' (strengthened) heart and of YHWH's 'strong hand' in the exodus.

Where it appears

Judges · 2

  1. Judges 4:3 בְּחָזְקָ֖ה with force

    Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

    Here: 'With strength', meaning by brute force, harshly. Ezekiel 34:4 uses the same phrase for rulers who govern their flock 'with force and harshness'.

  2. Judges 8:1 בְּחָזְקָֽה׃ with force

    Then the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “Why have you done this to us? Why did you fail to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they contended with him violently.

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 2:16 בְחָזְקָֽה׃ by force

    And if any man said to him, “The fat must be burned first; then you may take whatever you want,” the servant would reply, “No, you must give it to me right now. If you refuse, I will take it by force!”

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 34:4 וּבְחָזְקָ֛ה and with force

    You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bound up the injured, brought back the strays, or searched for the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty.

    Here: 'And with force.' It comes from the same root as 'strengthen' at the start of the verse. The strength they should have given to the weak they used against the flock.

Jonah · 1

  1. Jonah 3:8 בְּחָזְקָ֑ה with strength

    Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands.

    Here: 'With force': loud, intense, with everything they have. Elsewhere the same word describes taking or ruling 'by force', so the city's strength is now spent on begging.

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