חֵמָה

From the study of Proverbs 27:4

Range of meaning

Heat; burning anger, rage; also poison or venom (Deut 32:24, 33; Ps 58:4; 140:3). Comes from the root meaning 'to be hot' (yāḥam). Used of human fury (Prov 15:1, 18; 19:19) and of God's wrath (Nah 1:6).

Against the English

'Wrath' (BSB, KJV, WEB, ESV), 'fury' (YLT), 'anger' (NIV). All are accurate. What English loses is the physical picture of heat, and the venom overtone.

Used elsewhere in the period

Nah 1:6 brings together three of this verse's terms, describing God's wrath: 'Who can stand (yaʿamod) before his indignation?... his wrath (ḥemah) is poured out like fire', followed in 1:8 by 'with an overflowing flood (shetef)'. Prov 6:34 calls jealousy 'a man's ḥemah'.

From the study of Isaiah 51:13

Range of meaning

Heat, then rage or fury. The word also covers poison or venom, imagined as burning (Deut 32:24; Ps 58:4). It is used of human and divine anger alike, and often appears beside 'aph (anger, literally 'nostril').

Against the English

'Fury' (BSB, KJV, WEB, YLT) fits. What English loses is the physical sense of heat, and the link to the same word later in the chapter.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Isaiah 51:17, 20, 22 Jerusalem has drunk 'the cup of his chemah' (God's wrath). In vv.22–23 God takes that cup from her and puts it 'into the hand of your tormentors'. The image of a cup of wrath appears also in Jeremiah 25:15 and Psalm 75:8.

From the study of Isaiah 42:25

Range of meaning

Heat. Poison or venom (the burning effect of a snake's bite). Rage or wrath, whether human or divine. It comes from the root yḥm, 'to be hot' (BDB, HALOT).

Against the English

KJV 'fury', ESV/NASB 'heat', BSB 'furious', NIV 'burning'. 'Heat' keeps the literal picture. 'Fury' keeps the emotion but loses the fire that the rest of the verse is built on.

Used elsewhere in the period

It is the stock object of 'pour out' in descriptions of the fall of Jerusalem: Lam 2:4 ('he poured out his wrath like fire'), Lam 4:11, Ezek 22:31, Jer 7:20 and 10:25. Deut 32:24, 33 uses it for snake venom.