Hebrew word · H2554

חָמַס

chomes

to injure

Verb: to do violence, to wrong flagrantly, to violate. The related noun chamas means violent lawlessness, the opposite of mishpat. It covers physical brutality, and also the abuse of legal process, as with the 'witness of chamas', a malicious false witness (Exod 23:1; Deut 19:16).

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to wrong, do violence to, treat violently, do wrongly

1a) (Qal) to treat violently, do wrong

1a1) of physical wrong

1a2) of ethical wrong

1a3) of physical and ethical wrong

1b) (Niphal) to be treated violently

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 Jeremiah 22:3

Range of meaning

Verb: to do violence, to wrong flagrantly, to violate. The related noun chamas means violent lawlessness, the opposite of mishpat. It covers physical brutality, and also the abuse of legal process, as with the 'witness of chamas', a malicious false witness (Exod 23:1; Deut 19:16).

Against the English

'Violence' is accurate, but in English it suggests only physical assault. In Hebrew chamas includes judicial and institutional violence: rigged trials and the destruction of people by legal means.

Used elsewhere in the period

The noun is the reason given for the Flood (Gen 6:11, 13). Jer 6:7 and 20:8 pair it with 'destruction' (shod). Ezek 45:9 tells princes to remove 'chamas and shod' and do mishpat and tsedaqah, a close parallel to this verse. The verb is rare (e.g. Ezek 22:26 and Zeph 3:4, where priests 'do violence to' the torah; Prov 8:36; Lam 2:6).

From the study of Proverbs 8:36

Range of meaning

To treat violently, to do wrong by force, to ruin or wreck. The related noun ḥāmās is 'violence, lawless brutality, injustice'.

Against the English

KJV and WEB have "wrongeth" or "wrongs." BSB and NIV have "harms." ESV and NASB have "injures." All are accurate but mild. None carries the brutal sense of the Hebrew root, 'does violence to'.

How it drifted

No drift in the strict sense. The English is too weak rather than wrong. 'Harms himself' can sound like a small self-inflicted cost.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jeremiah 22:3 says 'do no violence' to the alien, orphan and widow. In Ezekiel 22:26 the priests 'have done violence to my law'. In Lamentations 2:6 God 'violently tore down' his booth. In Job 15:33 the wicked man is like a vine that 'shakes off' (is stripped of) its unripe grapes. The noun ḥāmās is the violence that filled the earth in Genesis 6:11–13.

From the study of Ezekiel 22:26

Range of meaning

As a verb: to treat violently, wrong, do injury to, strip by force. The related noun ḥāmās means violence, lawless wrongdoing, or ruthless injustice, often with bloodshed or exploitation of the weak in view. Its targets are usually people (Jer 22:3; Prov 8:36 'wrongs himself'). It can also be used of things, such as stripping a vine of its unripe grapes (Job 15:33) or wrecking a structure (Lam 2:6).

Against the English

"Do violence to" (BSB, ESV, NIV, WEB) keeps the force. KJV's "violated" is close. YLT's "wronged" is accurate but weaker. Softer renderings such as "disobeyed" or "ignored" lose the picture of active assault.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 6:11, 13: the earth was 'filled with ḥāmās' before the Flood. Ezekiel uses the noun for the violence of the land in 7:23, 8:17 and 45:9. The exact phrase 'her priests ḥāmsû tôrâ' comes from Zephaniah 3:4, which Ezekiel 22:25–28 reworks. TDOT (Haag, s.v. ḥāmās) describes the word as ruthless, often greedy violation of others' rights.

Where it appears

Job · 2

  1. Job 15:33 יַחְמֹ֣ס he will wrong

    He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms.

  2. Job 21:27 תַּחְמֹֽסוּ׃ you do violence

    Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 8:36 חֹמֵ֣ס [is] doing wrong to

    But he who fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”

    Here: "Is doing violence to." This verb comes from the same root as ḥāmās, the 'violence' that filled the earth before the Flood (Genesis 6:11). It is much stronger than 'harms'. The verb form describes something ongoing: the person is wrecking his own life.

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 13:22 נֶחְמְס֥וּ they have suffered violence

    And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.

    Here: 'Have been treated violently.' This passive form of the verb occurs only here in the Bible. It comes from the word for violent wrongdoing (ḥāmās), so it means more than being exposed: something violent was done.

  2. Jeremiah 22:3 תַּחְמֹ֔סוּ you treat violently

    This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.

    Here: To do chamas: lawless violence, including the 'legal' violence of rigged courts and false witnesses. A rare verb, chosen here for its force.

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 2:6 וַיַּחְמֹ֤ס and he has treated violently

    He has laid waste His tabernacle like a garden booth; He has destroyed His place of meeting. The LORD has made Zion forget her appointed feasts and Sabbaths. In His fierce anger He has despised both king and priest.

    Here: Yahweh is the one acting. The verb is the one behind the noun ḥamas, 'violence', so it means rough, destructive handling, possibly the stripping you see in Job 15:33, where a vine sheds its unripe grapes. It opens the verse with the letter vav, the sixth step of the chapter's alphabet poem.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 22:26 חָמְס֣וּ they have done violence to

    Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

    Here: "They did violence to." This is the verb of violent, ruthless wrongdoing. Using it of torah (God's instruction) is a deliberate shock: they treated God's teaching the way a thug treats a victim. The wording is taken from Zephaniah 3:4.

Zephaniah · 1

  1. Zephaniah 3:4 חָמְס֖וּ they do violence to

    Her prophets are reckless, faithless men. Her priests profane the sanctuary; they do violence to the law.

    Here: The verb behind ḥāmās, the 'violence' that filled the earth before the flood (Gen 6:11). Used of torah, it means they did harm to it: twisting it, violating it, abusing it. The word suggests brutality and also injustice.

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