Hebrew word · H2593

חָנִיךְ

chanikhav

trained

This word occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible, so its meaning has to come from its root and from outside texts. The root ḥ-n-k means 'to dedicate, initiate, train' (Deut 20:5 'dedicate a house'; Prov 22:6 'train up a child').

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

trained, instructed, trained servant, tried, experienced

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 Genesis 14:14

Range of meaning

This word occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible, so its meaning has to come from its root and from outside texts. The root ḥ-n-k means 'to dedicate, initiate, train' (Deut 20:5 'dedicate a house'; Prov 22:6 'train up a child'). Outside the Bible the noun means an armed retainer: a follower attached to a chief and dependent on him.

Against the English

KJV has 'trained [servants]', and the italics show that 'servants' was added by the translators. Most modern versions have 'trained men'. YLT has 'trained domestics'. 'Trained' points to the right root, but English readers may picture professional soldiers or drilled troops. The ancient term is more personal: these are a lord's own men, sworn and attached to his household.

How it drifted

Translators who did not know the outside parallels worked from the root 'train/dedicate'. KJV's added 'servants' makes them sound like domestic staff rather than a fighting retinue.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Egyptian Execration Texts (19th–18th c. BCE) use ḥnkw for the retainers of Canaanite chieftains. A 15th-century BCE cuneiform letter from Taanach in Canaan uses ḫa-na-ku-ka, 'your retainers', for the armed men of a local ruler (W.F. Albright, BASOR 94, 1944). This is one of the clearest cases of a Genesis word matching Bronze Age Canaanite vocabulary.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 14:14 חֲנִיכָ֜יו trained men his

    And when Abram heard that his relative had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men born in his household, and they set out in pursuit as far as Dan.

    Here: This word occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. Bronze Age texts from Egypt and Canaan use the same term for a chief's armed followers. These are Abram's own men, bound to him personally and ready to fight.

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