חִנָּם

Genesis 29:15 חִנָּ֑ם for nothing

Laban said to him, “Just because you are my relative, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

Exodus 21:2 חִנָּֽם׃ without paying

If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything.

Here: "For free / at no cost." He pays no redemption price to buy himself out. Whatever debt or price remains is cancelled. The word stands last in the verse, so it gets the emphasis.

Exodus 21:11 חִנָּ֖ם without paying

If, however, he does not provide her with these three things, she is free to go without monetary payment.

Here: She leaves at no cost. No redemption price has to be paid to the master. This is the same word used for the release of the Hebrew male servant in v. 2.

Numbers 11:5 חִנָּ֑ם for nothing

We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.

1 Samuel 19:5 חִנָּֽם׃ without cause

He took his life in his hands when he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced, so why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?”

Here: “For nothing,” the final word: a death with no grounds, nothing gained, and nothing David did to deserve it.

1 Samuel 25:31 חִנָּ֔ם without cause

then my lord will have no remorse or guilt of conscience over needless bloodshed and revenge. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your servant.”

2 Samuel 24:24 חִנָּ֑ם without paying

“No,” replied the king, “I insist on paying a price, for I will not offer to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

1 Kings 2:31 חִנָּ֗ם without cause

And the king replied, “Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so remove from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood that Joab shed.

1 Chronicles 21:24 חִנָּֽם׃ for nothing

“No,” replied King David, “I insist on paying the full price, for I will not take for the LORD what belongs to you, nor will I offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

Job 1:9 הַֽחִנָּ֔ם ¿ in vain

Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing?

Here: The ha- at the front turns the sentence into a question, and the word is placed first for emphasis: "Is it FOR FREE...?" It means without payment or return, the way a worker might serve without wages. The question is rhetorical and expects the answer "No, he's being paid."

Job 2:3 חִנָּֽם׃ without cause

Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”

Here: “For nothing”, the last and decisive word. It answers the adversary's challenge in 1:9 (“Does Job fear God ḥinnām?”) and can mean both “without cause” (Job did nothing to deserve this) and “to no purpose” (the attempt achieved nothing).

Job 9:17 חִנָּֽם׃ without cause

For He would crush me with a tempest and multiply my wounds without cause.

Here: 'For nothing': without anything on Job's side to deserve it. It is the same word the Accuser used ('Does Job fear God for nothing?' 1:9) and that God himself used ('you incited me against him to ruin him for nothing', 2:3). Job does not know it, but he is repeating heaven's own verdict.

Job 22:6 חִנָּ֑ם without cause

For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing.

Here: Without real grounds: no genuine debt, or no need, or for a trifle. The word is loaded in Job. It is the same word the Accuser used in 1:9 ("Does Job fear God for nothing?") and God used in 2:3 (Job was ruined "without cause").

Psalm 35:7 חִנָּ֣ם חִ֝נָּ֗ם without cause

For without cause they laid their net for me; without reason they dug a pit for my soul.

Here: 'For free', meaning unprovoked. The psalmist gave them no reason. It comes first in the line for emphasis, and the word is repeated at the head of the second line.

Psalm 35:19 חִ֝נָּ֗ם without cause

Let not my enemies gloat over me without cause, nor those who hate me without reason wink in malice.

Here: 'For nothing', 'gratis'. Their hatred has no cause and nothing has been done to earn it. It is the second-line match for 'falsehood' and sharpens it: he gave them no reason.

Psalm 69:4 חִ֫נָּ֥ם without cause

Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs of my head; many are those who would destroy me—my enemies for no reason. Though I did not steal, I must repay.

Here: 'For nothing'. The word is related to ḥēn ('favour'), and its first meaning is 'free of charge'. Here it means their hatred has no grounds. He has given them no reason.

Psalm 109:3 חִנָּֽם׃ without cause

They surround me with hateful words and attack me without cause.

Here: An adverb from the root ch-n-n ('favour, grace'): 'gratis, for free'. Here that means 'for no reason'. He gave them no grounds. It is the last word of the verse and carries the stress: the hostility is unprovoked.

Psalm 119:161 חִנָּ֑ם without cause

Rulers persecute me without cause, but my heart fears only Your word.

Here: Literally "for free". The officials gain nothing just from it and he has given them no grounds. The pursuit is groundless. It is the same word as in the laments "those who hate me without cause" (Ps 35:19; 69:4).

Proverbs 1:11 חִנָּֽם׃ without cause

If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,

Here: "For nothing / without cause." The attack is unprovoked, gratuitous. The same word comes back in verse 17 ("in vain the net is spread"), which hints that the whole scheme will turn out to be "for nothing" for the gang themselves.

Proverbs 1:17 חִ֭נָּם in vain

How futile it is to spread the net where any bird can see it!

Here: Placed first for emphasis. It can mean 'to no purpose' (the net is wasted effort) or 'for no reason / gratis' (how the net looks to the bird). It deliberately repeats the gang's own word from v.11, where they plan to ambush the innocent ḥinnām, 'without cause'.

Proverbs 3:30 חִנָּ֑ם without cause

Do not accuse a man without cause, when he has done you no harm.

Here: 'For nothing': without grounds, unprovoked. The same word is used of work done without wages. Here it means a quarrel that has nothing behind it.

Proverbs 23:29 חִנָּ֑ם without cause

Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?

Here: From the root for 'favour', literally 'gratis'. The wounds were gained for no reason and to no purpose. He has nothing to show for them and does not remember how he got them.

Proverbs 24:28 חִנָּ֣ם without cause

Do not testify against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.

Proverbs 26:2 חִ֝נָּ֗ם without cause

Like a fluttering sparrow or darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.

Here: 'For nothing', i.e. undeserved and unjustified. The curse has a source (someone said it) but no just grounds. The target has done nothing to earn it.

Isaiah 52:3 חִנָּ֖ם for nothing

For this is what the LORD says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.”

Here: Comes first for emphasis: "For nothing you were sold." No price was paid for Israel, so nobody acquired a legal claim on them. The word comes from the same root as ḥēn, "favour"; its basic idea is "free of charge."

Isaiah 52:5 חִנָּ֑ם for nothing

And now what have I here? declares the LORD. For My people have been taken without cause; those who rule them taunt, declares the LORD, and My name is blasphemed continually all day long.

Here: This repeats verse 3 ("you were sold for nothing"). No price was paid to God for his people, and the captors had no right to them. It carries both "free of charge" and "without justification".

Jeremiah 22:13 חִנָּ֔ם without paying

“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms without justice, who makes his countrymen serve without pay, and fails to pay their wages,

Here: Without payment. It echoes Laban's question to Jacob: 'Because you are my brother, should you serve me for nothing?' (Gen 29:15).

Lamentations 3:52 חִנָּֽם׃ without cause

Without cause my enemies hunted me like a bird.

Ezekiel 6:10 חִנָּם֙ in vain

And they will know that I am the LORD; I did not declare in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them.

Ezekiel 14:23 חִנָּ֤ם without cause

They will bring you consolation when you see their conduct and actions, and you will know that it was not without cause that I have done all these things within it,’ declares the Lord GOD.”

Malachi 1:10 חִנָּ֑ם in vain

“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle useless fires on My altar! I take no pleasure in you,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.

Here: Most likely "to no purpose, uselessly": the fires do nothing because God will not accept what burns on them. The word also means "without pay", which is behind an old Jewish reading (and the Vulgate's) that the priests would do nothing unless they were paid.