Hebrew word · H2673

חָצָה

chatzah

to divide

To divide, split, especially into halves. Related to chatsi, 'half'.

Appears 15 times in 14 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated November 01, 2026

What it means

1) to divide, cut in two, cut short, live half (of one's life)

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to divide

1a2) to half, cut in two

1b) (Niphal) to be divided

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

Range of meaning: To divide, split, especially into halves. Related to chatsi, 'half'.
Against the English: 'Divided' is fine. The Hebrew carries the more exact idea of halving.
Used elsewhere in the period: Used of dividing spoil in half (Num 31:27, 42) and of the waters parting (2 Kings 2:8). It can also mean living out only half one's days (Ps 55:23).

Range of meaning: To divide into two halves or to split. In the passive form, as here, 'be divided' or 'be split'. The root also gives the word for 'half' (ḥēṣî).
Against the English: 'Divided' is correct. The Hebrew has a more specific picture of halving, of a whole cut in two, while the English 'divided' could mean any kind of separation.
Used elsewhere in the period: Jacob splits his people into two camps (Gen 32:7); the Jordan's waters part 'this way and that' (2 Kgs 2:8, 14). Daniel 11:4 uses the same passive form for a kingdom being 'divided toward the four winds'.

Range of meaning: To divide or split in two (Exod 21:35, dividing an ox; Judg 7:16, dividing troops; Ps 55:23). The related noun chatsi means 'half'.
Against the English: Every major version gives the idea as 'will not live out half their days'. NLT turns it into plain speech ('die young'), which keeps the meaning but loses the picture of a lifetime measured out and cut off before the halfway mark.
Used elsewhere in the period: Israel thought of a lifetime as an expected span (Ps 90:10: seventy or eighty years). Dying 'in the middle of one's days' was a disaster and a sign of trouble (Ps 102:24; Isa 38:10; Jer 17:11, the unjust rich man who loses his wealth 'in the middle of his days'). Long life was a covenant blessing (Deut 5:33; Prov 3:2; 10:27).

Genesis · 2

Genesis 32:7 וַיַּ֜חַץ and he divided

In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels.

Here: To split into halves (the verb is related to chatsi, 'half'). Jacob's fear turns at once into a practical plan: cut everything in two.
Genesis 33:1 וַיַּ֣חַץ and he divided

Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants.

Exodus · 2

Exodus 21:35 וְחָצ֣וּ יֶֽחֱצֽוּן׃ and they will divide, they will divide !

If a man’s ox injures his neighbor’s ox and it dies, they must sell the live one and divide the proceeds; they also must divide the dead animal.

Numbers · 2

Numbers 31:27 וְחָצִ֙יתָ֙ and you will divide

Then divide the captives between the troops who went out to battle and the rest of the congregation.
Numbers 31:42 חָצָ֣ה he had divided

From the Israelites’ half, which Moses had set apart from the men who had gone to war,

Judges · 2

Judges 7:16 וַיַּ֛חַץ and he divided

And he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each man a ram’s horn in one hand and a large jar in the other, containing a torch.
Judges 9:43 וַֽיֶּחֱצֵם֙ and he divided them

So he took his men, divided them into three companies, and lay in wait in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he rose up against them and attacked them.

2 Kings · 2

2 Kings 2:8 וַיֵּחָצ֖וּ and they were divided

And Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and struck the waters, which parted to the right and to the left, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
2 Kings 2:14 וַיֵּֽחָצוּ֙ and they were divided

Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the waters. “Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” he asked. And when he had struck the waters, they parted to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.

Here: A verb for dividing something into parts, such as money or a group of people. The form is passive-like, so the water "was split" and Elisha is not said to have done it himself.

Job · 1

Job 41:6 יֶ֝חֱצ֗וּהוּ will they divide? it

Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants?

Psalms · 1

Psalm 55:23 יֶחֱצ֣וּ they will divide in half

But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.

Here: 'They will not halve.' Picture a life as a measured span. These people will not even reach its halfway mark. It is a vivid way to say they will die early, well before their time.

Isaiah · 1

Isaiah 30:28 יֶֽחֱצֶ֔ה it reaches

His breath is like a rushing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction; He bridles the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.

Here: Literally 'it divides': the flood cuts a person off at the neck, reaching the point that separates head from body. Hence KJV's 'to the midst of the neck' and modern 'reaches/rises to the neck.'

Ezekiel · 1

Ezekiel 37:22 יֵחָ֥צוּ they will be divided

I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule over all of them. Then they will no longer be two nations and will never again be divided into two kingdoms.

Here: A passive form meaning 'be split in half'. The verb is used for cutting something into two halves, and here it is the kingdom that gets cut. The passive leaves unsaid who did the splitting, but the image is of one body cut in two.

Daniel · 1

Daniel 11:4 וְתֵחָ֕ץ and it will be divided

But as soon as he is established, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four winds of heaven. It will not go to his descendants, nor will it have the authority with which he ruled, because his kingdom will be uprooted and given to others.

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