Hebrew word · H2720

חָרֵב

charev

desolate

Adjective from the root ḥ-r-b: dry, dried up; laid waste, desolate, in ruins. Used of land, cities and buildings that have been destroyed or abandoned.

Appears 10 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

waste, desolate

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 Haggai 1:4

Range of meaning

Adjective from the root ḥ-r-b: dry, dried up; laid waste, desolate, in ruins. Used of land, cities and buildings that have been destroyed or abandoned.

Against the English

'Lies in ruins' (BSB, ESV), 'lie waste' (KJV, WEB), 'desolate' (NASB). All are fair, but none keeps the link with dryness that sets up v.11.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jer 33:10, 12 ('this place... is waste'); Neh 2:3, 17 ('Jerusalem lies in ruins', ḥarevah); Ezek 36:35, 38. The same root gives ḥorev, 'drought, heat' (Hag 1:11), and ḥerev, 'sword'.

From the study of Ezekiel 36:35

Range of meaning

Dry, dried up, laid waste, in ruins. Related to chorbah, 'ruin, waste place'. The root's basic picture is drought and barrenness, extended to ruined buildings.

Against the English

'Waste' (KJV, ESV) and 'ruined' (BSB) both fit. Modern 'waste' may make readers think of trash instead of ruins.

Used elsewhere in the period

Leviticus 26:31, 33: 'I will make your cities a waste (chorbah)... your cities shall be a waste.' Ezekiel uses it for the ruins of Judah (33:24, 27) and the promise of rebuilding them (36:10, 33: 'the ruins shall be rebuilt').

From the study of Haggai 1:9

Range of meaning

Dry, dried up; desolate, laid waste, ruined. The root ḥ-r-b covers drying up (of water and ground) and the desolation of cities and sanctuaries (Jeremiah 33:10, 12; Nehemiah 2:3, 17 of Jerusalem). The related noun ḥorev means drought or heat.

Against the English

BSB 'lies in ruins', KJV/WEB 'is waste/lies waste'. 'Ruins' suggests rubble. The Hebrew can mean that, but it can equally mean 'desolate, abandoned, not functioning'. 'Waste' in KJV can be misheard today as 'wasted' (squandered).

How it drifted

Not drift in the strict sense, but 'waste' has shifted in everyday English from 'desolate land' toward 'squandered'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used of Jerusalem and Judah's devastated places after 586 BC (Jeremiah 33:10; Ezekiel 36:35, 38). Haggai builds a deliberate sound-play: the house is ḥarev (v. 9), so God calls a ḥorev, 'drought', on land, grain, wine and oil (v. 11).

Where it appears

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 7:10 וַחֲרֵבָ֑ה and dry

    and every grain offering, whether dry or mixed with oil, belongs equally to all the sons of Aaron.

Nehemiah · 2

  1. Nehemiah 2:3 חֲרֵבָ֔ה [is] desolate

    and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

    Here: Lying in ruins, deserted, laid waste. It is the vocabulary the prophets used for a city under judgment.

  2. Nehemiah 2:17 חֲרֵבָ֔ה [is] desolate

    Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned down. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.”

    Here: Dried up, ruined, empty. The prophets used this word for the land and city under covenant judgment. The ruin is a theological condition as well as a physical one.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 17:1 חֲ֭רֵבָה dry

    Better a dry morsel in quietness than a house full of feasting with strife.

    Here: Dry, with nothing on it: no oil, no sauce, nothing to dip it in (compare Ruth 2:14, where bread is dipped in vinegar). The same word describes a grain offering made "dry," without oil, in Lev 7:10. Here it pictures a poor person's bare crust.

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 33:10 חָרֵ֣ב [is] desolate

    This is what the LORD says: In this place you say is a wasteland without man or beast, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted—inhabited by neither man nor beast—there will be heard again

  2. Jeremiah 33:12 הֶחָרֵ֛ב <the> desolate

    This is what the LORD of Hosts says: In this desolate place, without man or beast, and in all its cities, there will once more be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks.

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 36:35 הֶחֳרֵב֛וֹת <the> wasted

    Then they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The cities that were once ruined, desolate, and destroyed are now fortified and inhabited.’

    Here: From a root meaning 'dry, laid waste': ruins left empty and lifeless. This is the first of three piled-up words for destruction.

  2. Ezekiel 36:38 הֶחֳרֵב֔וֹת <the> wasted

    Like the numerous flocks for sacrifices at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so the ruined cities will be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

Haggai · 2

  1. Haggai 1:4 חָרֵֽב׃ [is] desolate

    “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”

    Here: 'Dried up, laid waste': a ruined, deserted site. The root also means dryness, which sets up the wordplay in v.11, where God calls a 'drought' (ḥorev) on the land.

  2. Haggai 1:9 חָרֵ֔ב [is] desolate

    You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.

    Here: 'Desolate, lying waste.' The root also means 'dry'. Two verses later God answers with ḥorev, 'drought' (v. 11): because his house is ḥarev, their land gets ḥorev.

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