Hebrew word · H2722

חֹרֵב

chorev

Horeb

The mountain of God where the covenant was made. Exodus mostly calls it Sinai; Deuteronomy almost always calls it Horeb. The name may come from a root meaning 'dry, desolate'.

Appears 17 times in 17 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Horeb = "desert"

another name for Mount Sinai from which God gave the law to Moses and the Israelites

Another name of si.nay (סִינַי "Sinai" H5514G)

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 Malachi 4:4

Range of meaning

The mountain of God where the covenant was made. Exodus mostly calls it Sinai; Deuteronomy almost always calls it Horeb. The name may come from a root meaning 'dry, desolate'.

Against the English

Most versions keep 'Horeb'. The NLT replaces it with Mount Sinai, which is clearer to modern readers but loses Deuteronomy's distinctive name and the link to Elijah.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deuteronomy 1:6; 4:10, 15; 5:2 ('The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb'); 18:16. 1 Kings 8:9 says the tablets placed in the ark were from Horeb. In 1 Kings 19:8 Elijah flees to 'Horeb, the mount of God', where God meets him in the 'sound of thin silence'.

From the study of 1 Kings 19:8

Range of meaning

A proper name. It probably comes from the root ch-r-b, "to be dry, laid waste" (compare chorbah, "ruin", and choreb, "dryness, heat"). If so it means something like "dry place" or "wasteland." Its location is not known for certain.

Against the English

Most versions keep "Horeb." I believe the NLT substitutes "Mount Sinai," which identifies it correctly but loses the name the narrator chose.

Used elsewhere in the period

Horeb is the name Deuteronomy almost always uses (Deut 1:6; 4:10, 15; 5:2: "the LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb"). The Kings narrator writes in that same Deuteronomic tradition, which explains the choice of name. "Horeb" also appears in Exod 3:1; 17:6; 33:6.

From the study of 1 Kings 8:9

Range of meaning

Name of the mountain of God where the covenant was given. It probably comes from the root ch-r-v, 'to be dry, desolate'. The Bible presents it as the same mountain Exodus usually calls Sinai.

Against the English

Most versions keep 'Horeb'. NLT replaces it with 'Mount Sinai', which is clearer for modern readers but loses the deliberate wording of Deuteronomy and Kings.

Used elsewhere in the period

Horeb is the usual name in Deuteronomy (1:6; 4:10, 15; 5:2; 9:8; 18:16; 29:1). It also appears in Exod 3:1; 17:6; 33:6, and later in 1 Kgs 19:8, where Elijah flees to Horeb.

Similar words

Where it appears

Exodus · 3
  1. Exodus 3:1 חֹרֵֽבָה׃ Horeb towards

    Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

    Here: Horeb, with a Hebrew ending meaning 'toward'. The name sounds like the root for 'dry, desolate'. Horeb is the name Deuteronomy and Elijah's story (1 Kgs 19:8) use for the mountain that other passages call Sinai.

  2. Exodus 17:6 בְּחֹרֵב֒ at Horeb

    Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

    Here: "At Horeb," the name used for the mountain of God (Exod 3:1), which Deuteronomy uses for Sinai. The name probably comes from the root for "dry, desolate," so water from the rock "in Dryland" is fitting, though the text does not point out the wordplay.

  3. Exodus 33:6 חוֹרֵֽב׃ Horeb

    So the Israelites stripped themselves of their jewelry from Mount Horeb onward.

Deuteronomy · 9
  1. Deuteronomy 1:2 מֵֽחֹרֵ֔ב from Horeb

    It is an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by way of Mount Seir.

  2. Deuteronomy 1:6 בְּחֹרֵ֣ב at Horeb

    The LORD our God said to us at Horeb: “You have stayed at this mountain long enough.

  3. Deuteronomy 1:19 מֵחֹרֵ֗ב from Horeb

    And just as the LORD our God had commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites, through all the vast and terrifying wilderness you have seen. When we reached Kadesh-barnea,

  4. Deuteronomy 4:10 בְּחֹרֵב֒ at Horeb

    The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, “Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children.”

    Here: 'At Horeb', Deuteronomy's usual name for the mountain Exodus mostly calls Sinai. It is the place where the covenant was made.

  5. Deuteronomy 4:15 בְּחֹרֵ֖ב at Horeb

    So since you saw no form of any kind on the day the LORD spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb, be careful

    Here: Deuteronomy's usual name for the mountain other books call Sinai. The name probably comes from a root meaning 'dry, desolate'.

  6. Deuteronomy 5:2 בְּחֹרֵֽב׃ at Horeb

    The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

    Here: Horeb is Deuteronomy's usual name for the mountain that Exodus mostly calls Sinai. The name likely means "dry, desolate place". It points the listeners back to the founding event in the wilderness, forty years earlier.

  7. Deuteronomy 9:8 וּבְחֹרֵ֥ב and at Horeb

    At Horeb you provoked the LORD, and He was angry enough to destroy you.

  8. Deuteronomy 18:16 בְּחֹרֵ֔ב at Horeb

    This is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God or see this great fire anymore, so that we will not die!”

  9. Deuteronomy 29:1 בְּחֹרֵֽב׃ פ at Horeb

    These are the words of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant He had made with them at Horeb.

1 Kings · 2
  1. 1 Kings 8:9 בְּחֹרֵ֑ב at Horeb

    There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of the land of Egypt.

    Here: 'At Horeb'. This is the name Deuteronomy and Kings use for the mountain that Exodus usually calls Sinai. The covenant and its tablets come from the wilderness, long before the land, the king or the temple.

  2. 1 Kings 19:8 חֹרֵֽב׃ Horeb

    So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

    Here: The name Deuteronomy uses for Sinai, the mountain of the covenant. It probably comes from a root meaning "dry, desolate." The flight ends where Israel's story with God began.

2 Chronicles · 1
  1. 2 Chronicles 5:10 בְּחֹרֵ֑ב at Horeb

    There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of Egypt.

Psalms · 1
  1. Psalm 106:19 בְּחֹרֵ֑ב at Horeb

    At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image.

Malachi · 1
  1. Malachi 4:4 בְחֹרֵב֙ at Horeb

    “Remember the law of My servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him for all Israel at Horeb.

    Here: Horeb is Deuteronomy's name for the mountain called Sinai elsewhere. It names the place where Israel's covenant was founded, and it is also where Elijah, named in the next verse, met God (1 Kgs 19:8).

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