Hebrew word · H2724

חָֽרָבָה

charavah

dry ground

Dry ground, dry land: ground the water has left or that has dried up. It comes from the root ḥ-r-b, “to be dry, laid waste, desolate”.

Appears 8 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 30, 2026

What it means

dry land, dry ground

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: Dry ground, dry land: ground the water has left or that has dried up. It comes from the root ḥ-r-b, “to be dry, laid waste, desolate”.
Against the English: “Dry land” is accurate. What English cannot show is the word’s Exodus associations and its root connection to other words in Haggai.
Used elsewhere in the period: Gen 7:22 (everything on dry land died in the flood); Exod 14:21 (“he made the sea into dry ground”); Josh 3:17 and 4:18 (Jordan crossing); 2 Kgs 2:8. The same root runs through Haggai 1: the house “lies in ruins” (ḥarev, 1:4, 1:9), and God “called for a drought” (ḥorev, 1:11).

Range of meaning: Dry ground, especially ground that has been dried out where water had been. It comes from the root ḥ-r-b, 'to be dry, dried up, laid waste'.
Against the English: 'Dry land' (KJV, WEB, ESV) and 'dry ground' (YLT) are both fine. BSB's 'turned it into dry land' is accurate.
Used elsewhere in the period: The same word describes the earth once the Flood ends: 'all that was on the dry ground died' (Gen 7:22). The same root appears in Gen 8:13: 'the waters were dried up'. It is used for the Jordan crossing: 'Israel crossed over on dry ground' (Josh 3:17; 4:18). It is used again when Elijah and Elisha cross the Jordan (2 Kgs 2:8). The next verse, 14:22, uses the synonym yabbāšâ, the 'dry land' that appears out of the waters in Gen 1:9–10.

Range of meaning: "Dry ground, dry land," from ḥarav, "be dry, dried up; be desolate." It refers to ground that has been dried, usually ground that had been under water.
Against the English: English versions agree on "dry ground." English loses the echo the word carries: it is the specific term of the great water-crossings.
Used elsewhere in the period: Genesis 7:22 ("all that was on the dry land" in the Flood story); Exodus 14:21 (Yahweh "made the sea dry ground"); 2 Kings 2:8 (Elijah and Elisha cross the Jordan "on dry ground"). Joshua 4:22–23 makes the Red Sea comparison explicit, though it uses the related word yabbashah.

Genesis · 1

Genesis 7:22 בֶּחָֽרָבָ֖ה [was] on the dry ground

Of all that was on dry land, everything that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.

Exodus · 1

Exodus 14:21 לֶחָרָבָ֑ה into <the> dry ground

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,

Here: 'Into dry ground': ground that has been dried out, where water used to be. The same word describes the earth when the Flood ends (Gen 7:22) and Israel crossing the Jordan (Josh 3:17).

Joshua · 3

Joshua 3:17 בֶּחָֽרָבָ֛ה בֶּחָ֣רָבָ֔ה on the dry ground

The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed over the dry ground, until the entire nation had crossed the Jordan.

Here: "On the dry ground," with the article: the ground just laid dry. This is the same word used when the sea became "dry ground" in Exodus 14:21, and later when Elijah and Elisha crossed the Jordan (2 Kings 2:8).
Joshua 4:18 הֶחָרָבָ֑ה the dry ground

When the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up out of the Jordan and their feet touched the dry land, the waters of the Jordan returned to their course and overflowed all the banks as before.

2 Kings · 1

2 Kings 2:8 בֶּחָרָבָֽה׃ on the dry ground

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.

Ezekiel · 1

Ezekiel 30:12 חָֽרָבָ֔ה dry ground

I will make the streams dry up and sell the land to the wicked. By the hands of foreigners I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it. I, the LORD, have spoken.

Haggai · 1

Haggai 2:6 הֶחָרָבָֽה׃ the dry ground

For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.

Here: “The dry ground”, the opposite of the sea, so sea and dry land together mean all the lower world. The same word is used when God turned the sea into dry ground at the Exodus (Exod 14:21).

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