Hebrew word · H2782

חָרַץ

charatz

to decide

The root's basic meaning is to cut, cut into, or sharpen. From that it comes to mean deciding or fixing something firmly. In passive forms: determined, decreed, settled.

Appears 11 times in 11 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to cut, sharpen, decide, decree, determine, maim, move, be decisive, be mutilated

1a)(Qal)

1a1) to cut, mutilate

1a2) to sharpen

1a3) to decide

1b) (Niphal) to be decisive

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 Daniel 11:36

Range of meaning

The root's basic meaning is to cut, cut into, or sharpen. From that it comes to mean deciding or fixing something firmly. In passive forms: determined, decreed, settled.

Against the English

KJV 'that that is determined' and WEB 'that which is determined' mean 'what has been decided,' not 'whoever is resolute.' BSB/ESV 'decreed' makes this clear.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 10:22–23: 'destruction is decreed (ḥārûṣ)… a full end (kālâ) and a thing decreed (neḥĕrāṣâ) the Lord GOD of hosts is making.' Isa 28:22; Dan 9:26 ('desolations are decreed'); 9:27 ('until the full end and what is decreed is poured out'); Job 14:5 (a person's days are 'determined').

From the study of Isaiah 10:22

Range of meaning

The root means to cut or incise (compare ḥārûṣ as a threshing sledge with sharp edges, Isaiah 28:27; 41:15), and from that, to decide firmly, settle, determine (1 Kings 20:40: 'you have decided it'; Job 14:5: a person's days are 'determined').

Against the English

'Decreed' (BSB, ESV) and 'determined' (KJV, WEB, NASB) are both sound. What they lose is the picture of something cut in, which is why such a decision is fixed.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 10:23 and 28:22 (neḥĕrāṣâ, 'what is decreed'); Daniel 9:26–27 (neḥĕreṣet šōmēmôt, 'desolations are decreed'; kālâ wǝneḥĕrāṣâ, 'the decreed end'). Daniel clearly echoes Isaiah's wording. The Vulgate reads the root as 'cut short' (abbreviata). The Septuagint's syntemnōn ('cutting short, cutting off') reads it the same way.

From the study of Isaiah 28:22

Range of meaning

To cut, sharpen or incise, and figuratively to decide or determine (to 'cut' a decision). The passive participle necheratsah means 'a thing determined, decreed'. The related noun charuts can mean a threshing sledge with sharp teeth (Isa 28:27; 41:15), or gold, or a 'decision' (Joel 3:14 [4:14], 'valley of decision').

Against the English

'Determined' (KJV) and 'decreed' (ESV, NIV, BSB 'decree') are accurate. English loses the root picture of something cut and fixed, and the possible echo with the threshing sledge a few verses later.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 10:22–23 ('destruction decreed'); Dan 9:26–27; 11:36 ('what is determined shall be done'); Job 14:5 ('his days are determined'); 1 Kgs 20:40 ('you yourself have decided it'). The Greek translation of Isa 10:23 renders it 'cut short' (syntetmēmenon), and Paul quotes that Greek form in Rom 9:28.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 11:7 יֶֽחֱרַץ־ it will sharpen

    But among all the Israelites, not even a dog will snarl at man or beast.’ Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

    Here: Literally 'will sharpen' or 'will point'. Paired with 'tongue' it is a set phrase for a hostile sound: a dog bristling and growling, the first sign of threat. The future (imperfect) tense is a prediction about the coming night.

Joshua · 1

  1. Joshua 10:21 חָרַ֞ץ he sharpened

    The whole army returned safely to Joshua in the camp at Makkedah, and no one dared to utter a word against the Israelites.

    Here: The basic sense is 'cut' or 'sharpen'. With 'tongue' it becomes an idiom for snarling or menacing, as a dog 'sharpens its tongue' at a stranger (Exod 11:7). It points to a threatening growl rather than plain speech.

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 5:24 תֶּחֱרָ֑ץ you will act decisively

    As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move quickly, because this will mean that the LORD has gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”

    Here: The root means 'cut, sharpen, decide'. Here it means strike fast and hard, with no hesitation. It is phrased as a future but works as an order.

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 20:40 חָרָֽצְתָּ׃ you have decided

    But while your servant was busy here and there, the man disappeared.” And the king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you have pronounced it on yourself.”

Job · 1

  1. Job 14:5 חֲרוּצִ֨ים׀ [are] determined

    Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with You, and since You have set limits that he cannot exceed,

    Here: A passive participle, 'cut / decided'. The picture is of something cut to a fixed length, like a decision a ruler has settled and will not reopen. Job's lifespan is a sentence already passed.

Isaiah · 3

  1. Isaiah 10:22 חָר֖וּץ [has been] decided

    Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overflowing with righteousness.

    Here: A passive form meaning 'cut, incised', and so 'firmly decided, fixed.' The decision has already been made and will not change. Verse 23 picks it up with nekheraṣâ, 'that which is decreed.'

  2. Isaiah 10:23 וְנֶחֱרָצָ֑ה and [what] has been decided

    For the Lord GOD of Hosts will carry out the destruction decreed upon the whole land.

  3. Isaiah 28:22 וְנֶחֱרָצָ֜ה and [what] has been decided

    So now, do not mock, or your shackles will become heavier. Indeed, I have heard from the Lord GOD of Hosts a decree of destruction against the whole land.

    Here: 'And a thing cut, decided'. The root means to cut or incise, and by extension to settle something decisively. Paired with the word before it, the phrase means 'a decided end, a fixed destruction'.

Daniel · 3

  1. Daniel 9:26 נֶחֱרֶ֖צֶת [are] determined

    Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed.

    Here: 'Determined, decreed'. The root means 'to cut' and so 'to settle decisively'. It echoes Isaiah's 'destruction decreed' (Isaiah 10:22–23; 28:22). The ruin is a fixed sentence, not chance.

  2. Daniel 9:27 וְנֶ֣חֱרָצָ֔ה and [what] has been decided

    And he will confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of the temple will come the abomination that causes desolation, until the decreed destruction is poured out upon him.”

    Here: 'And [that which is] decided', literally 'cut' as a firm verdict. The pair 'full end and decided' is quoted from Isaiah 10:23 and 28:22, where God decrees judgment.

  3. Daniel 11:36 נֶחֱרָצָ֖ה [what has been] decreed

    Then the king will do as he pleases and will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and he will speak monstrous things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been decreed must be accomplished.

    Here: 'A thing decreed.' The root means to cut, so this is something fixed and settled. The feminine form expresses an abstract 'what has been decided.'

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