Hebrew word · H2845

חֵת

chet

Heth

Eponym (the ancestor a people is named after) of the 'sons of Heth' / 'daughters of Heth' (Gen 23:3–20; 27:46). The related gentilic ḥitti, 'Hittite' (H2850), is used for individuals (Ephron, Uriah) and for one of the peoples of the land (Gen 15:20; Deut 7:1).

Appears 14 times in 12 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living at the time of the Patriarchs, first mentioned at Gen.10.15;

son of: Canaan (H3667);

brother of: Sidon (H6721), Jebusite (H2983), Amorite (H0567), Girgashite (H1622), Hivite (H2340), Arkite (H6208), Sinite (H5513), Arvadite (H0721), Zemarite (H6786) and Hamathite (H2577); also called Hittite (KJV: "of Heth") frequently

Also named: chit.ti (חִתִּי "Hittite" H2850)

§ Heth = "terror"

a son of Canaan and the progenitor of the Hittites

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 Genesis 10:15

Range of meaning

Eponym (the ancestor a people is named after) of the 'sons of Heth' / 'daughters of Heth' (Gen 23:3–20; 27:46). The related gentilic ḥitti, 'Hittite' (H2850), is used for individuals (Ephron, Uriah) and for one of the peoples of the land (Gen 15:20; Deut 7:1). The plural 'Hittites' is also used for kingdoms north of Israel (1 Kgs 10:29; 2 Kgs 7:6).

Against the English

KJV, YLT, WEB, ESV and NASB keep 'Heth', the name of a person. BSB and NIV put 'the Hittites', which reads the name as a people and also brings in the modern scholarly label 'Hittites' for the Anatolian empire.

How it drifted

Since the 19th–20th century rediscovery of the Hittite empire based at Hattusa in Anatolia, 'Hittites' in English points to that Indo-European people. The Hittites of Genesis have Semitic names and live near Hebron, and their relation to Anatolian Hatti is uncertain.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Hittite and Egyptian texts Ḫatti is the Anatolian kingdom (until c. 1180 BC). After that, 'Neo-Hittite' states survived in northern Syria (Carchemish, Hamath). Neo-Assyrian texts use 'land of Hatti' loosely for all of Syria-Palestine, Israel included. The LXX renders the name as a people, 'the Chettite'.

From the study of Genesis 23:20

Range of meaning

"Sons of Heth": a people descended from Heth, son of Canaan (Gen 10:15). They live in the Hebron hill country in Genesis 23, 25:10, 27:46 and 49:32. Elsewhere the Bible speaks of "Hittites" (ḥittîm) among the peoples of Canaan (e.g. Gen 15:20) and of a northern Hittite kingdom (1 Kgs 10:29; 2 Kgs 7:6).

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT keep "sons/children of Heth". BSB, NIV and ESV say "Hittites", which modern readers link with the Anatolian empire of Hattusa in what is now Turkey.

How it drifted

Since archaeologists recovered the Anatolian Hittite empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, "Hittite" calls up that civilisation. The text, however, is describing a local group of Canaan.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 10:15; 23:3–20; 25:10; 27:46; 49:32. Their personal names here (Ephron, Zohar) are Semitic, not Anatolian, and Hebron lies far south of the Hittite heartland.

Where it appears

Genesis · 13

  1. Genesis 10:15 חֵֽת׃ Heth

    And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,

    Here: Heth, ancestor of the 'sons of Heth' (Gen 23), the people Israel called 'Hittites' (ḥitti). In Genesis they live around Hebron in the southern hill country and bear Semitic names. How they relate to the Hittite empire of Anatolia (modern Turkey) is debated.

  2. Genesis 23:3 חֵ֖ת Heth

    Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and said to the Hittites,

  3. Genesis 23:5 חֵ֛ת Heth

    The Hittites replied to Abraham,

  4. Genesis 23:7 חֵֽת׃ Heth

    Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites.

  5. Genesis 23:10 חֵ֑ת חֵ֔ת Heth

    Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth. So in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham,

  6. Genesis 23:16 חֵ֑ת Heth

    Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants.

    Here: The ancestor of the local population of Hebron (Gen 10:15 lists Heth as a son of Canaan). They are the community whose consent and witness make the sale valid.

  7. Genesis 23:18 חֵ֑ת Heth

    to Abraham’s possession in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city.

  8. Genesis 23:20 חֵֽת׃ ס Heth

    So the field and its cave were deeded by the Hittites to Abraham as a burial site.

    Here: Heth, listed in Genesis 10:15 as a son of Canaan. The "sons of Heth" are the local landowning people of Hebron, the people Abraham had to deal with to get land.

  9. Genesis 25:10 חֵ֑ת Heth

    This was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah.

    Here: The ancestor of the group that held land around Hebron. Genesis 10:15 lists him as a son of Canaan, so in the Bible's own family tree they are one of the peoples of Canaan.

  10. Genesis 27:46 חֵ֑ת חֵ֤ת Heth

    Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?”

  11. Genesis 49:32 חֵֽת׃ Heth

    The field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites.”

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 1:13 חֵֽת׃ Heth

    And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,

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