Hebrew word · H2863
חֶ֫תֶף
kechetef
robber
The noun occurs only once in the Hebrew Bible. Its root ḥ-t-p means to seize or snatch suddenly: the verb appears in Job 9:12 ("he snatches away; who can stop him?"). The same root is found in Aramaic and later Hebrew. The noun can be read two ways.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) prey
2) (CLBL) robber
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 Proverbs 23:28
- Range of meaning
The noun occurs only once in the Hebrew Bible. Its root ḥ-t-p means to seize or snatch suddenly: the verb appears in Job 9:12 ("he snatches away; who can stop him?"). The same root is found in Aramaic and later Hebrew. The noun can be read two ways. As an agent noun it means "a snatcher, robber" (HALOT and most modern versions). As an abstract noun it means "robbery" or "prey": the older lexicon BDB lists "prey," and this lies behind the KJV.
- Against the English
BSB, WEB, NASB and ESV have "robber" and NIV has "bandit." These make her the attacker. KJV "as [for] a prey" and YLT "as catching prey" make the victim her prey, which sounds more like hunting. Both pictures fit the root. "Robber" fits the verb "lie in ambush" best, since in Hebrew it is people who set ambushes.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Job 9:12 has the verb. In later Hebrew and Aramaic the root gives words for snatching, and also an adverb meaning "suddenly." The Septuagint's "quickly" (syntomōs) probably comes from that adverb sense. The Vulgate has "like a robber" (quasi latro).
Where it appears
Proverbs · 1
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Proverbs 23:28 כְּחֶ֣תֶף like a robber
Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.
Here: "Like a snatcher" or "like a robbery." The word appears only here in the Bible. It comes from a root meaning to grab or seize suddenly, so the picture is a bandit who jumps out and takes his victim.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.