הֵן
hen
look!
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Analysis of הֵן (hen) – "Look!" The Hebrew word הֵן is an interjection that functions as a command to direct attention. Its primary meaning, "look," places it in the category of words designed to arrest a listener's focus and prepare them for important information. With 316 occurrences throughout the biblical text, this word demonstrates considerable frequency, suggesting it served as a common and valued tool for drawing attention in Hebrew discourse. The high frequency of this interjection indicates that biblical authors regularly employed it to signal forthcoming significant content—whether announcements, warnings, revelations, or pivotal events. Rather than being peripheral to biblical communication, הֵן appears to be foundational to how speakers and writers structured their messages to achieve impact. Its repeated use suggests that the rhetorical strategy of commanding attention before delivering important information was central to biblical Hebrew communication patterns. The word's simplicity and directness—functioning as a single-word call to alertness—demonstrates an economical approach to managing audience attention in ancient texts. By serving this focused, functional role across hundreds of biblical passages, הֵן exemplifies how ancient Hebrew relied on concise interjections to shape the reception of what followed, making it a linguistically significant element of biblical discourse structure.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
316 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
Tomorrow, go down against them. Behold, they are coming up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel.
2 Chronicles 20:24When Judah came to the place overlooking the wilderness, they looked at the multitude; and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and there were none who escaped.
2 Chronicles 20:34Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the history of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is included in the book of the kings of Israel.
2 Chronicles 24:27Now concerning his sons, the greatness of the burdens laid on him, and the rebuilding of God’s house, behold, they are written in the commentary of the book of the kings. Amaziah his son reigned in his place.
2 Chronicles 25:26Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, behold, aren’t they written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel?
2 Chronicles 27:7Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
2 Chronicles 28:26Now the rest of his acts, and all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
2 Chronicles 29:19Moreover have we prepared and sanctified all the vessels which king Ahaz threw away in his reign, when he was unfaithful. Behold, they are before Yahweh’s altar.”
2 Chronicles 32:32Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his good deeds, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
2 Chronicles 33:18Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, behold, they are written among the acts of the kings of Israel.
2 Chronicles 33:19His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places in which he built high places, and set up the Asherah poles and the engraved images, before he humbled himself: behold, they are written in the history of Hozai.
2 Chronicles 34:24“Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will bring evil on this place, and on its inhabitants, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah.
2 Chronicles 34:28“Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes won’t see all the evil that I will bring on this place and on its inhabitants.” ’ ” They brought back word to the king.
2 Chronicles 35:25Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel. Behold, they are written in the lamentations.
2 Chronicles 35:27and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
2 Chronicles 36:8Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah; and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.
Ezra 9:15Yahweh, the God of Israel, you are righteous; for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guiltiness; for no one can stand before you because of this.”
Job 2:6Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.”
Job 4:18Behold, he puts no trust in his servants. He charges his angels with error.
Job 8:19Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others will spring.
Job 8:20“Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evildoers.
Job 9:11Behold, he goes by me, and I don’t see him. He passes on also, but I don’t perceive him.
Job 9:12Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
Job 12:14Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
Job 12:15Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
Job 13:1“Behold, my eye has seen all this. My ear has heard and understood it.
Job 13:15Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.
Job 15:15Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones. Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight;
Job 19:7“Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice.
Job 21:16Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
Job 21:27“Behold, I know your thoughts, the plans with which you would wrong me.
Job 23:8“If I go east, he is not there; if west, I can’t find him;
Job 24:5Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children.
Job 25:5Behold, even the moon has no brightness, and the stars are not pure in his sight;
Job 26:14Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. How small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”
Job 27:12Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?
Job 28:28To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’ ”
Job 31:35oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment!
Job 32:11“Behold, I waited for your words, and I listened for your reasoning, while you searched out what to say.
Job 33:6Behold, I am toward God even as you are. I am also formed out of the clay.
Job 33:10Behold, he finds occasions against me. He counts me for his enemy.
Job 33:12“Behold, I will answer you. In this you are not just, for God is greater than man.
Job 33:29“Behold, God does all these things, twice, yes three times, with a man,
Job 36:5“Behold, God is mighty, and doesn’t despise anyone. He is mighty in strength of understanding.
Job 36:22Behold, God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him?
Job 36:26Behold, God is great, and we don’t know him. The number of his years is unsearchable.
Job 36:30Behold, he spreads his light around him. He covers the bottom of the sea.
Job 38:35Can you send out lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are?’
Job 40:4“Behold, I am of small account. What will I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.
Job 40:23Behold, if a river overflows, he doesn’t tremble. He is confident, though the Jordan swells even to his mouth.