אֲחִידָה
a.chi.dah
riddle
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# The Hebrew Word for Riddle (H2420) The Hebrew word *achidah* denotes a riddle—a statement or question posed in deliberately obscured or mysterious language that requires interpretation to understand. Based on its seventeen occurrences in biblical texts, this term represents a specific communicative form rather than simply unclear speech. The word carries the sense of something intentionally hidden or concealed within language, demanding intellectual engagement from the listener to unlock its meaning. The relatively modest frequency of *achidah* in the biblical corpus suggests that riddles occupied a particular niche in Hebrew communication—significant enough to merit a distinct vocabulary term, yet not so common as to be ordinary. This pattern indicates that riddles were recognized as a specialized form of discourse, likely associated with wisdom traditions, tests of understanding, or rhetorical challenges between speakers. The formal designation of this specific word demonstrates that ancient Hebrew speakers distinguished between ordinary obscure speech and the deliberate, structured puzzle-form that a riddle represents.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
17 total occurrences across the text
I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will solve my riddle on the harp.
Psalms 78:2I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old,
Proverbs 1:6to understand a proverb, and parables, the words and riddles of the wise.
Ezekiel 17:2“Son of man, tell a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel;
Daniel 8:23“In the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have come to the full, a king of fierce face, and understanding dark sentences, will stand up.
Habakkuk 2:6Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?’
Numbers 12:8With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see Yahweh’s form. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”
Judges 14:12Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle now. If you can tell me the answer within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing;
Judges 14:13but if you can’t tell me the answer, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.” They said to him, “Tell us your riddle, that we may hear it.”
Judges 14:14He said to them, “Out of the eater came out food. Out of the strong came out sweetness.” They couldn’t in three days declare the riddle.
Judges 14:15On the seventh day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband, that he may declare to us the riddle, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you called us to impoverish us? Isn’t that so?”
Judges 14:16Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, “You just hate me, and don’t love me. You’ve told a riddle to the children of my people, and haven’t told it to me.” He said to her, “Behold, I haven’t told my father or my mother, so why should I tell you?”
Judges 14:17She wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted; and on the seventh day, he told her, because she pressed him severely; and she told the riddle to the children of her people.
Judges 14:18The men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” He said to them, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have found out my riddle.”
Judges 14:19Yahweh’s Spirit came mightily on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck thirty men of them. He took their plunder, then gave the changes of clothing to those who declared the riddle. His anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house.
1 Kings 10:1When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning Yahweh’s name, she came to test him with hard questions.
2 Chronicles 9:1When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to test Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great caravan, including camels that bore spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones. When she had come to Solomon, she talked with him about all that was in her heart.