חֲשַׁח
cha.shach
to need
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# חֲשַׁח (chashach): A Rare Hebrew Term for Need The Hebrew word *chashach* appears only once in the biblical text, making it one of the rarest words in the Old Testament. According to the lexicon data provided, it carries the fundamental meaning "to need," expressing a state of lack or requirement. Its singular occurrence severely limits our ability to establish patterns of usage or nuance, as a single instance provides minimal context for understanding how the term functioned in Hebrew communication or theological discourse. Because *chashach* appears only one time in the biblical corpus, its significance remains largely undetermined. We cannot assess whether it was a technical term with specialized meaning, a poetic or archaic variant of more common expressions for need, or simply a word that fell out of regular usage. The scarcity of attestation means that readers encounter this term in isolation, without parallel passages or varied contexts that might illuminate its full semantic range or the specific circumstances that prompted its use in that particular verse.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
1 total occurrence across the text