לְחִי
le.chi
jaw
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# לְחִי (Lechi): The Jaw in Ancient Hebrew The Hebrew word *lechi* refers to the jaw, appearing twenty times throughout the biblical text. This anatomical term designates a specific part of the head structure, making it a straightforward, literal descriptor rather than a metaphorical or symbolic concept. The relatively modest number of occurrences suggests that while the word was part of the standard Hebrew vocabulary, jaw-specific references were not a dominant feature of biblical discourse. The practical significance of this term lies in its use within narratives involving physical conflict or bodily description. Because the jaw is both a prominent facial feature and a vulnerable point of contact in ancient combat, references to the jaw often appear in contexts where physical violence or striking is described. The word allowed biblical writers to specify the location or nature of bodily harm with anatomical precision, making it particularly useful in historical and narrative accounts where such details mattered for clarity. In essence, *lechi* functions as a standard anatomical vocabulary item—neither rare nor extensively elaborated—that enabled Hebrew speakers and writers to discuss the human body with specificity when circumstances required such detail.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
20 total occurrences across the text
They have gaped on me with their mouth. They have struck me on the cheek reproachfully. They gather themselves together against me.
Job 41:2Can you put a rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw through with a hook?
Psalms 3:7Arise, Yahweh! Save me, my God! For you have struck all of my enemies on the cheek bone. You have broken the teeth of the wicked.
Song of Solomon 1:10Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels.
Song of Solomon 5:13His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes. His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.
Isaiah 30:28His breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction. A bridle that leads to ruin will be in the jaws of the peoples.
Isaiah 50:6I gave my back to those who beat me, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair. I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting.
Lamentations 1:2She weeps bitterly in the night. Her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They have become her enemies.
Lamentations 3:30Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach.
Ezekiel 29:4I will put hooks in your jaws, and I will make the fish of your rivers stick to your scales. I will bring you up out of the middle of your rivers, with all the fish of your rivers which stick to your scales.
Ezekiel 38:4I will turn you around, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords;
Hosea 11:4I drew them with cords of a man, with ties of love; and I was to them like those who lift up the yoke on their necks; and I bent down to him and I fed him.
Micah 5:1Now you shall gather yourself in troops, daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.
Deuteronomy 18:3This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest: the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the inner parts.
Judges 15:15He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, put out his hand, took it, and struck a thousand men with it.
Judges 15:16Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps on heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck a thousand men.”
Judges 15:16Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps on heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck a thousand men.”
Judges 15:17When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone out of his hand; and that place was called Ramath Lehi.
1 Kings 22:24Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “Which way did Yahweh’s Spirit go from me to speak to you?”
2 Chronicles 18:23Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “Which way did Yahweh’s Spirit go from me to speak to you?”