חוֹב
𐤇𐤅𐤁
chôwb
H2326 noun
SILEX Entry
Definition
Obligation arising from a failure to fulfill a duty, specifically a debt or what is owed—often a financial or material liability, but can refer more broadly to any legal or moral obligation. In most biblical contexts, refers to unpaid dues or borrowings that the debtor is bound to repay to the creditor.
Semantic Range
debt, obligation, liability, what is owed, responsibility, result of failure to fulfill duty
Root / Etymology
Derived from the root חוב, which encompasses the ideas of incurring liability, becoming guilty, or being under obligation. The noun form, חוֹב, points specifically to that which is owed as a result of this incurrence, typically a debt or liability.
Historical & Contextual Notes
חוֹב appears rarely in the Hebrew Bible, and its occurrences are generally in legal or poetic contexts. The term is distinct from other Hebrew words for debt, such as מַשָּׁא (mashsha’, loan) or נָשָׁא (nasha’, to lend/credit). While חוֹב denotes the entity of debt or obligation itself, it does not always specify the material (e.g., money, grain) without further context. In post-biblical Hebrew (especially in the Mishnah and Talmud), חוֹב becomes the standard term for debt or a formal obligation, extending its usage considerably. Standard English translations accurately represent the financial dimension with 'debt,' but often miss the broader sense of obligation possible in the earlier forms of the word. In many ancient Israelite contexts, debt was not only economic but carried social and moral implications, impacting kinship, land tenure, and personal freedom. Later translations sometimes use 'debtor' for those bound by חוֹב, though this is a derived meaning based on legal context. In the biblical period, the term did not carry the pejorative sense sometimes present in later language. See also חוּב (Huwb, the verb: to be guilty, to incur liability).
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
from חוּב; debt; debtor.
Bantu Hebrew
No Bantu Hebrew comparisons have been submitted for this word yet.
+ Add Bantu Hebrew WordRoot Family
חוב (ḥ-w-b) — to incur debt, be liable, be guilty
| Strong's | Lemma | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|
| H2325 | חוּב | and you made liable |
Word Forms
1 distinct form
| SIDANCE | Surface | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H2326-01 |
חוֹב֙ | chov | HNcmsa |
debtor | debt-obligation | 1 |
Occurrences in Scripture
1 total occurrence
| SIDANCE | Reference | Word | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H2326-01 |
Ezekiel 18:7 | חוֹב֙ | chov | HNcmsa |
debtor | debt-obligation |