חִיאֵל
𐤇𐤉𐤀𐤋
Chiel
H2419 noun
SILEX Entry
Definition
Proper noun; personal name: Hiel. The name likely means 'El (God) lives' or 'life of El,' referring to divine life, vitality from God, or 'El is living.' Used as the name of an Israelite figure (specifically Hiel of Bethel). The name may express devotion or ascribe the quality of life to El (God), but in the biblical context, it serves as a theophoric personal name.
Semantic Range
proper name (personal name), 'El lives,' 'life of El,' 'living is God,' 'Hiel'
Root / Etymology
Compound of חַי (ḥay, 'living, alive') and אֵל (ʾēl, 'El' or 'God'). The root חיה (ḥ-y-h) means 'to live, have life.' The form is a theophoric construction ('El lives' or 'living is El').
Historical & Contextual Notes
חִיאֵל (Chîyʼêl) appears only in 1 Kings 16:34, identified as 'Hiel of Bethel,' the man who rebuilt Jericho at the cost of his sons, as pronounced by Joshua. The standard English form 'Hiel' is a transliteration, but the Hebrew structure connects it to a broader class of Israelite names that incorporate the divine name El as an element and connect it to a quality or action, in this case, vitality or living. The name is typical of personal names from the monarchic period that express theological ideas or divine attributes. While later translations and traditions sometimes use variants of the name, its function in biblical texts is strictly as a unique personal name of an Israelite from Bethel, with no other connotations or appearances in the Hebrew Bible.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
from חַי and אֵל; living of God; Chiel, an Israelite; Hiel.
Bantu Hebrew
No Bantu Hebrew comparisons have been submitted for this word yet.
+ Add Bantu Hebrew WordRoot Family
חיה, אל (ḥ-y-h; ʾ-l) — to live, be alive; god, mighty one
| Strong's | Lemma | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|
| H3171 | יְחִיאֵל | and El-Lives |
Word Forms
1 distinct form
| SIDANCE | Surface | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H2419-01 |
חִיאֵ֛ל | chiel | HNp |
Hiel | El Lives | 1 |
Occurrences in Scripture
1 total occurrence
| SIDANCE | Reference | Word | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H2419-01 |
1 Kings 16:34 | חִיאֵ֛ל | chiel | HNp |
Hiel | El Lives |