חָשָׁה
cha.shah (H2814)
be silent
AI Word Study
# Analysis of חָשָׁה (cha.shah) The Hebrew word חָשָׁה carries the basic meaning "be silent" and appears 16 times throughout the biblical text. This relatively modest frequency suggests it represents a specific concept rather than a general or common notion, indicating that biblical writers reached for this particular term when silence held particular weight or significance in their narratives. The verb's limited but deliberate usage points to silence as a meaningful state worthy of explicit mention. Rather than being a neutral absence of sound, the word marks moments where quietness becomes noteworthy enough to record—whether as a response to divine communication, a reaction to judgment, or a state imposed by circumstances. The consistent choice to employ this specific term across 16 different biblical passages suggests the concept of being silent carried theological or narrative importance for Hebrew speakers and writers. Without additional context from specific passages, the data indicates that חָשָׁה functioned as a straightforward verbal expression for the act or state of becoming or remaining silent. Its selective use throughout Scripture suggests biblical authors recognized silence as a distinct and sometimes significant element of human and divine interaction.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
They said, “Arise, and let’s go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. Do you stand still? Don’t be slothful to go and to enter in to possess the land.
The king of Israel said to his servants, “You know that Ramoth Gilead is ours, and we do nothing, and don’t take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?”
The sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that Yahweh will take away your master from your head today?” He said, “Yes, I know it. Hold your peace.”
The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came near to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that Yahweh will take away your master from your head today?” He answered, “Yes, I know it. Hold your peace.”
Then they said to one another, “We aren’t doing right. Today is a day of good news, and we keep silent. If we wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let’s go and tell the king’s household.”
So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Hold your peace, for the day is holy. Don’t be grieved.”
To you, Yahweh, I call. My rock, don’t be deaf to me, lest, if you are silent to me, I would become like those who go down into the pit.
I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred.
He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still.
a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
“I have been silent a long time. I have been quiet and restrained myself. Now I will cry out like a travailing woman. I will both gasp and pant.
“Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lie, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? Haven’t I held my peace for a long time, and you don’t fear me?
For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning lamp.
I have set watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem. They will never be silent day nor night. You who call on Yahweh, take no rest,
Will you hold yourself back for these things, Yahweh? Will you keep silent and punish us very severely?
“Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will repay, yes, I will repay into their bosom,