Lexicon
חָכָה
cha.khah
H2442
H:V Hebrew

to wait

14
Occurrences
8
Books
Hebrew
Language

cha.khah denotes awaiting a person, counsel, event, or outcome, and in one context lying in wait to attack.

The attested use chiefly concerns awaiting someone or something pending: people wait for the LORD, for counsel, for a vision, for death, or before speaking. One occurrence places the term in a comparison involving bands of men lying in wait on a road.

Senses in use

  1. Awaiting a person, counsel, or outcome · dominant

    The term marks remaining in expectation of what is pending. In Isaiah 8:17, a sequential perfect occurs in the resolve to wait for the LORD; in Psalm 106:13, the plural perfect is negated in the clause that they did not wait for his counsel. Imperatives direct waiting for a delayed vision in Habakkuk 2:3 and for the LORD's declared day in Zephaniah 3:8, while the participle in Daniel 12:12 describes the person who waits until the stated number of days.

  2. Lying in wait · rare

    In Hosea 6:9, the infinitive construct occurs in a comparison: the APB renders bands of men who “lie in wait,” alongside the account of priests murdering on the way to Shechem. This is an ambush-like use rather than patient expectation.

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the term with “wait,” including waiting for the LORD, counsel, a vision, or death; it also renders the Hosea 6:9 comparison as “lie in wait.” These renderings confirm the clauses' overall presentation rather than define each token independently.

Passages featuring this word

Across Scripture