Grow With Me
Grow With Me

הָיָה

haya · be, become, happen

Hebrew word · Strong’s number H1961 · appears 3561 times in the Bible

What is the Strong number?Strong’s number identifies this word: use it to find the same word in other study tools.

What it means

haya (הָיָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “be, become, happen”.

Be, exist; also "become" or "happen". It is the verb of "there was", "it was" and "it came to pass".

How to say it

ha·ya

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

  1. For something to occur or take place; many stories open with this word.
  2. To turn into something new, or fall upon someone.
  3. To exist: "let there be light".
  4. To be: "I will be their Elohim".

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Be, exist, become, happen. It is not a mere linking verb: Hebrew usually leaves out “is” in a sentence, and when it does use this verb it says that something exists, happens or comes to be. In the Aramaic parts of Ezra and Daniel the matching verb is הֲוָא (H1934), with its own note.

Historical and cultural background

The text itself puts this verb side by side with the name YHWH in Exodus 3:14-15.

How we translate it

It has no single rendering, because English needs different verbs: “be” 662 times, “will be” 517, “was” 478, “were” 250, “it happened” 246, “came” 198 (above all in “the word of YHWH came”), “become” and “became” 188. Often the formula “and it happened, when…” is reduced to a plain “When” (89 times). In Exodus 3:14 this edition translates אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה “I will be who I will be”, and where אֶהְיֶה is used as a name it leaves it transliterated, “Ehyeh”, with a note.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

  • be ×662
  • will be ×517
  • was ×478
  • were ×250
  • it happened ×246
  • came ×198
  • had ×104
  • become ×96
  • became ×92
  • When ×89
  • others ×825

Related words

Comes from

Words that come from it

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

  • Genesis 1:2

    Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of Elohim was hovering over the surface of the waters.

  • Genesis 1:3

    And Elohim said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

  • Genesis 1:5

    And Elohim called the light “Day,” and the darkness he called “Night.” And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

  • Genesis 1:6

    And Elohim said, “Let there be a vault in the middle of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”

  • Genesis 1:7

    And Elohim made the vault and separated the waters that were under the vault from the waters that were above the vault. And it was so.

  • Genesis 1:8

    And Elohim called the vault “Heavens.” And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

  • Genesis 1:9

    And Elohim said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry ground appear.” And it was so.

  • Genesis 1:11

    And Elohim said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit according to its kind, that has its seed in it, on the earth.” And it was so.

  • Genesis 1:13

    And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

  • Genesis 1:14

    And Elohim said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for appointed times and for days and years;

  • Genesis 1:15

    and let them be lights in the vault of the heavens to give light on the earth.” And it was so.

  • Genesis 1:19

    And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

  • Genesis 1:23

    And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

  • Genesis 1:24

    And Elohim said, “Let the earth bring forth living beings according to their kind: livestock and creeping things and animals of the earth according to their kind.” And it was so.

  • Genesis 1:29

    And Elohim said, “Look, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree that has fruit yielding seed; it will be food for you.

  • Genesis 1:30

    And to every animal of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that creeps on the earth, that has life, I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

  • Genesis 1:31

    And Elohim saw everything that he had made, and look, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

  • Genesis 2:5

    Now no shrub of the field was yet on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for YHWH Elohim had not sent rain on the earth, and there was no human being to work the ground;

  • Genesis 2:7

    And YHWH Elohim formed the man from dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.

  • Genesis 2:10

    And a river went out from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four branches.

  • Genesis 2:18

    And YHWH Elohim said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make for him a helper corresponding to him.”

  • Genesis 2:24

    That is why a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.

  • Genesis 2:25

    And the two of them, the man and his wife, were naked, and they were not ashamed.

  • Genesis 3:1

    Now the serpent was more shrewd than any animal of the field that YHWH Elohim had made. And it said to the woman, “Did Elohim really say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

  • Genesis 3:5

    for Elohim knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Elohim, knowing good and evil.”

  • Genesis 3:20

    And the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

  • Genesis 3:22

    And YHWH Elohim said, “Look, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, so that he does not reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever—”

  • Genesis 4:2

    And again she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel became a keeper of flocks, and Cain was a worker of the ground.

  • Genesis 4:3

    And it happened at the end of some days that Cain brought from the fruit of the ground an offering to YHWH.

  • Genesis 4:8

    And Cain said to Abel his brother … And it happened, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

  • Genesis 4:12

    When you work the ground, it will no longer give its strength to you; a wanderer and a drifter you will be on the earth.”

  • Genesis 4:14

    Look, you have driven me out today from the face of the ground, and from your presence I will be hidden; and I will be a wanderer and a drifter on the earth, and it will happen that whoever finds me will kill me.”

  • Genesis 4:17

    And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. And he was building a city, and he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

  • Genesis 4:20

    And Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and have livestock.

  • Genesis 4:21

    And the name of his brother was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the lyre and the pipe.

  • Genesis 5:4

    And the days of Adam after he fathered Seth were eight hundred years; and he fathered sons and daughters.

  • Genesis 5:5

    And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.

  • Genesis 5:8

    And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years and he died.

  • Genesis 5:11

    And all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years and he died.

  • Genesis 5:14

    And all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years and he died.

And 3521 more times.