chay · living, animal, life

What it means

chay (חַי) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “living, animal, life”.

Living, alive; also fresh (of water). As a noun, "living thing" or "animal" (above all wild animals); in the plural, "life".

How to say it

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. Having life, not dead.
2. The oath formula: "as YHWH lives", calling him to witness.
3. The span and strength of being alive, which come from God.
4. Literally "living thing": a creature, especially a wild one.
5. Literally "living": running water, uncooked meat.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Living, having life. BDB notes that from there it also means “fresh” (running water) and, as a noun, “life” or “living thing”. In the feminine, “animal”.

• Living; “a living being” Genesis 2:7
• Animal Genesis 1:24Genesis 3:14
• Life: “the tree of life” Genesis 2:9
• In oaths: “As YHWH lives”; “the living Elohim” 1 Kings 17:11 Samuel 17:26
• “Living water”: running water Genesis 26:19

How we translate it

“Life” 154 times, “living” 107, “lives” 62, “animals” 46, “alive” 42, “live” 36, “animal” 32. חַיָּה alone is translated “animal”, without adding “wild”. The oath חַי יְהוָה is translated “As YHWH lives”, and אֱלֹהִים חַי, “the living Elohim”.

How it is translated

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

• life ×154
• living ×107
• lives ×62
• animals ×46
• alive ×42
• live ×36
• animal ×32
• raw ×6
• next year ×4
• beast ×3
• others ×7

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×66
• Exodus×9
• Leviticus×33
• Numbers×7
• Deuteronomy×21
• Joshua×4
• Judges×2
• Ruth×2
• 1 Samuel×26
• 2 Samuel×23
• 1 Kings×26
• 2 Kings×21
• 2 Chronicles×5
• Job×24
• Psalms×51
• Proverbs×34
• Ecclesiastes×21
• Song of Songs×1
• Isaiah×19
• Jeremiah×23
• Lamentations×3
• Ezekiel×59
• Daniel×3
• Hosea×6
• Amos×2
• Jonah×3
• Zephaniah×3
• Zechariah×1
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 1:20

  And Elohim said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living beings, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the vault of the heavens.”

• Genesis 1:21

  And Elohim created the great sea monsters and every living being that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good.

• 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 1:25

  And Elohim made the animals of the earth according to their kind, and the livestock according to their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good.

• Genesis 1:28

  And Elohim blessed them, and Elohim said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every animal that creeps on the earth.”

• 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 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 2:9

  And YHWH Elohim made every tree sprout from the ground that is pleasing to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

• Genesis 2:19

  And YHWH Elohim formed from the ground every animal of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called it, as a living being, that was its name.

• Genesis 2:20

  And the man gave names to all the livestock and to the birds of the sky and to every animal of the field; but for Adam there was not found a helper corresponding to him.

• 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 3:14

  And YHWH Elohim said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you from among all the livestock and from among every animal of the field; on your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life.

• Genesis 3:17

  And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; with toil you will eat from it all the days of your life.

• 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 3:24

  And he drove out the man, and he stationed east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the flame of the sword that turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

• Genesis 6:17

  And I, look, I am bringing the flood of waters on the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the spirit of life, from under the heavens; everything that is on the earth will perish.

• Genesis 6:19

  And of every living thing, of all flesh, two of every kind you shall bring into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.

• Genesis 7:11

  In the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the springs of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

• Genesis 7:14

  they, and every animal according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every bird, every winged creature.

• Genesis 7:15

  And they came to Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh in which is the spirit of life.

• Genesis 7:21

  And all flesh that moved on the earth perished: birds, livestock, animals, and all the swarming things that swarm on the earth, and all human beings.

• Genesis 7:22

  Everything that had the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils, of all that was on dry land, died.

• Genesis 8:1

  And Elohim remembered Noah and all the animals and all the livestock that were with him in the ark; and Elohim made a wind pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.

• Genesis 8:17

  Every animal that is with you, of all flesh, birds and livestock and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, bring out with you, and let them swarm on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

• Genesis 8:19

  Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, by their families went out of the ark.

• Genesis 8:21

  And YHWH smelled the pleasing aroma, and YHWH said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human being, for the inclination of the heart of the human being is evil from his youth; and I will never again strike every living thing, as I have done.

• Genesis 9:2

  And the fear and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth and on every bird of the sky, on everything that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are given.

• Genesis 9:3

  Every creeping thing that is alive will be food for you; as the green plants, I give you everything.

• Genesis 9:5

  And surely your blood, for your lives, I will require; from the hand of every animal I will require it, and from the hand of the human being, from the hand of each one for his brother, I will require the life of the human being.

• Genesis 9:10

  and with every living being that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you, of all that came out of the ark, to every animal of the earth.

• Genesis 9:12

  And Elohim said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I am giving between me and you and every living being that is with you, for generations forever:

• Genesis 9:15

  that I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living being of all flesh; and the waters will never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

• Genesis 9:16

  And the bow will be in the cloud, and I will see it to remember the eternal covenant between Elohim and every living being of all flesh that is on the earth.”

• Genesis 18:10

  Then he said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year, and look, Sarah your wife will have a son.” Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, and it was behind him.

• Genesis 18:14

  Is anything too hard for YHWH? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

• Genesis 23:1

  The life of Sarah was a hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.

• Genesis 25:6

  But to the sons of the concubines that were Abraham’s, Abraham gave gifts, and he sent them away from Isaac his son, while he was still alive, eastward, to the land of the east.

• Genesis 25:7

  These are the days of the years of the life of Abraham which he lived: a hundred and seventy and five years.

• Genesis 25:17

  These are the years of the life of Ishmael: a hundred and thirty and seven years. He breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people.

And 459 more times.