chanan · be gracious

What it means

chanan (חָנַן) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “be gracious”.

Show favor: treat someone with a kindness he has not earned; have compassion. In another form, plead for favor.

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. To treat someone with undeserved kindness.
2. To beg someone for mercy.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To show favor: to show kindness or grace to someone who has not earned it, to have compassion on him; in a reflexive form, to plead, to ask for favor. BDB: to favor, bestow; reflexively, to implore. Of the same root are חֵן, “favor” (H2580), חַנּוּן, “gracious”, and the name Hannah.

• “May YHWH… show you favor”: the blessing Numbers 6:25
• “I will favor whom I favor” Exodus 33:19
• “Show me favor”: the plea in the Psalms Psalms 51:1Psalms 4:1
• God favors with children and goods Genesis 33:5
• Pleading: the brother who pleaded; the people who make supplication in the temple Genesis 42:211 Kings 8:33

How we translate it

“Show me favor” 22 times, “favor” 21, “show us favor” 5, “show you favor” 4; “make supplication” 5, “pleaded” 5 and “plead” 4 in the reflexive form. This edition keeps חָנַן = “favor” apart from רִחַם = “have mercy” (“I will favor whom I favor, and I will have mercy on whom I have mercy”, Exodus 33:19), and הִתְחַנֵּן is “make supplication”. Between persons it is also “show favor” (Deuteronomy 7:2; Proverbs 14:31).

How it is translated

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

• show me favor ×22
• favor ×21
• make supplication ×5
• pleaded ×5
• show us favor ×5
• plead ×4
• show you favor ×4
• gracious ×3
• has favored ×2
• I have made supplication ×1
• others ×6

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×4
• Exodus×2
• Numbers×1
• Deuteronomy×3
• Judges×1
• 2 Samuel×1
• 1 Kings×4
• 2 Kings×2
• 2 Chronicles×2
• Esther×2
• Job×7
• Psalms×32
• Proverbs×6
• Isaiah×6
• Jeremiah×1
• Lamentations×1
• Hosea×1
• Amos×1
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 33:5

  He lifted his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, “Who are these with you?” He said, “The children with whom Elohim has favored your servant.”

• Genesis 33:11

  Please take my blessing that has been brought to you, for Elohim has favored me and because I have everything.” He urged him, and he took it.

• Genesis 42:21

  They said to one another, “Indeed we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”

• Genesis 43:29

  He lifted his eyes and saw Benjamin his brother, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “May Elohim show you favor, my son.”

• Exodus 33:19

  And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of YHWH before you; and I will favor whom I favor, and I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.”

• Numbers 6:25

  may YHWH make his face shine on you and show you favor;

• Deuteronomy 3:23

  At that time I pleaded with YHWH, saying,

• Deuteronomy 7:2

  and YHWH your Elohim delivers them before you and you strike them, you shall devote them completely to destruction. You shall not make a covenant with them or show them favor.

• Deuteronomy 28:50

  a nation fierce of face, which will not show regard for the old and will not favor the young.

• Judges 21:22

  And it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to quarrel with us, that we will say to them, ‘Show us favor regarding them, for we did not take for each man his wife in the war; for you did not give them to them; otherwise now you would be guilty.’”

• 2 Samuel 12:22

  He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether YHWH will show me favor, and the child will live?’

• 1 Kings 8:33

  When your people Israel are struck down before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they return to you and give thanks to your name and pray and make supplication to you in this house,

• 1 Kings 8:47

  and they bring it back to their heart in the land where they have been carried captive, and they return and make supplication to you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned, and we have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly’;

• 1 Kings 8:59

  And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before YHWH, be near to YHWH our Elohim day and night, that he may do justice for his servant and justice for his people Israel, the matter of each day in its day,

• 1 Kings 9:3

  And YHWH said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication with which you made supplication before me; I have consecrated this house that you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart will be there all the days.

• 2 Kings 1:13

  Again he sent a third commander of fifty with his fifty. The third commander of fifty went up and came and knelt on his knees before Elijah and pleaded with him and spoke to him, “Man of Elohim, please, let my life and the life of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your eyes.

• 2 Kings 13:23

  But YHWH showed favor to them and had mercy on them and turned toward them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he was not willing to destroy them, and he did not cast them from before his face until now.

• 2 Chronicles 6:24

  And if your people Israel is struck down before an enemy because they have sinned against you, and they return and give thanks to your name and pray and make supplication before you in this house,

• 2 Chronicles 6:37

  and they bring it back to their heart in the land where they have been carried captive, and they return and make supplication to you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, and we have acted wickedly,’

• Esther 4:8

  And the copy of the writing of the law that had been given in Susa to destroy them he gave to him, to show Esther and to make it known to her, and to command her to go in to the king to implore him and to petition before him for her people.

• Esther 8:3

  And Esther spoke again before the king, and fell before his feet, and wept and implored him to take away the evil of Haman the Agagite and his plot that he had plotted against the Jews.

• Job 8:5

  If you will seek El and plead with Shaddai,

• Job 9:15

  Though I were righteous, I could not answer; to my judge I would plead.

• Job 19:16

  I call to my slave, and he does not answer; with my mouth I plead with him.

• Job 19:17

  My breath is strange to my wife, and I plead with the sons of my belly.

• Job 19:21

  Show me favor, show me favor, you my companions, for the hand of Eloah has touched me.

• Job 33:24

  then he shows him favor and says, ‘Rescue him from going down to the pit; I have found compensation,’

• Psalms 4:1

  For the director. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David. When I call, answer me, Elohim of my righteousness. In distress you gave me room; show me favor and hear my prayer.

• Psalms 6:2

  Show me favor, YHWH, for I am languishing; heal me, YHWH, for my bones are dismayed.

• Psalms 9:13

  Show me favor, YHWH; see my affliction because of those who hate me, you who lift me up from the gates of death,

• Psalms 25:16

  Turn to me and show me favor, for I am alone and afflicted.

• Psalms 26:11

  But I in my integrity will walk; ransom me and show me favor.

• Psalms 27:7

  Hear, YHWH, my voice when I call, and show me favor and answer me.

• Psalms 30:8

  To you, YHWH, I called, and to Adonai I pleaded:

• Psalms 30:10

  Hear, YHWH, and show me favor; YHWH, be my helper.

• Psalms 31:9

  Show me favor, YHWH, for I am in distress; my eye has wasted away with grief, my soul and my belly.

• Psalms 37:21

  The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous shows favor and gives.

• Psalms 37:26

  All the day he shows favor and lends, and his offspring is for a blessing.

• Psalms 41:4

  I said, “YHWH, show me favor; heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.”

• Psalms 41:10

  But you, YHWH, show me favor and raise me up, and I will repay them.

And 38 more times.