chara · burn with anger

What it means

chara (חָרָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “burn with anger”.

Burn, be kindled; said of a person, become very angry.

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. For YHWH's anger to be kindled like a fire against someone.
2. For a person to feel strong anger at someone or something.
3. To labor at a work with great spirit.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To burn, be kindled; said of anger, to flare up, and of a person, to become very angry. BDB: to glow, to blaze; figuratively, to be kindled with anger, zeal or jealousy.

• “The anger of YHWH burned” Exodus 4:14Numbers 11:1
• “Let me alone, so that my anger may burn” Exodus 32:10
• A person grows angry: Cain Genesis 4:5
• “Do you do well to be angry?” Jonah 4:4Jonah 4:9
• “Do not get heated”: do not fret Psalms 37:1

How we translate it

“Burned” 47 times, almost always with “anger” (אַף, H639): “the anger of YHWH burned against Moses” (Exodus 4:14). “Angry” 10 and “be angry” 7 when the subject is the person (“Cain was very angry”, Genesis 4:5), “incensed” 7, and “get heated” in the counsel of Psalm 37:1.

How it is translated

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

• burned ×47
• angry ×10
• burn ×8
• be angry ×7
• incensed ×7
• be kindled ×3
• get heated ×3
• burns ×2
• fret ×1
• he has kindled ×1
• others ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×11
• Exodus×6
• Numbers×11
• Deuteronomy×5
• Joshua×2
• Judges×7
• 1 Samuel×7
• 2 Samuel×8
• 2 Kings×2
• 1 Chronicles×2
• 2 Chronicles×2
• Nehemiah×4
• Job×6
• Psalms×6
• Proverbs×1
• Isaiah×3
• Hosea×1
• Jonah×4
• Habakkuk×1
• Zechariah×1

• Genesis 4:5

  but Cain and his offering he did not regard. And Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

• Genesis 4:6

  And YHWH said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?

• Genesis 18:30

  Then he said, “Please let Adonai not be angry, and I will speak: perhaps thirty will be found there.” He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

• Genesis 18:32

  He said, “Please let Adonai not be angry, and I will speak only this once: perhaps ten will be found there.” He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

• Genesis 30:2

  Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of Elohim, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

• Genesis 31:35

  She said to her father, “Do not let my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the teraphim.

• Genesis 31:36

  Then Jacob became angry and quarreled with Laban. Jacob answered and said to Laban, “What is my transgression? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?

• Genesis 34:7

  The sons of Jacob came from the field when they heard it, and the men were grieved and very angry, because he had done an outrage in Israel by lying with the daughter of Jacob, and such a thing is not done.

• Genesis 39:19

  When his lord heard the words of his wife that she spoke to him, saying, “According to these words your slave treated me,” his anger burned.

• Genesis 44:18

  Then Judah approached him and said, “Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word in the ears of my lord, and do not let your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh.

• Genesis 45:5

  And now, do not be distressed, and do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for to preserve life Elohim sent me before you.

• Exodus 4:14

  Then the anger of YHWH burned against Moses, and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can surely speak. And look, he is also coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

• Exodus 22:24

  and my anger will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives will become widows and your sons orphans.

• Exodus 32:10

  Now let me alone, so that my anger may burn against them and I may consume them; and I will make you into a great nation.”

• Exodus 32:11

  But Moses pleaded before YHWH his Elohim and said, “Why, YHWH, does your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand?

• Exodus 32:19

  And it happened, as soon as he came near to the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, that Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.

• Exodus 32:22

  And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn. You know the people, that they are set on evil.

• Numbers 11:1

  And the people became like those who complain of misfortune in the ears of YHWH; and YHWH heard and his anger burned, and the fire of YHWH blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.

• Numbers 11:10

  And Moses heard the people weeping by their families, each man at the entrance of his tent; and the anger of YHWH burned greatly, and in the eyes of Moses it was evil.

• Numbers 11:33

  The meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, when the anger of YHWH burned against the people, and YHWH struck the people with a very great blow.

• Numbers 12:9

  And the anger of YHWH burned against them, and he departed.

• Numbers 16:15

  And Moses became very angry and said to YHWH, “Do not turn to their offering. Not one donkey have I taken from them, and I have not harmed one of them.”

• Numbers 22:22

  But the anger of Elohim burned because he was going, and the angel of YHWH took his stand in the road as an opponent to him. Now he was riding on his donkey, and his two young men were with him.

• Numbers 22:27

  And the donkey saw the angel of YHWH and lay down under Balaam; and Balaam’s anger burned, and he struck the donkey with the stick.

• Numbers 24:10

  And Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, “To curse my enemies I called you, and look, you have done nothing but bless them these three times!

• Numbers 25:3

  Israel joined itself to Baal-peor, and the anger of YHWH burned against Israel.

• Numbers 32:10

  YHWH’s anger burned on that day, and he swore, saying,

• Numbers 32:13

  YHWH’s anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation that had done evil in the eyes of YHWH was finished.

• Deuteronomy 6:15

  for a jealous El is YHWH your Elohim in your midst, lest the anger of YHWH your Elohim be kindled against you and he destroy you from the face of the ground.

• Deuteronomy 7:4

  for he will turn away your son from following me, and they will serve other gods; and the anger of YHWH will be kindled against you, and he will destroy you quickly.

• Deuteronomy 11:17

  and the anger of YHWH be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, and the ground does not yield its produce, and you perish quickly from the good land that YHWH is giving you.

• Deuteronomy 29:27

  So the anger of YHWH burned against that land, to bring on it all the curse written in this book.

• Deuteronomy 31:17

  And my anger will burn against them on that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured, and many evils and troubles will find them; and they will say on that day, ‘Is it not because my Elohim is not in my midst that these evils have found me?’

• Joshua 7:1

  But the sons of Israel committed an act of unfaithfulness regarding the things devoted to destruction: Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took from the things devoted to destruction, and the anger of YHWH burned against the sons of Israel.

• Joshua 23:16

  When you transgress the covenant of YHWH your Elohim that he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of YHWH will burn against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land that he has given you.”

• Judges 2:14

  The anger of YHWH burned against Israel, and he gave them into the hand of plunderers, who plundered them; and he sold them into the hand of their enemies all around, and they could no longer stand before their enemies.

• Judges 2:20

  The anger of YHWH burned against Israel, and he said, “Because this nation has transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers, and they have not listened to my voice,

• Judges 3:8

  The anger of YHWH burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.

• Judges 6:39

  Gideon said to Elohim, “Do not let your anger burn against me, and let me speak just this time. Please let me test just this time with the fleece: please let there be dryness on the fleece alone, and on all the land let there be dew.”

• Judges 9:30

  Zebul, the chief of the city, heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, and his anger burned.

And 50 more times.