kenaani · Canaanite

What it means

kenaani (כְּנַעַנִי) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “Canaanite”.

An inhabitant of Canaan before Israel; also a trader.

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. Someone from Canaan, before Israel.
2. A person who buys and sells, as the Canaanites of the coast did.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Canaanite: an inhabitant of Canaan, one of the peoples who lived in the land before Israel. It comes from the name Canaan (כְּנַעַן). BDB adds that, because the Canaanites were traders, the word also came to mean merchant.

• Inhabitants of the land in Abraham's time Genesis 12:6Genesis 13:7
• In the list of the peoples of Canaan Genesis 15:21Deuteronomy 7:1Joshua 3:10
• The Canaanites Israel did not drive out Judges 1:27Joshua 17:12
• A Canaanite woman Genesis 38:2Genesis 46:10
• Merchant Proverbs 31:24Zechariah 14:21

Historical and cultural background

Abraham made his servant swear that he would not take a wife for Isaac “from the daughters of the Canaanites” (Genesis 24:3).

How we translate it

“Canaanite” 54 times, “Canaanites” 17. The Hebrew often says “the Canaanite” in the singular for the whole people, and it is kept so (“the Canaanite was determined to live in this land”, Judges 1:27). In Zechariah 14:21 the context is trade and it is translated “a merchant”; in Proverbs 31:24 it keeps “the Canaanite”, the trader to whom she delivers belts.

How it is translated

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

• Canaanite ×54
• Canaanites ×17
• merchant ×1
• merchants ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×11
• Exodus×9
• Numbers×7
• Deuteronomy×4
• Joshua×15
• Judges×16
• 2 Samuel×1
• 1 Kings×1
• 1 Chronicles×1
• Ezra×1
• Nehemiah×2
• Job×1
• Proverbs×1
• Ezekiel×1
• Obadiah×1
• Zechariah×1

• Genesis 10:18

  the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. And afterward the families of the Canaanites were spread abroad.

• Genesis 10:19

  And the territory of the Canaanites was from Sidon, in the direction of Gerar, as far as Gaza; in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

• Genesis 12:6

  Abram passed through the land as far as the place of Shechem, as far as the oak of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the land.

• Genesis 13:7

  So there was a quarrel between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites were living then in the land.

• Genesis 15:21

  the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

• Genesis 24:3

  and I will make you swear by YHWH, the Elohim of the heavens and the Elohim of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live,

• Genesis 24:37

  My lord made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live;

• Genesis 34:30

  Jacob said to Simeon and to Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. And I have few men; if they gather against me and strike me, I will be destroyed, I and my house.”

• Genesis 38:2

  There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man whose name was Shua; he took her and went in to her.

• Genesis 46:10

  The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Saul, the son of the Canaanite woman.

• Genesis 50:11

  When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn mourning for the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

• Exodus 3:8

  And I have come down to rescue them from the hand of Egypt and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

• Exodus 3:17

  and I have said: I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’

• Exodus 6:15

  The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Saul, the son of the Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon.

• Exodus 13:5

  When YHWH brings you to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall perform this service in this month.

• Exodus 13:11

  When YHWH brings you to the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you,

• Exodus 23:23

  For my angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, and I will wipe them out.

• Exodus 23:28

  I will send the hornet before you, and it will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you.

• Exodus 33:2

  And I will send before you an angel, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

• Exodus 34:11

  Keep for yourself what I am commanding you today. Look, I am driving out before you the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

• Numbers 13:29

  Amalek lives in the land of the Negev; and the Hittite and the Jebusite and the Amorite live in the hill country; and the Canaanite lives by the sea and along the Jordan.”

• Numbers 14:25

  Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valley. Tomorrow turn and set out for yourselves into the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds.”

• Numbers 14:43

  For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you will fall by the sword; because you have turned back from following YHWH, YHWH will not be with you.”

• Numbers 14:45

  Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country, and struck them and crushed them as far as Hormah.

• Numbers 21:1

  When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive.

• Numbers 21:3

  And YHWH listened to the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted to destruction them and their cities; and the name of the place was called Hormah.

• Numbers 33:40

  The Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negev in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the sons of Israel.

• Deuteronomy 1:7

  Turn, set out, and go to the hill country of the Amorite and to all its neighbors, in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the Shephelah, in the Negev, and on the coast of the sea, the land of the Canaanite, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.

• Deuteronomy 7:1

  When YHWH your Elohim brings you into the land into which you are going to take possession of it, and clears away many nations from before you —the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you—

• Deuteronomy 11:30

  Are they not beyond the Jordan, behind the road of the sunset, in the land of the Canaanite who lives in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?

• Deuteronomy 20:17

  but you shall surely devote them to destruction: the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as YHWH your Elohim has commanded you,

• Joshua 3:10

  And Joshua said, “By this you shall know that a living El is among you, and that he will certainly dispossess from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite.

• Joshua 5:1

  And it came about, when all the kings of the Amorite who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanite who were by the sea, heard how YHWH had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the sons of Israel until they had crossed, that their heart melted, and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the sons of Israel.

• Joshua 7:9

  The Canaanite and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”

• Joshua 9:1

  And it came about, when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country, in the Shephelah, and on all the coast of the Great Sea opposite Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard of it,

• Joshua 11:3

  the Canaanite in the east and in the west, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the hill country, and the Hivite below Hermon in the land of Mizpah.

• Joshua 12:8

  in the hill country, in the Shephelah, in the Arabah, in the slopes, in the wilderness, and in the Negev: the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:

• Joshua 13:3

  (from the Shihor, which is east of Egypt, and as far as the border of Ekron to the north, it is counted as Canaanite); the five rulers of the Philistines: the Gazite, the Ashdodite, the Ashkelonite, the Gittite, and the Ekronite; and the Avvites

• Joshua 13:4

  in the south; all the land of the Canaanite, and Mearah, which belongs to the Sidonians, as far as Aphek, to the border of the Amorite;

• Joshua 16:10

  But they did not dispossess the Canaanite who lived in Gezer; so the Canaanite has lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and became forced laborers.

And 33 more times.