chida · riddle

What it means

chida (חִידָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “riddle”.

An obscure saying that must be worked out; a puzzle.

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. A puzzling question.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

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

• riddle ×10
• riddles ×7

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Numbers×1
• Judges×8
• 1 Kings×1
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Psalms×2
• Proverbs×1
• Ezekiel×1
• Daniel×1
• Habakkuk×1

• Numbers 12:8

  Mouth to mouth I speak with him, plainly, and not in riddles; and he gazes on the form of YHWH. Why were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”

• Judges 14:12

  And Samson said to them, “Let me propose to you, please, a riddle. If you do explain it to me within the seven days of the feast and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.

• Judges 14:13

  But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” And they said to him, “Propose your riddle, and let us hear it.”

• Judges 14:14

  And he said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.” And they could not explain the riddle for three days.

• Judges 14:15

  And it happened on the seventh day that they said to the wife of Samson, “Seduce your husband so that he explains to us the riddle, or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us to dispossess us? Is it not so?”

• Judges 14:16

  So the wife of Samson wept over him and said, “You only hate me; you do not love me. The riddle you have proposed to the sons of my people, but to me you have not explained it.” And he said to her, “Look, to my father and to my mother I have not explained it, and to you should I explain it?”

• Judges 14:17

  She wept over him the seven days that they had the feast; and it happened on the seventh day that he explained it to her, because she pressed him hard; and she explained the riddle to the sons of her people.

• Judges 14:18

  And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion?” And he said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.”

• Judges 14:19

  Then the spirit of YHWH came powerfully upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck thirty men of them, took what they had on, and gave the changes of clothes to those who had explained the riddle. And his anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house.

• 1 Kings 10:1

  And the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, for the name of YHWH, and she came to test him with riddles.

• 2 Chronicles 9:1

  The queen of Sheba heard the fame of Solomon, and she came to test Solomon with riddles in Jerusalem, with a very great retinue and camels carrying spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones; she came to Solomon and spoke with him all that was on her heart.

• Psalms 49:4

  I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will open with the lyre my riddle.

• Psalms 78:2

  I will open my mouth with a proverb; I will pour out riddles from of old,

• Proverbs 1:6

  to understand a proverb and a figurative saying, the words of the wise and their riddles.

• Ezekiel 17:2

  “Son of man, propound a riddle and speak a proverb to the house of Israel,

• Daniel 8:23

  And at the end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their full measure, there will stand up a king fierce of face and understanding riddles.

• Habakkuk 2:6

  Will not all these take up against him a poem, and a figurative saying, riddles against him? And one will say, ‘Woe to the one who multiplies what is not his! How long? And to the one who loads upon himself pledges!’