chinam · for nothing; without cause

What it means

chinam (חִנָּם) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “for nothing; without cause”.

Free, without pay; also without cause, in vain.

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. Free, at no cost.
2. With no reason or guilt to justify it.
3. For nothing, without any result.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

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

• without cause ×16
• nothing ×12
• vain ×2
• without payment ×2

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×1
• Exodus×2
• Numbers×1
• 1 Samuel×2
• 2 Samuel×1
• 1 Kings×1
• 1 Chronicles×1
• Job×4
• Psalms×6
• Proverbs×6
• Isaiah×2
• Jeremiah×1
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×2
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 29:15

  Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my brother, should you serve me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”

• Exodus 21:2

  When you buy a Hebrew slave, six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free, without payment.

• Exodus 21:11

  And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out without payment, without silver.

• Numbers 11:5

  We remember the fish that we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic.

• 1 Samuel 19:5

  He put his life in his hand and struck the Philistine, and YHWH worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by putting to death David without cause?”

• 1 Samuel 25:31

  this shall not be to you a stumbling block or an offense of heart for my lord: to have shed blood without cause or for my lord to have saved himself. And when YHWH does good to my lord, remember your servant.”

• 2 Samuel 24:24

  The king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; and I will not offer up to YHWH my Elohim burnt offerings for nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

• 1 Kings 2:31

  And the king said to him, “Do as he has spoken: fall upon him and bury him, and take away the blood that Joab shed without cause from me and from the house of my father.

• 1 Chronicles 21:24

  King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will certainly buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for YHWH, nor offer a burnt offering for nothing.”

• Job 1:9

  The Satan answered YHWH and said, “Is it for nothing that Job fears Elohim?

• Job 2:3

  YHWH said to the Satan, “Have you set your heart on my servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth, a man blameless and upright, fearing Elohim and turning away from evil; and he still holds fast to his integrity, though you incited me against him to swallow him up for nothing.”

• Job 9:17

  he who bruises me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds for nothing.

• Job 22:6

  For you took pledges from your brothers for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

• Psalms 35:7

  For without cause they hid for me the pit of their net; without cause they dug it for my soul.

• Psalms 35:19

  Let not my lying enemies be glad over me; nor let those who hate me without cause wink the eye.

• Psalms 69:4

  More than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would annihilate me, my enemies with lies; what I did not steal, then I restore.

• Psalms 109:3

  And with words of hatred they have surrounded me, and fought against me without cause.

• Psalms 119:161

  Princes have pursued me without cause, but of your words my heart stands in dread.

• Proverbs 1:11

  If they say, “Come with us; let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without cause;

• Proverbs 1:17

  For in vain the net is spread in the eyes of any bird.

• Proverbs 3:30

  Do not contend with anyone without cause, if he has not done you harm.

• Proverbs 23:29

  Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has quarrels? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?

• Proverbs 24:28

  Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause; and would you deceive with your lips?

• Proverbs 26:2

  Like a sparrow in its wandering, like a swallow in its flying, so a curse without cause does not arrive.

• Isaiah 52:3

  For thus says YHWH: “For nothing you were sold, and not with silver will you be redeemed.”

• Isaiah 52:5

  And now, what do I have here, declares YHWH, since my people have been taken for nothing? Their rulers howl, declares YHWH, and continually, all the day, my name is despised.

• Jeremiah 22:13

  Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness, and his upper rooms without justice; who makes his neighbor work for nothing and does not give him his wages;

• Lamentations 3:52

  They have hunted me down like a bird, my enemies, without cause.

• Ezekiel 6:10

  And they will know that I am YHWH; not in vain did I say I would do this evil to them.’”

• Ezekiel 14:23

  And they will comfort you when you see their way and their deeds, and you will know that not without cause have I done all that I have done in it, declares Adonai YHWH.’”

• Malachi 1:10

  Who also among you will shut the doors, so that you do not light my altar for nothing? I have no pleasure in you, says YHWH Tsevaot, and an offering I will not accept from your hand.

And 1 more times.