Hebrew

Alive

חַיStrong’s H2416

chay

Appears in 449 verses of the Old Testament

In short

Chay is the Hebrew word usually translated “life”, “living” and “alive”. It appears in 449 verses of the Old Testament.

“I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great.”

Daniel 8:4 KJV

Meaning

Living, alivegreen (of vegetation) · flowing, fresh (of water) · lively, active (of man) · reviving (of the springtime)
Kinsfolk
Living thing, animalanimal · life · appetite · revival, renewal
Community
Life (abstract emphatic)life · sustenance, maintenance

How it's translated

life 112
living 89
alive 43
animal of 35
life of 25
life my 19
life his 18
life your 13

Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.

Where it's used most

Genesis 56
Ezekiel 51
Psalms 50
Proverbs 34
Leviticus 27
1 Samuel 24

29 books in all.

Related words

Explore in Scripture

All 449 verses, by book

Genesis 56: 1:20 1:21 1:24 1:25 1:28 1:30 2:7 2:9 2:19 2:20 3:1 3:14 3:17 3:20 3:22 3:24 6:17 6:19 7:11 7:14 7:15 7:21 7:22 8:1 8:17 8:19 8:21 9:2 9:3 9:5 9:10 9:12 9:15 9:16 18:10 18:14 23:1 25:6 25:7 25:17 26:19 27:46 37:20 37:33 42:15 42:16 43:7 43:27 43:28 45:3 45:26 45:28 46:30 47:8 47:9 47:28
Exodus 9: 1:14 4:18 6:16 6:18 6:20 21:35 22:4 23:11 23:29
Leviticus 27: 5:2 11:2 11:10 11:27 11:46 11:47 13:10 13:14 13:15 13:16 14:4 14:5 14:6 14:7 14:50 14:51 14:52 14:53 15:13 16:10 16:20 16:21 17:13 18:18 25:7 26:6 26:22
Numbers 7: 14:21 14:28 16:30 16:33 16:48 19:17 35:3
Deuteronomy 19: 4:4 4:9 4:10 5:3 5:26 6:2 7:22 12:1 16:3 17:19 28:66 30:6 30:15 30:19 30:20 31:13 31:27 32:40 32:47
Joshua 4: 1:5 3:10 4:14 8:23
Judges 2: 8:19 16:30
Ruth 2: 2:20 3:13
1 Samuel 24: 1:11 1:26 2:15 7:15 14:39 14:45 15:8 17:26 17:36 17:46 17:55 18:18 19:6 20:3 20:14 20:21 25:6 25:26 25:29 25:34 26:10 26:16 28:10 29:6
2 Samuel 19: 1:23 2:27 4:9 11:11 12:5 12:18 12:21 12:22 14:11 14:19 15:21 18:14 18:18 19:6 19:34 21:10 22:47 23:11 23:13
1 Kings 22: 1:29 2:24 3:22 3:23 3:25 3:26 3:27 4:21 8:40 11:34 12:6 15:5 15:6 17:1 17:12 17:23 18:10 18:15 20:18 20:32 21:15 22:14
2 Kings 16: 2:2 2:4 2:6 3:14 4:16 4:17 4:30 5:16 5:20 7:12 10:14 14:9 19:4 19:16 25:29 25:30
2 Chronicles 5: 6:31 10:6 18:13 25:12 25:18
Job 24: 3:20 5:22 5:23 7:7 9:21 10:1 10:12 12:10 19:25 24:22 27:2 28:13 28:21 30:23 33:18 33:20 33:22 33:28 33:30 36:14 37:8 38:39 39:15 40:20
Psalms 50: 7:5 16:11 17:14 18:46 21:4 23:6 26:9 27:1 27:4 27:13 30:5 31:10 34:12 36:9 38:19 42:2 42:8 49:18 50:10 52:5 55:15 56:13 58:9 63:3 63:4 64:1 66:9 68:10 68:30 69:28 74:19 78:50 79:2 84:2 88:3 103:4 104:11 104:20 104:25 104:33 116:9 124:3 128:5 133:3 142:5 143:2 143:3 145:16 146:2 148:10
Proverbs 34: 1:12 2:19 3:2 3:18 3:22 4:10 4:13 4:22 4:23 5:6 6:23 8:35 9:11 10:11 10:16 10:17 11:19 11:30 12:28 13:12 13:14 14:27 14:30 15:4 15:24 15:31 16:15 16:22 18:21 19:23 21:21 22:4 27:27 31:12
Ecclesiastes 16: 2:3 2:17 3:12 4:2 4:15 5:18 5:20 6:8 6:12 7:2 8:15 9:3 9:4 9:5 9:9 10:19
Song of Solomon 1: 4:15
Isaiah 17: 4:3 8:19 35:9 37:4 37:17 38:11 38:12 38:16 38:19 38:20 40:16 43:20 46:1 49:18 53:8 56:9 57:10
Jeremiah 23: 2:13 4:2 5:2 8:3 10:10 11:19 12:9 12:16 16:14 16:15 17:13 21:8 22:24 23:7 23:8 23:36 27:6 28:14 38:16 44:26 46:18 52:33 52:34
Lamentations 3: 3:39 3:53 3:58
Ezekiel 51: 1:5 1:13 1:14 1:15 1:19 1:20 1:21 1:22 3:13 5:11 5:17 7:13 10:15 10:17 10:20 14:15 14:16 14:18 14:20 14:21 16:48 17:16 17:19 18:3 20:3 20:31 20:33 26:20 29:5 31:6 31:13 32:4 32:23 32:24 32:25 32:26 32:27 32:32 33:11 33:15 33:27 34:5 34:8 34:25 34:28 35:6 35:11 38:20 39:4 39:17 47:9
Daniel 3: 8:4 12:2 12:7
Hosea 6: 1:10 2:12 2:18 4:3 4:15 13:8
Amos 1: 8:14
Jonah 3: 2:6 4:3 4:8
Zephaniah 3: 2:9 2:14 2:15
Zechariah 1: 14:8
Malachi 1: 2:5

Hebrew dictionary

חַי chay · alive

adj 1) living, alive 1a) green (of vegetation) 1b) flowing, fresh (of water) 1c) lively, active (of man) 1d) reviving (of the springtime) Aramaic equivalent: chay (חַי "living" H2417)

חַי chay · kinsfolk

kinsfolk

חַיָּה chayyah · living thing

1) living thing, animal 1a) animal 1b) life 1c) appetite 1d) revival, renewal Aramaic equivalent: che.va (חֵיוָא "beast" H2423)

חַיָּה chayyah · community

community

חַיִּים chayyim · life

1) life (abstract emphatic) 1a) life 1b) sustenance, maintenance

From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

How the English word “alive” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.

ALI'VE, adjective

Having life, in opposition to dead; living; being in a state in which the organs perform their functions, and the fluids move, whether in animals or vegetables; as, the man or plant is alive
In a state of action; unextinguished; undestroyed; unexpired; in force or operation; as, keep the process alive
Cheerful; sprightly; lively; full of alacrity; as, the company were all alive
Susceptible; easily impressed; having lively feelings, as when the mind is solicitous about some event; as, one is alive to whatever is interesting to a friend.

All definitions

Exhibiting motion or moving bodies in great numbers.
In a scriptural sense, regenerated; born again.“For this my son was dead and is alive” Luke 15:24

Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.

Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.