What does חָבָא (ḥābāʾ) mean in the Bible?
Hiding or withdrawal must be read through the person, danger and purpose the account names. In Genesis the man and woman hide after disobedience, and the man speaks of fear when God calls to him.
Hebrew · H2244
חָבָא
Hiding or withdrawal must be read through the person, danger and purpose the account names. In Genesis the man and woman hide after disobedience, and the man speaks of fear when God calls to him.
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חָבָאH2244
Pronunciationḥābāʾ
What does חָבָא (ḥābāʾ) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for חָבָא (H2244) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H2244?
The BSB source-word alignment has 33 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include hidden (2), she hid (2), [and] hide (1), and hid themselves (1), and hidden (1).
Where does חָבָא (ḥābāʾ) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 3:8. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Samuel (6), Job (5), Joshua (5), 2 Chronicles (3).
What This Word Actually Means
Hiding or withdrawal must be read through the person, danger and purpose the account names. In Genesis the man and woman hide after disobedience, and the man speaks of fear when God calls to him. Obadiah instead hides prophets threatened by Jezebel and provides food and water. Jonathan warns David to hide because Saul intends to kill him. Job describes needy people forced off the road and into hiding by others' wrongdoing.
These settings prevent concealment from becoming one automatic verdict of guilt or cowardice. Ask who hides whom, from what and with what described effect. Protecting a threatened life differs from hiding after the named garden disobedience, and forced disappearance is not a free choice. A teacher should neither demand that endangered people reveal their location nor use protective hiding as permission for an institution to conceal its own harm from accountability.
How the Bible Uses It
Garden fear, protected prophets, David's danger, hidden Joash and people forced out of view supply different hiding accounts. Agency, threat and the narrative's stated wrongdoing determine the interpretation.
- Gen.3.8
Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
The man and woman hide from God's presence after the narrated eating, and the following dialogue names fear; that particular sequence cannot define all hiding elsewhere.
- 1Kgs.18.4
For when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)
Obadiah hides a hundred prophets in two groups of fifty while Jezebel kills prophets, and supplies food and water, making protection from lethal harm concrete.
- 1Sam.19.2
So he warned David, saying, “My father Saul intends to kill you. Be on your guard in the morning; find a secret place and hide there.
Jonathan tells David to hide because Saul intends to kill him, then plans to ask his father and pass on information; concealment responds to a named danger.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Ithidden2×2 Kings 11:3, 2 Chronicles 22:12
she hid2×Joshua 6:17, Joshua 6:25
[and] hide1×2 Chronicles 18:24
and hid themselves1×Daniel 10:7
and hidden1×Joshua 10:16
and hidden them1×1 Kings 18:4
and hide there1×1 Samuel 19:2
and they hid themselves1×Genesis 3:8
and withdrew1×Job 29:8
become hard1×Job 38:30
But she had hidden1×2 Kings 6:29
he has hidden1×1 Samuel 10:22
he hid himself1×Judges 9:5
He hid Me1×Isaiah 49:2
he hides1×1 Samuel 23:23
hid1×1 Samuel 13:6
hid themselves1×1 Chronicles 21:20
I hid1×1 Kings 18:13
into hiding1×Job 24:4
is hiding1×2 Samuel 17:9
or imprisoned1×Isaiah 42:22
secretly1×Genesis 31:27
so I hid myself1×Genesis 3:10
they are hiding1×Joshua 10:17
they had hidden1×Joshua 10:27
they hide themselves1×Amos 9:3
they were hiding1×1 Samuel 14:11
was hiding1×2 Chronicles 22:9
were hushed1×Job 29:10
who had been hiding1×1 Samuel 14:22
You will be hidden1×Job 5:21
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 3:8וַיִּתְחַבֵּ֨אtoand they hid themselvesConjunctive waw | Verb - Hitpael - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singularGenesis 3:10וָאֵחָבֵֽא׃toso I hid myselfConjunctive waw | Verb - Nifal - Consecutive imperfect - first person common singularGenesis 31:27נַחְבֵּ֙אתָ֙tosecretlyVerb - Nifal - Perfect - second person masculine singularJoshua 6:17הֶחְבְּאַ֔תָהtoshe hidVerb - Hifil - Perfect - third person feminine singularJoshua 6:25הֶחְבִּ֙יאָה֙toshe hidVerb - Hifil - Perfect - third person feminine singularJoshua 10:16וַיֵּחָבְא֥וּtoand hiddenConjunctive waw | Verb - Nifal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine pluralJoshua 10:17נֶחְבְּאִ֥יםtothey are hidingVerb - Nifal - Participle - masculine pluralJoshua 10:27נֶחְבְּאוּ־tothey had hiddenVerb - Nifal - Perfect - third person common pluralJudges 9:5נֶחְבָּֽא׃סtohe hid himselfVerb - Nifal - Perfect - third person masculine singular1 Samuel 10:22נֶחְבָּ֖אtohe has hiddenVerb - Nifal - Participle - masculine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowGenesis 3:8
Aligned rows33
Books represented13
Genesis3Joshua5Judges11 Samuel62 Samuel11 Kings22 Kings21 Chronicles12 Chronicles3Job5Isaiah2Daniel1Amos1
Source forms
מִתְחַבֵּ֖א2xmiṯ·ḥab·bê2 Kings 11:3, 2 Chronicles 22:12
בְּהֵחָבֵֽא׃1xbə·hê·ḥā·ḇêDaniel 10:7
הָחְבָּ֑אוּ1xhā·ḥə·bā·’ūIsaiah 42:22
הֶחְבְּאַ֔תָה1xheḥ·bə·’a·ṯāhJoshua 6:17
הֶחְבִּ֙יאָה֙1xheḥ·bî·’āhJoshua 6:25
הֶחְבִּיאָ֑נִי1xheḥ·bî·’ā·nîIsaiah 49:2
הַמִּֽתְחַבְּאִ֤ים1xham·miṯ·ḥab·bə·’îm1 Samuel 14:22
הִתְחַבְּאוּ־1xhiṯ·ḥab·bə·’ū-1 Samuel 14:11
Parsing patterns
Verb - Hitpael - Participle - masculine singular3x2 Kings 11:3, 2 Chronicles 22:9, 2 Chronicles 22:12
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - third person feminine singular2xJoshua 6:17, Joshua 6:25
Verb - Nifal - Participle - masculine singular2x1 Samuel 10:22, 2 Samuel 17:9
Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person common plural2xJoshua 10:27, Job 29:10
Article | Verb - Hitpael - Participle - masculine plural1x1 Samuel 14:22
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - first person common singular1x1 Kings 18:13
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular1x2 Kings 6:29
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine plural1x1 Kings 18:4
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Respect safety and necessary privacy while helping a person access appropriate support.
- Do not decide every concealment or truth-telling case from one verb or suppress responsible accountability.
Avoid claiming...
- Every hidden or withdrawn person is guilty, cowardly or rejecting God.
- Protective hiding authorizes institutions to conceal their own harm from scrutiny.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. To hide or conceal oneself, often with connotation of withdrawing from danger or divine presence
Strong'sH2244
Lexical occurrences33 versesWord forms5 forms20 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study linkGenesis 3:8-13Source Gloss
to secrete
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
To hide or conceal oneself, often with connotation of withdrawing from danger or divine presence
to secrete BDB: withdraw Usage: × held, hide (self), do secretly.
Grammatical Forms
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups5Aligned forms20
Hithpaelreflexive or reciprocal — the subject acts on itself or mutually with others7×
Participle active1Chr 21:20 · 2Chr 22:9 · 2Chr 22:12 · 2Kgs 11:34×
Imperfect1Sam 23:23 · Job 38:302×
Perfect1Sam 14:111×
Niphalpassive or reflexive — the subject receives or experiences the action9×
PerfectJob 29:10 · Josh 10:27 · Gen 31:27 · Judg 9:54×
Participle passive1Sam 10:22 · 2Sam 17:92×
ImperfectAmos 9:3 · Job 5:212×
Participle activeJosh 10:171×
Hiphilcausative active — the subject causes someone else to perform the action2×
PerfectJosh 6:17 · Josh 6:252×
Hophalcausative passive — the subject is caused to perform the action1×
PerfectIsa 42:221×
Pualintensive passive — intensive action received by the subject1×
PerfectJob 24:41×
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Adam and Eve conceal themselves from God's presence out of shame and fear
People withdraw into hiding places to escape divine judgment and wrath
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 33 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
חָבָא is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
Concealment is not its own moral explanation. Genesis narrates a particular disobedience before the couple hides and God questions them. First Kings names a lethal threat to prophets and records Obadiah supplying both shelter and food. First Samuel likewise specifies Saul's intent before Jonathan tells David to hide. Second Kings names Joash's rescue from murdered heirs and his years concealed with his nurse.
Job shows another form of agency: poor people are pushed away and forced into hiding. A teacher must retain those differences rather than using one account to accuse every withdrawn person. Protect real vulnerability, identify wrongdoing where the text identifies it, and do not make visible participation a condition of spiritual worth. At the same time, distinguishing protective hiding does not settle every question about deception or authorize suppressing evidence of institutional harm.
Anchor passage
1Kgs.18.4
Doctrinal connections
- Genesis 3:6-10 places the couple's hiding after the narrated disobedience and records the man's fear, retaining that account's actual cause.
- First Kings 18:3-4 and 12-15 identifies Jezebel's killing, Obadiah's hidden prophets and their food and water, while preserving his own fear of being killed.
- First Samuel 19:1-4 states Saul's order against David before Jonathan's warning, hiding instruction and defense of David's beneficial conduct.
- Second Kings 11:1-4 names Joash's rescue from the murdered royal heirs and concealment with his nurse, making the life-preserving setting explicit.
- Job 24:2-6 describes dispossession and poor people forced into hiding, assigning the coercive action to those who oppress rather than blaming invisibility itself.
- Isaiah 42:22-24 names a plundered people trapped or imprisoned and then addresses Jacob's disobedience, keeping that particular prophetic judgment distinct from every modern captivity.
The licensed Hebrew range supports hiding, withdrawing or keeping out of sight. The grammar and surrounding actions identify whether someone hides another, hides personally or is forced out of view; the verb alone does not establish guilt or the ethics of every concealment.
From Old to New Testament
Matthew 2:13-15 records the angel's explicit warning that Herod seeks the Child's life and Joseph's departure with the Child and His mother. This separate Greek account does not contain the Hebrew hiding verb. Alongside the protected prophets and David, it retains a named lethal threat and protective action without declaring that all private information must be disclosed to a threatening authority.