What does חוֹל (chol) mean in the Bible?
Ḥôl names sand, whether literally or in a comparison of number, weight or boundary. Genesis 22:17 compares Abraham's promised descendants with seashore sand and sky stars.
Hebrew · H2344
חוֹל
Ḥôl names sand, whether literally or in a comparison of number, weight or boundary. Genesis 22:17 compares Abraham's promised descendants with seashore sand and sky stars.
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חוֹלH2344
Pronunciationchol
What does חוֹל (chol) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for חוֹל (H2344) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H2344?
The BSB source-word alignment has 23 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include like the sand (7), as the sand (5), the sand (2), [and as] the sand (1), and sand (1).
Where does חוֹל (chol) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 22:17. Its strongest book concentrations include Genesis (3), Jeremiah (3), 1 Kings (2), Isaiah (2).
What This Word Actually Means
Ḥôl names sand, whether literally or in a comparison of number, weight or boundary. Genesis 22:17 compares Abraham's promised descendants with seashore sand and sky stars. Genesis 41:49 likens Joseph's stored grain to sea sand as the supply becomes too abundant to keep counting. The comparisons emphasize abundance; the noun alone does not provide an exact population or storage calculation.
Proverbs 27:3 uses sand's burdensome weight in a comparison with aggravation from a fool. Jeremiah 5:22 names sand as the sea's boundary in an address confronting people who do not fear the Lord and have turned aside. These functions should not be collapsed into a universal promise that any beach is immune to flooding or that every sand image refers to Abraham's descendants. Teaching can explain magnitude, heaviness and divine ordering while leaving technical measurements and present coastal risk to evidence the poetic noun does not supply.
Passage contextCanonical parallel
How the Bible Uses It
Promised descendants, abundant grain, burdensome weight and the sea's boundary make differing comparisons with sand. Its repeated presence does not give exact quantities, one universal covenant referent or a present guarantee about coastal conditions.
- Gen.22.17
I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
Sand and stars portray the promised multiplication of Abraham's descendants. The comparison belongs to the stated promise rather than an exact count or permission to imitate the preceding test.
- Gen.41.49
So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance, like the sand of the sea, that he stopped keeping track of it; for it was beyond measure.
Stored grain is likened to sea sand as Joseph stops keeping track of its abundance. The image communicates scale without giving a recoverable numerical inventory.
- Prov.27.3
A stone is heavy and sand is a burden, but aggravation from a fool outweighs them both.
Sand's weight and a heavy stone are compared with the burden of a fool's aggravation. The saying uses physical heaviness to portray difficulty, not a census or covenant promise.
- Jer.5.22
Do you not fear Me?” declares the Lord. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.
The sea boundary appears within a divine appeal for reverence, contrasting creation's limit with people's stubbornness. It is not a technical prediction that no present shoreline can flood.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itlike the sand7×Genesis 32:12, Genesis 41:49, 2 Samuel 17:11, 1 Kings 4:29
as the sand5×Joshua 11:4, Judges 7:12, 1 Samuel 13:5, 1 Kings 4:20
the sand2×Job 6:3, Jeremiah 5:22
[and as] the sand1×Jeremiah 33:22
and sand1×Proverbs 27:3
and the sand1×Genesis 22:17
as [countless as] the sand1×Isaiah 48:19
in the sand1×Exodus 2:12
like sand1×Habakkuk 1:9
of the sand1×Deuteronomy 33:19
than the sand1×Jeremiah 15:8
the grains of sand1×Psalms 139:18
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 22:17וְכַח֕וֹלtoand the sandConjunctive waw, Preposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singularGenesis 32:12כְּח֣וֹלtolike the sandPreposition-k | Noun - masculine singular constructGenesis 41:49כְּח֥וֹלtolike the sandPreposition-k | Noun - masculine singular constructExodus 2:12בַּחֽוֹל׃toin the sandPreposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singularDeuteronomy 33:19חֽוֹל׃סtoof the sandNoun - masculine singularJoshua 11:4כַּח֛וֹלtoas the sandPreposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singularJudges 7:12כַּח֛וֹלtoas the sandPreposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular1 Samuel 13:5כַּח֛וֹלtoas the sandPreposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular2 Samuel 17:11כַּח֥וֹלtolike the sandPreposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular1 Kings 4:20כַּח֥וֹלtoas the sandPreposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowGenesis 22:17
Aligned rows23
Books represented15
Genesis3Exodus1Deuteronomy1Joshua1Judges11 Samuel12 Samuel11 Kings2Job2Psalms2Proverbs1Isaiah2Jeremiah3Hosea1Habakkuk1
Source forms
כְּח֣וֹל3xkə·ḥō·wlGenesis 32:12, Isaiah 10:22, Hosea 1:10
כַּח֛וֹל3xka·ḥō·wlJoshua 11:4, Judges 7:12, 1 Samuel 13:5
מֵח֣וֹל3xmê·ḥō·wlJob 6:3, Psalms 139:18, Jeremiah 15:8
כַּח֥וֹל2xka·ḥō·wl2 Samuel 17:11, 1 Kings 4:20
בַּחֽוֹל׃1xba·ḥō·wlExodus 2:12
הַח֑וֹל1xha·ḥō·wlProverbs 27:3
וְכַח֕וֹל1xwə·ḵa·ḥō·wlGenesis 22:17
וְ֝כַח֗וֹל1xwə·ḵa·ḥō·wlJob 29:18
Parsing patterns
Preposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular8xJoshua 11:4, Judges 7:12, 1 Samuel 13:5, 2 Samuel 17:11
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular construct4xGenesis 32:12, Genesis 41:49, Isaiah 10:22, Hosea 1:10
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular2xGenesis 22:17, Job 29:18
Noun - masculine singular2xDeuteronomy 33:19, Jeremiah 5:22
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular construct2xJob 6:3, Jeremiah 15:8
Article | Noun - masculine singular1xProverbs 27:3
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular construct1xPsalms 78:27
Noun - masculine singular construct1xJeremiah 33:22
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Explain the comparison's actual quality and limits rather than adding unsupported quantities or theological identities.
- Keep poetic confidence distinct from practical hazard assessment and take present warnings seriously where people may be at risk.
Avoid claiming...
- Ḥôl does not give an exact count or make every sand comparison refer to Abraham's descendants.
- The noun does not guarantee modern coastal immunity, settle all offspring interpretations or authorize reenacting a biblical test.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Sand as granular, shifting material: metaphor for innumerability, instability, and formlessness in biblical imagery
Source Gloss
sand (as round or whirling particles)
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Sand as granular, shifting material: metaphor for innumerability, instability, and formlessness in biblical imagery
sand (as round or whirling particles) BDB: sand Usage: sand.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Old Testament Witnesses
sand
Showing 1 selected witness from 23 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
Why This Word Matters
Echoes Abrahamic multiplication promise.Hosea 1:10-2:1
Canonical Themes
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
Genesis 22 places sand in a promise of multiplication, while Genesis 41 uses it to convey grain abundance beyond continued counting. The similarity is magnitude, not a claim that grain becomes a covenant people or that an exact total can be reconstructed from the image. Proverbs chooses a different quality, sand's burdensome weight, to portray aggravation rather than innumerability.
Jeremiah's boundary image belongs to an appeal for fear of the Lord and a contrast with stubborn human departure. It should not be used as a scientific assurance that any contemporary coast is safe during a storm. Hebrews 11:8-12 returns to the sand comparison in its account of Abraham, Sarah and promise, making that covenant witness a bounded textual comparison. The noun cannot settle every later offspring interpretation or authorize reenacting the surrounding Genesis test. Responsible teaching preserves each comparison's purpose and avoids making a material image do the work of numerical, theological or safety evidence that has not been supplied.
Anchor passage
Gen.22.17
Doctrinal connections
- Genesis 22:15-18 locates the sand comparison within the stated promise of descendants and blessing among nations.
- Genesis 41:46-49 uses sea-sand abundance to describe collected grain and discontinued counting.
- Proverbs 27:3-4 compares burdensome sand and stone with aggravation and other destructive relational pressures.
- Jeremiah 5:20-25 addresses reverence, creation's ordering and stubborn hearts through the sea-boundary image.
- Hebrews 11:8-10 recounts Abraham's faithful departure and life as a stranger in the promised land.
- Hebrews 11:11-12 connects the descendants' sand-like number with the faithfulness of the One who promised.
Sand remains the concrete noun while surrounding constructions select abundance, weight or boundary as the comparison's quality. A shared object cannot transfer every quality into every passage or establish a precise count from an image of innumerability.
From Old to New Testament
Hebrews 11:8-12 recounts Abraham and Sarah's response to promise and uses countless seashore sand for the descendants' number. It supplies a bounded textual comparison with the Genesis promise. It does not make every ḥôl image covenant identity, resolve all offspring interpretations or provide an exact total.
Passage contextCanonical parallel