To gaze at; mentally to perceive , contemplate (with pleasure); specifically, to have a vision of
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חָזָה (chazah) is the Hebrew verb for seeing with intensity — for the kind of beholding that perceives divine reality. Indexed in the local Hebrew artifact at about 51 OT occurrences, it is the word most frequently used for prophetic vision: the prophetic books are collections of chazahs.
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Full entry for חָזָה (H2372) · Open the biblical lexicon
חָזָה (chazah) is the Hebrew verb for seeing with intensity — for the kind of beholding that perceives divine reality. Indexed in the local Hebrew artifact at about 51 OT occurrences, it is the word most frequently used for prophetic vision: the prophetic books are collections of chazahs.
The BSB source-word alignment has 55 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include see (7), will see (3), Do you see (2), he saw (2), prophesy (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 18:21. Its strongest book concentrations include Isaiah (12), Ezekiel (9), Job (9), Psalms (9).
חָזָה (chazah) is the Hebrew verb for seeing with intensity — for the kind of beholding that perceives divine reality. Indexed in the local Hebrew artifact at about 51 OT occurrences, it is the word most frequently used for prophetic vision: the prophetic books are collections of chazahs. But chazah is not limited to prophets. The Psalms use it for the believer's longing to behold the face of God (Ps 17:15, Ps 27:4), and Job uses it for the resurrection hope of seeing God in his own flesh (Job 19:26). Chazah is seeing that grasps what is actually there, not merely what is visible to the natural eye.
The word's most concentrated use is in the prophetic superscriptions: 'The vision (chazon, from chazah) of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he chazah concerning Judah and Jerusalem' (Isa 1:1). The noun chazon (H2377) and the verb chazah form a family — prophetic vision is what the prophet chazah. This is not imagination or speculation; it is a form of reception: the prophet sees what God shows. The content of what is chazah is divine reality impinging on the prophet's perception and then transmitted to the community. Isaiah's calling vision in Isaiah 6 uses the verb ra'ah (H7200), not chazah — but the result of that seeing (the coal, the cleansing, the commission) supplies themes that Isaiah's later chazah ministry communicates.
Psalm 17:15 brings chazah into personal eschatological hope: 'As for me, I shall chazah your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with your likeness.' The psalmist's ultimate hope is not a reward or a state but a face — beholding the face of God (panekha, your face). The satisfaction is in the chazah itself. This is the OT's most personal use of the word: the seeing of God as the final destination of human longing.
Job 19:26 pushes chazah into resurrection theology: 'After my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall chazah God; I myself shall chazah him and not another — my eyes shall behold (chazon) and not a stranger.' Job's hope is embodied seeing: in restored flesh, he will chazah God. The seeing here is not spiritual or metaphorical — it is physical, personal, and future. It is the strongest statement in the OT of embodied resurrection hope, and its verb is chazah.
For the preacher, חָזָה (chazah) is the word that anchors prophetic ministry (we declare what has been seen), worship longing (we come to behold the face), and resurrection hope (we will see him as he is).
חָזָה (chazah) is indexed in the local Hebrew artifact at about 51 OT occurrences, concentrated in the prophetic literature and the Psalms. The prophetic superscriptions use it for the reception of divine vision. Numbers uses it for Balaam's seeing of the Almighty. The Psalms use it for longing to behold the face of God, for contemplating divine works, and for the eschatological hope of seeing God's face in righteousness.
Job uses it for resurrection hope. The word consistently marks seeing that grasps divine reality — whether through prophetic revelation, worshipful contemplation, or eschatological promise.
This is the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
The prophetic superscription: Isaiah's ministry is defined as a chazon (H2377, vision, from chazah) which he chazah. The noun and verb from the same root frame the entire prophetic book: this is received revelation, not speculation. The dates ground the chazah in historical time — four kings, real events — while the content is divine reality that only chazah-seeing perceives. Every prophetic book that opens with a chazon superscription (Obad 1:1, Nah 1:1, Hab 1:1) inherits this framing.
The prophecy of one who hears the words of God, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who bows down with eyes wide open:
Balaam's oracle describes the prophetic receptive posture: hearing God's words and chazah-ing the vision of the Almighty (Shaddai, H7706). 'Falling down, but having his eyes open' — the prostration of awe and the open eyes of seeing combine. The prophetic chazah is not trance-blindness but intensified seeing. This is the OT's picture of prophecy at its most concentrated: the one who hears and chazah becomes the conduit of divine word to the people.
As for me, I will behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied in Your presence.
The eschatological chazah as the summit of personal hope: 'I shall chazah your face (panekha) in righteousness.' The satisfaction (sava, to be filled, satisfied) comes not from divine gifts but from the chazah itself — the seeing of the face. 'When I awake' suggests a resurrection context: the chazah of God's face is the hope that lies on the other side of death. This verse is the OT's most compressed personal statement of what the believer ultimately hopes for: to see the face of God and be satisfied.
Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.
Job's resurrection chazah: in my flesh (bivsari), after the destruction of skin, I shall chazah God. The emphasis on flesh is deliberate — this is not a disembodied spiritual vision but an embodied resurrection seeing. 'I myself shall chazah him and not another — my eyes shall see and not a stranger.' The triplet (I, myself, my eyes) insists on personal, bodily continuity.
The person who suffers now will chazah God in restored flesh. This is the strongest resurrection hope in the Wisdom literature, and it hangs on the verb chazah.
Come, see the works of the Lord, who brings devastation upon the earth.
The communal invitation to chazah: 'Come, behold (lekhu chazu) the works of YHWH.' The Psalm has just declared YHWH as refuge and strength (v. 1) and described his power over creation and nations (vv. 2-7). Now the congregation is invited to chazah — to look with perception, to see what is actually happening behind the visible chaos. The chazah here is not mystical but exhortational: look with understanding at what YHWH has done, and fear will give way to trust.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Prophetic vision combining both seeing and deep mental perception; gazing toward future revelation.
Prophetic vision combining both seeing and deep mental perception; gazing toward future revelation.
to gaze at; mentally to perceive, contemplate (with pleasure); specifically, to have a vision of BDB: see Usage: behold, look, prophesy, provide, see.
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.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 51 lexical occurrence verses.
חָזָה is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
חָזָה (chazah) teaches the congregation that Scripture is a record of divine showing, not human speculation. The prophets chazah-ed what God showed them, and the prophetic books are invitations for every subsequent reader to chazah the same divine reality through the text. Psalm 46:8's 'come and chazah the works of YHWH' is the posture that Scripture constantly invites: look, see, perceive what is actually here.
The preacher's task, on this model, is to help the congregation chazah — to see what is actually present in the text, in the world, in the gospel. Psalm 17:15's eschatological chazah grounds the whole project: the believer's ultimate hope is not a state of blessedness but a face — the face of God, seen in righteousness, when we awake. This is the telos of all Christian living, all preaching, all sanctification: to arrive at the chazah of the face of God.
Job 19:26 confirms that this hope is embodied: the God we will chazah will be seen in restored flesh by eyes that have been raised. For the congregation, chazah offers an alternative to two common failures: the failure to look at all (ignoring what Scripture shows) and the failure to look clearly (projecting onto the text what we want to see). The word calls for the specific, attentive, expectant gazing of those who know there is something real to be seen — and that what is real is the face of God.
Isa.1.1
חָזָה (chazah) is related to the common verb ra'ah (H7200, to see) but carries a more intense and often revelatory connotation. The noun chazon (H2377) — the standard word for prophetic vision — is derived from chazah. The participle choze (one who sees, a seer) is a title for certain prophets (Amos 7:12, Isa 29:10). The root appears in Aramaic as well (Dan 2:26, 4:9), where it is used for dream-vision interpretation.
In the Psalms, chazah is associated with the face (panim) of God — the specific locus of divine self-disclosure — more than ra'ah is. The distinction between chazah (intense, perceived, received) and ra'ah (general seeing) is not always sharply maintained, but chazah often marks intense or received perception in the passages surveyed. The NT equivalent in the sense of beholding divine reality is theoreo (G2334) and the noun theoria, from which our word 'theory' comes — originally meaning beholding, not speculating.
The NT's inheritance of chazah theology comes through the concept of prophetic vision and the beatific hope of seeing God. Matthew 5:8 ('Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God') is the direct NT heir of Psalm 17:15's chazah-hope: the eschatological seeing of God is the destiny of those whose hearts are pure. First John 3:2 extends this: 'We know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see (opsometha, from horao/G3708) him as he is.'
The transformation and the seeing are simultaneous — to see Christ as he is will be to become like him. The prophetic chazah tradition is explicitly claimed in the NT: Acts 2:17 quotes Joel 2:28 — 'Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions (horaseis)' — and applies it to the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. The whole church now participates in the chazah-community: prophetic seeing is not limited to a professional class.
Revelation's title is itself a chazon-word: 'The Revelation (apokalypsis) of Jesus Christ' — a divine showing to John. The book records what John chazah-ed (eidon, saw, is John's constant refrain), and the congregation is invited to receive the same seeing through the text.