A dream
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H2472 is a Hebrew noun for a dream, including ordinary dream experience and dreams presented as divine communication. First Kings 3:5 says the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and invited his request, which becomes a setting for receiving wisdom and responsibility.
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Full entry for חֲלוֹם (H2472) · Open the biblical lexicon
H2472 is a Hebrew noun for a dream, including ordinary dream experience and dreams presented as divine communication. First Kings 3:5 says the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and invited his request, which becomes a setting for receiving wisdom and responsibility.
The BSB source-word alignment has 65 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (13), in a dream (6), a dream (4), The dreams (4), dreams (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 20:3. Its strongest book concentrations include Genesis (34), Jeremiah (6), Daniel (5), Deuteronomy (3).
H2472 is a Hebrew noun for a dream, including ordinary dream experience and dreams presented as divine communication. First Kings 3:5 says the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and invited his request, which becomes a setting for receiving wisdom and responsibility. Deuteronomy 13:1-3 warns that even a dreamer whose sign occurs must be rejected if the message turns Israel from covenant loyalty, so striking experience never outranks God's revealed character and commands.
Jeremiah 23:27 condemns prophets who exchange dreams in ways that make the people forget the Lord's name. Other texts describe troubling royal dreams, false dreams, dreams shaped by many cares, and promised Spirit-given dreams. H2472 opens revelation, imagination, anxiety, deception, hope, and testing. It corrects both cynical dismissal of every dream and coercive certainty that treats a private dream as binding instruction for other people.
H2472 names dreams without by itself identifying their source or authority. Scripture presents dreams that communicate, dreams requiring interpretation, deceptive claims, anxious experiences, and ordinary transience. Content and covenant fidelity require testing.
One night at Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “Ask, and I will give it to you!”
The Lord appears to Solomon in a dream at Gibeon, and Solomon's request for wisdom is evaluated within his royal calling.
If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you,
Israel is warned that a dreamer's sign does not validate a message that turns the people away from covenant loyalty to the Lord.
They suppose the dreams that they tell one another will make My people forget My name, just as their fathers forgot My name through the worship of Baal.
False prophets trade dreams that make God's people forget His name, exposing claimed revelation that displaces covenant truth.
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. a dream
a dream BDB: dream Usage: dream(-er).
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 64 lexical occurrence verses.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H2472 gives dreams a real but bounded place. God may communicate through dreams in the biblical story, yet Deuteronomy refuses the simplest possible validation test: even an impressive sign cannot authorize departure from the Lord. Jeremiah shows how dream language can become a market of spiritual authority that makes people forget God's name. Ecclesiastes recognizes that ordinary cares can shape dreams.
These strands cultivate humble attention rather than automatic belief or automatic contempt. A person may record a dream, pray, seek wise counsel, and ask what fears or hopes it reveals. They should not use it to command another person's marriage, money, medical care, relocation, vote, confession, or access to a child. Safety decisions need evidence and appropriate expertise.
Trauma-related nightmares deserve compassionate clinical and pastoral support, not mystical blame. Where a community considers a claimed revelation, leaders should disclose uncertainty, permit testing, refuse retaliation, and never make obedience to the dream a test of faith.
Deut.13.1
H2472 is the common Hebrew noun for dream. Its lexical identity does not distinguish an ordinary dream, symbolic dream, true revelation, false prophetic claim, or dream used as a simile; the surrounding narrative and evaluation do that work.
Matthew and Acts present significant dreams and visions within God's saving mission, while the apostolic communities also test prophecy and refuse rival gospels. Pentecost's promise broadens participation but does not remove discernment or apostolic truth.