Properly, to plait or interpenetrate , i.e. (literally) to weave or (generally) to fabricate ; figuratively, to plot or contrive (usually in a malicious sense); hence (from the mental effort) to think , regard , value , compute
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H2803, ḥāšaḇ, is a Hebrew verb for bringing someone or something within deliberate thought, intention, design, or evaluation. Depending on the sentence, it can mean think, plan, intend, devise, design, calculate, count, credit, regard, or esteem.
Reader summary
Full entry for חָשַׁב (H2803) · Open the biblical lexicon
H2803, ḥāšaḇ, is a Hebrew verb for bringing someone or something within deliberate thought, intention, design, or evaluation. Depending on the sentence, it can mean think, plan, intend, devise, design, calculate, count, credit, regard, or esteem.
The BSB source-word alignment has 124 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (6), skillfully (5), He has devised (3), they devise (3), account (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 15:6. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (18), Exodus (13), Isaiah (12), Jeremiah (12).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
H2803, ḥāšaḇ, is a Hebrew verb for bringing someone or something within deliberate thought, intention, design, or evaluation. Depending on the sentence, it can mean think, plan, intend, devise, design, calculate, count, credit, regard, or esteem. Scripture uses the verb across a wide range of settings, so no single English gloss, moral value, or theological formula controls every occurrence.
Craft settings use the verb for designing skilled work; accounting and covenant statements use it for counting or crediting; narratives and prophets use it for intentions and plans; passive forms describe how someone or something is regarded. Genesis 15:6 uses the verb when Abram's believing response is credited as righteousness. The clause is foundational, but the verb alone does not explain the full doctrine of justification; Paul's later use supplies canonical interpretation rather than a hidden meaning inside the Hebrew root.
Psalm 32:2 uses the same reckoning language negatively for the person against whom the Lord does not count iniquity. Genesis 50:20 places the same verb on both sides of a moral contrast: Joseph's brothers intended evil, while God intended good through the outcome. Shared vocabulary does not make the intentions morally equal, excuse the brothers, or rename evil as good.
Exodus 31:4 uses the verb for Bezalel's Spirit-enabled artistic design. Jeremiah 29:11 speaks of the Lord's plans for the exiled community within a promised seventy-year horizon and a call to seek Him, not a guarantee of immediate prosperity for every individual plan.
H2803 spans deliberate thought, planning, skilled design, calculation, accounting, crediting, and regarding. Its moral and theological force comes from the subject, object, purpose, and narrative evaluation rather than from mental action alone.
Abram believed the Lord, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
The narrator describes the Lord's reckoning of Abram's believing response as righteousness; later canonical interpretation develops the doctrine beyond the verb alone.
Blessed is the man whose iniquity the Lord does not count against him, in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Negative reckoning belongs to the psalm's blessing of forgiven iniquity and integrity, not to denial that sin matters.
As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.
Two exact H2803 forms contrast the brothers' evil intention with God's life-preserving purpose; shared vocabulary does not erase responsibility or moral difference.
To design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze,
The verb describes skilled artistic design within Bezalel's Spirit-enabled tabernacle vocation, showing deliberate thought directed toward constructive craft.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.
The Lord's plans address an exiled covenant community within Jeremiah's seventy-year horizon and therefore do not promise immediate individual prosperity.
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.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Hebrew word. Thinking as mental weaving or plotting; ranges from neutral computation to malicious scheming or divine imputation of righteousness.
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 124 lexical occurrence verses.
חָשַׁב 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.
H2803 teaches readers to distinguish the act of considering or reckoning from the moral and theological verdict supplied by context. Genesis 15:6 says Abram believed the Lord and that this was credited to him as righteousness. Psalm 32:2 speaks of the blessed person against whom the Lord does not count iniquity. These accounting uses form a major canonical thread, yet the Hebrew verb alone does not contain Paul's complete argument about justification.
Genesis 50:20 uses the same verb for the brothers' intention and God's intention. The object and outcome expose the difference: they intended evil, while God intended good to preserve life. Providence neither cleanses the brothers' motive nor asks Joseph to deny harm. Exodus 31:4 uses ḥāšaḇ for Spirit-enabled artistic design, honoring deliberate craft as a form of wise service.
Jeremiah 29:11 gives exiles hope within a communal promise and a long horizon that includes seeking the Lord from displacement. It must not be reduced to immediate personal success. Churches can use H2803 to examine plans, budgets, designs, accusations, and judgments with moral clarity. Thought is neither reality-creating magic nor morally neutral simply because it is strategic.
Faithful deliberation tells the truth about evil, welcomes skilled design, handles accounts honestly, and submits hope to the promises and time frames God actually gives.
Gen.50.20
H2803 is a Hebrew verb whose stems and complements support a broad range from thinking and planning to designing, calculating, crediting, and regarding. Passive constructions can describe how a person or thing is counted within a category.
Genesis 15 and Psalm 32 become central texts in Paul's account of righteousness reckoned apart from works, while Genesis 50 preserves moral agency under providence. The canonical connection is substantive, but Greek G3049 and Hebrew H2803 remain distinct lexemes joined through quotation, translation, and theological argument.