To feed on ; figuratively, to consume ; by implication, to battle (as destruction)
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H3898 describes fighting or waging war and, in a smaller set of contexts, consuming food, linking the idea of engagement without making battle and eating the same action. Most occurrences concern combat, opposition, or warfare, while contexts such as Proverbs use the verb for eating; the subject, object, and construction must decide whether the passage speaks of armed conflict, divine defense, resistance, or.
Reader summary
Full entry for לָחַם (H3898) · Open the biblical lexicon
H3898 describes fighting or waging war and, in a smaller set of contexts, consuming food, linking the idea of engagement without making battle and eating the same action. Most occurrences concern combat, opposition, or warfare, while contexts such as Proverbs use the verb for eating; the subject, object, and construction must decide whether the passage.
The BSB source-word alignment has 177 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include to fight (34), and fought (17), fought (15), and fight (12), fight (10).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 1:10. Its strongest book concentrations include Judges (31), 1 Samuel (21), Joshua (17), Jeremiah (16).
H3898 describes fighting or waging war and, in a smaller set of contexts, consuming food, linking the idea of engagement without making battle and eating the same action. Most occurrences concern combat, opposition, or warfare, while contexts such as Proverbs use the verb for eating; the subject, object, and construction must decide whether the passage speaks of armed conflict, divine defense, resistance, or consumption.
In Deut. 1. 30, moses assures fearful Israel that the Lord who goes before them will fight for them as He acted in Egypt. In 1Kgs. 12. 24, the prophetic word forbids Judah and Benjamin to fight their Israelite brothers, and the assembled warriors return home in obedience. H3898 opens teaching on who fights, what cause is pursued, when God forbids conflict, and how Scripture can expose both violent opposition and the daily consumption of wickedness.
It corrects slogans that place God behind every human conflict, and it resists spiritualized warfare language that excuses aggression toward neighbors, family members, congregants, or political opponents. H3898 refuses a single heroic picture of fighting: Moses tells fearful Israel that the Lord will fight for them, a prophet stops Rehoboam from fighting his Israelite brothers, and Proverbs says the wicked eat the bread of wickedness and drink violence.
Scripture can announce divine deliverance, forbid civil bloodshed, and depict practiced evil as daily food. These uses call teachers to distinguish Gods just action from human appetite for conflict. For H3898, responsible teaching keeps lexical meaning, passage context, canonical synthesis, and present application distinguishable. H3898 does not authorize private vengeance, identify every disagreement as spiritual warfare, guarantee victory to a nation or ministry, or make ancient battle commands a standing mandate for violence.
H3898 appears across passages that develop war, divine defense, restrained violence, fraternal conflict, moral consumption, deliverance, and peace under Gods rule. For H3898, the immediate setting decides which part of the range is active, so the witnesses must remain distinct rather than being merged into one formula.
The Lord your God, who goes before you, will fight for you, just as you saw Him do for you in Egypt
Moses assures fearful Israel that the Lord who goes before them will fight for them as He acted in Egypt.
That this is what the Lord says: ‘You are not to go up and fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you must return home, for this is My doing.’” So they listened to the word of the Lord and turned back according to the word of the Lord.
The prophetic word forbids Judah and Benjamin to fight their Israelite brothers, and the assembled warriors return home in obedience.
For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
The wicked are portrayed as eating the bread of wickedness and drinking the wine of violence within a warning against their path.
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. To consume or devour, either literally as food or figuratively as destructive conflict and warfare.
To consume or devour, either literally as food or figuratively as destructive conflict and warfare.
to feed on; figuratively, to consume; by implication, to battle (as destruction) BDB: use as food Usage: devour, eat, × ever, fight(-ing), overcome, prevail, (make) war(-ring).
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 4 selected witnesses from 177 lexical occurrence verses.
לָחַם 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.
H3898 refuses a single heroic picture of fighting: Moses tells fearful Israel that the Lord will fight for them, a prophet stops Rehoboam from fighting his Israelite brothers, and Proverbs says the wicked eat the bread of wickedness and drink violence. Scripture can announce divine deliverance, forbid civil bloodshed, and depict practiced evil as daily food.
These uses call teachers to distinguish Gods just action from human appetite for conflict. H3898 describes fighting or waging war and, in a smaller set of contexts, consuming food, linking the idea of engagement without making battle and eating the same action. The selected witnesses keep the teaching concrete: Deut. 1. 30 shows that moses assures fearful Israel that the Lord who goes before them will fight for them as He acted in Egypt, while 1Kgs.
12. 24 Shows that the prophetic word forbids Judah and Benjamin to fight their Israelite brothers, and the assembled warriors return home in obedience. Prov. 4. 17 adds that the wicked are portrayed as eating the bread of wickedness and drinking the wine of violence within a warning against their path. H3898 opens teaching on who fights, what cause is pursued, when God forbids conflict, and how Scripture can expose both violent opposition and the daily consumption of wickedness.
It corrects slogans that place God behind every human conflict, and it resists spiritualized warfare language that excuses aggression toward neighbors, family members, congregants, or political opponents. A church teaching H3898 faithfully will name both the promise and the boundary carried by these contexts, attend to vulnerable hearers, and refuse to make the lexical item prove more than its passages support.
H3898 does not authorize private vengeance, identify every disagreement as spiritual warfare, guarantee victory to a nation or ministry, or make ancient battle commands a standing mandate for violence.
Deut.1.30
H3898 is a Hebrew verb used chiefly for fighting, engaging in battle, or waging war, with related uses for consuming food; its stems and accompanying prepositions identify who engages whom or what is eaten.
The Old Testament records wars, divine deliverance, prophetic restraints, and hope for peace. The New Testament identifies the churchs struggle as nonviolent faithfulness against spiritual evil and commands love of enemies, leaving judgment to God rather than turning neighbors into targets.