Tool Beta
Hebrew and Greek Without Learning Either
A walk through Genesis, the Psalms, and John, plus the key Hebrew and Greek words worth knowing. Each card is a place the English Bibles part company, and what in the Hebrew or Greek made them.
chayim
Life. Plural in form, singular in meaning.
Deuteronomy 30:19, in every translation this tool compares.
Goods. Wits. English has plural nouns for single ideas and nobody argues about them.
Because it is one of the commonest Hebrew nouns and it is plural, which is worth knowing before anyone builds anything on a plural form elsewhere.
Every version reads life.
חַיִּים chayim · H2416
Chayim is plural in form and means life. Hebrew uses plural forms for several abstractions and for some single objects, which is why a plural form on its own proves very little.
A few English nouns follow the same pattern, so nothing is lost here. What matters is the precedent it sets for reading other plurals.
Before drawing a conclusion from a plural form in Hebrew, check whether the word is simply plural by nature. Many are.
Life is universal.
- chayim at Genesis 2:7; Deuteronomy 30:19; Proverbs 3:2
- Other plural abstractions: zequnim, old age; betulim, virginity
- Compare elohim, plural in form
