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Bible Dictionaries
Bosom
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or Chêyq (חֵק, Strong's #2436), “bosom; lap; base.” Cognates of this word appear in Akkadian, late Aramaic, and Arabic.The word appears 38 times throughout biblical literature. The word represents the “outer front of one’s body” where beloved ones, infants, and animals are pressed closely: “Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child …” (Num. 11:12). In its first biblical appearance, chêyq is used of a man’s “bosom”: “And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes …” (Gen. 16:5). The “husband of one’s bosom” is a husband who is “held close to one’s heart” or “cherished” (Deut. 28:56). This figurative inward sense appears again in Ps. 35:13: “… My prayer returned into mine own bosom” (cf. Job 19:27). In 1 Kings 22:35, the word means the “inside” or “heart” of a war chariot. )
Chêyq represents a fold of one’s garment above the belt where things are hidden: “And the Lord said furthermore unto him [Moses], Put now thine hand into thy bosom” (Exod. 4:6).
Various translations may render this word as “lap”: “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord” (Prov. 16:33). Yet “bosom” may be used, even where “lap” is clearly intended: “But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom …” (2 Sam. 12:3).
Finally, chêyq means the “base of the altar,” as described in Ezek. 43:13 (cf. Ezek. 43:17).
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Bosom'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/b/bosom.html. 1940.
