the Third Week of Advent
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Dictionaries
Nothing, for
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or Chinnâm (חִנָּם, Strong's #2600), “for nothing; for no purpose; useless; without a cause; for no reason.” The 32 appearances of this word are scattered throughout every period of biblical Hebrew.
This substantive is used chiefly as an adverb. Chinnâm means “for nought”: “And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?” (Gen. 29:15—the first occurrence). The word means “in vain,” or “for no purpose”: “Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird” (Prov. 1:17). Finally, chinnâm means “for no cause”: “… Wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause?” (1 Sam. 19:5).
The verb chanan and the noun chen are related to this word.
These files are public domain.
Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Nothing, for'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/n/nothing-for.html. 1940.
