A2370 — חֲזָא (chaza)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H2370
Original: חֲזָא
Transliteration: chăzâʼ
Pronunciation: khaz-aw
Part of Speech: Verb (Aramaic)
Root: Cognate of Hebrew חָזָה (chazah) H2372; same root ח-ז-ה
Cognates: H2376 חֵזֵו (chezev) "vision/appearance"; H2372 חָזָה (chazah) Hebrew counterpart; H2377 חָזוֹן (chazon) "vision" (Hebrew noun from same root)
Occurrences: 29 unique verses (32 tokens) in OT
Books: 2 (Daniel, Ezra)
First Occurrence: Ezr 4:14 — "it was not meet for us to see (mecheza) the king's dishonour"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

(Aramaic) corresponding to H2372; to gaze upon; mentally to dream, be usual (i.e. seem): — behold, have (a dream), see, be wont.

The BDB Aramaic entry distinguishes four senses: (1) have sense of sight (Dan 5:23); (2) see/behold a person or thing directly (Dan 3:25, 27; 5:5; Ezr 4:14); (3) behold in dream or vision, the dominant usage — often with periphrastic participle + הֲוָה (Dan 2:31, 34; 4:10, 13; 7:2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 21); (4) passive = customary/seemly (Dan 3:19).

Verb Stem Distribution¶

All 32 tokens are Peal (the Aramaic counterpart of Hebrew Qal). No derived stems are attested.

Stem	Count	Typical Meaning
Peal	32	see, behold, gaze upon (in vision)

Morphological Breakdown¶

Form	Count	Typical Context
Peal Participle (active ms)	15	Periphrastic "I was seeing" (חָזֵה הֲוֵית) — vision narrative formula
Peal Participle (active mp)	2	"they saw" (Dan 3:27); "they see not" (Dan 5:23)
Peal Perfect (various persons)	13	"thou sawest" (2ms), "I saw" (1s), "he saw" (3ms)
Peal Infinitive Construct	1	"to see" (Ezr 4:14)
Peal Participle (passive)	1	"it was wont/seemly" (Dan 3:19)

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
I beheld	5	17.2%
I saw	5	17.2%
saw	4	13.8%
thou sawest	4	13.8%
I have seen	2	6.9%
see	2	6.9%
Other (Thou sawest, had, have seen, it was wont, sawest, to see, ye see, I)	7	24.1%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Daniel	28	7.8
Ezra	1	0.4

Daniel accounts for 97% of all usage. Within Daniel, the word concentrates in the Aramaic vision narratives: chapters 2 (Nebuchadnezzar's image dream, 9 occurrences), 4 (tree dream, 7 occurrences), 7 (four beasts vision, 10 occurrences), with scattered uses in chapters 3 and 5.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Beholding in Prophetic Vision (Dream-Vision Narrative)¶

The dominant usage. Typically in the periphrastic construction חָזֵה הֲוֵית ("I was seeing/beholding"), which functions as a past continuous providing the narrative frame for apocalyptic visions. - Dan 2:31 — "Thou, O king, sawest (chazeh hawaytha), and behold a great image" - Dan 7:2 — "I saw (chazeh haweyth) in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea" - Dan 7:9 — "I beheld (chazeh haweyth) till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit" - Dan 7:13 — "I saw (chazeh haweyth) in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven"

2. Beholding with Temporal Continuation ("I beheld till...")¶

A subset of the vision formula where chaza + עַד ("until") marks the seer watching continuously until a climactic event occurs. - Dan 2:34 — "Thou sawest (chazeh hawaytha) till that a stone was cut out without hands" - Dan 7:4 — "I beheld (chazeh haweyth) till the wings thereof were plucked" - Dan 7:9 — "I beheld (chazeh haweyth) till the thrones were cast down" - Dan 7:11 — "I beheld (chazeh haweyth) even till the beast was slain"

3. Direct Physical Sight (Seeing Events or Objects)¶

Ordinary visual perception of real-time events, not revelatory seeing. - Dan 3:25 — "Lo, I see (chazeh) four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire" - Dan 3:27 — "the princes...saw (chazayin) these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power" - Dan 5:5 — "the king saw (chazeh) the part of the hand that wrote"

4. Having a Dream (Object = Dream)¶

With חֵלֶם (chelem, "dream") as direct object, denoting the experience of a dream. - Dan 2:26 — "Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen (chazeyth)?" - Dan 4:5 — "I saw (chazeyth) a dream which made me afraid" (Nebuchadnezzar) - Dan 7:1 — "Daniel had a dream (chelem chazah) and visions of his head upon his bed"

5. Incapacity of Sight (Negated: Idols Cannot See)¶

Dan 5:23 — "the gods of silver...which see (chazayin) not, nor hear, nor know"

6. Seemly/Customary (Passive Participle)¶

A unique semantic extension: the passive form means "what is seen" → "what is customary/fitting." - Dan 3:19 — "commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont (chazeh) to be heated"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
הָוָא (hava)	H1934	15x (52%)	חָזֵה הֲוֵית "I was seeing" — periphrastic vision formula
מֶלֶךְ (melek)	H4430	10x (34%)	"the king saw" / "thou, O king, sawest"
חֵזֵו (chezev)	H2376	8x (28%)	"visions" — cognate noun as context frame
חֵלֶם (chelem)	H2493	6x (21%)	"saw a dream" — dream as object
שָׁמַיִן (shamayin)	H8065	6x (21%)	"of heaven" — vision-content setting
רֵאשׁ (resh)	H7217	7x (24%)	"visions of my head" — locus of visionary experience
פַּרְזֶל (parzel)	H6523	7x (24%)	"iron" — image/statue description in ch. 2
קַדִּישׁ (qaddish)	H6922	5x (17%)	"holy one/saints" — heavenly figures in vision

Word Family / Cognates¶

H2372 חָזָה (chazah) — Hebrew counterpart: to gaze, perceive, have a vision (47v)
H2376 חֵזֵו (chezev) — Aramaic noun: vision, appearance (from same root; 12v)
H2377 חָזוֹן (chazon) — Hebrew noun: vision, prophetic revelation (33v)
H2374 חֹזֶה (chozeh) — Hebrew noun: seer, one who sees visions (17v)
H4236 מַחֲזֶה (machazeh) — Hebrew noun: vision, sight (from same root; 4v)
H2380 חָזוּת (chazuwth) — Hebrew noun: vision, conspicuousness (from same root; 5v)

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
רָאָה (ra'ah)	H7200	"saw," "see," "beheld"	General Hebrew word for seeing (1,298v); chaza is Aramaic-specific and vision-weighted
ὁράω (horao)	G3708	"saw," "beheld," "see"	Greek NT counterpart; shares KJV renderings but operates in different linguistic layer
חָזָה (chazah)	H2372	"saw," "see," "beheld"	Hebrew cognate with identical meaning; chaza is the Aramaic form used in Daniel/Ezra Aramaic sections

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
θεωρέω (theoreo) G2334	14	23.32	Primary LXX rendering — "to gaze at, observe"
ὁράω (horao) G3708	13	8.47	General "see" — used when chaza has ordinary sight sense
ἐνύπνιον (enypnion) G1798	6	12.01	"dream" — LXX translates the dream-vision construction
ὅρασις (horasis) G3706	5	9.87	"the act of gazing, a vision"
σιδήρεος (sidereos) G4603	5	12.34	"of iron" — contextual co-occurrence from Dan 2 image
ὅραμα (horama) G3705	3	9.34	"a spectacle, vision"

The LXX translators chose θεωρέω (theoreo) as the primary rendering for chaza, emphasizing contemplative gazing. This differs from the Hebrew chazah → ὁράω/εἶδον mapping, suggesting the translators recognized the Aramaic term's specific visionary connotation.