H2374 — חֹזֶה (chozeh)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H2374
Original: חֹזֶה
Transliteration: chozeh
Pronunciation: kho-zeh
Part of Speech: Masculine noun (active participle of H2372 chazah)
Root: חָזָה (chazah, H2372) — to gaze at, perceive, have a vision of
Occurrences: 21 unique verses in OT (8 books)
First Occurrence: 2 Sam 24:11 — "the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer (chozeh)"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

Active participle of H2372; a beholder in vision; also a compact (as looked upon with approval): — agreement, prophet, see that, seer, (star-)gazer.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
seer	5	23.8%
the seer	5	23.8%
the seers	3	14.3%
of the seers	1	4.8%
O thou seer	1	4.8%
and to the prophets	1	4.8%
and which see	1	4.8%
at agreement	1	4.8%
seeing	1	4.8%
that see	1	4.8%
the stargazers	1	4.8%

Primary rendering: "seer" in various forms (76% of uses).

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
2 Chronicles	7	0.9
Isaiah	4	0.3
1 Chronicles	3	0.3
Ezekiel	3	0.2
Micah	1	1.0
Amos	1	0.7
2 Samuel	1	0.1
2 Kings	1	0.1

Heavily concentrated in Chronicles (10 of 21 occurrences), reflecting the Chronicler's interest in prophetic office and court records. Prophetic books (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Amos) account for 9 occurrences, mostly negative — addressing false or silenced seers.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Royal/Court Seer — Personal Visionary Advisor to the King¶

2 Sam 24:11 — "the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer"
1 Chr 21:9 — "the LORD spake unto Gad, David's seer"
1 Chr 25:5 — "the sons of Heman the king's seer in the words of God"
2 Chr 29:25 — "according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet"

The chozeh functions as an officially recognized visionary attached to the royal court — paired with but distinguished from the nabiy (prophet). Gad is the paradigmatic example, identified as "David's seer" in multiple passages.

2. Recorder of Prophetic History¶

1 Chr 29:29 — "written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer"
2 Chr 9:29 — "in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam"
2 Chr 12:15 — "written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer"
2 Chr 33:18 — "the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of the LORD"

Chronicles cites seers as authoritative historiographers whose written records document the acts of kings.

3. False or Silenced Seers — Negative Usage¶

Isa 29:10 — "the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered"
Isa 30:10 — "Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things"
Eze 13:9 — "mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity"
Mic 3:7 — "then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded"

These passages use chozeh for those who claim visionary status but prophesy falsely, or whose vision is divinely shut down as judgment.

4. Compact / Agreement (Non-Visionary Sense)¶

Isa 28:15 — "with hell are we at agreement (chozeh)"

Unique usage: the word denotes a compact or agreement — something "looked upon with approval." This is the only occurrence of this semantic sense.

5. Stargazer (Babylonian Astrologer)¶

Isa 47:13 — "the astrologers, the stargazers (chozeh), the monthly prognosticators"

Applied pejoratively to Babylonian sky-watchers. The compound "stargazers" (chozeh + kokab) extends the "gazer/beholder" root meaning to celestial observation.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
נָבִיא (nabiy)	H5030	10x (48%)	Paired as "prophets and seers" — parallel prophetic offices
אָמַר (amar)	H559	9x (43%)	Seers who "said" — introducing prophetic speech
יְהֹוָה (YHWH)	H3068	9x (43%)	Seers speak in the name of the LORD
דָּבָר (dabar)	H1697	7x (33%)	"The word" that comes to or through the seer
מֶלֶךְ (melek)	H4428	7x (33%)	Seer in relationship to the king
דָּוִד (David)	H1732	6x (29%)	"David's seer" — Gad's designated role
גָּד (Gad)	H1410	4x (19%)	Named individual most identified as chozeh
כָּתַב (kathab)	H3789	4x (19%)	Seers who "wrote" — historiographic function

Word Family / Cognates¶

H2372 חָזָה (chazah) — root verb: to gaze at, perceive, have a vision of (51 occurrences)
H2377 חָזוֹן (chazon) — vision, revelation, oracle (35 occurrences)
H2384 חִזָּיוֹן (chizzayon) — vision, dream-revelation (9 occurrences)
A2370 חֲזָה (chaza) — Aramaic cognate verb: to see, behold in a vision (Daniel, Ezra)

Synonyms¶

H5030 נָבִיא (nabiy) — prophet, inspired man (316 occurrences). The dominant term for prophet. Nabiy emphasizes the role of speaking forth God's message; chozeh emphasizes the mode of reception through visionary seeing.
H7203 רֹאֶה (roeh) — seer (from H7200 raah, "to see"). An older term for seer; 1 Sam 9:9 explicitly notes "he that is now called a Prophet (nabiy) was beforetime called a Seer (roeh)." Roeh derives from the common verb "to see" (raah), while chozeh derives from the more specialized "to gaze/perceive in vision" (chazah).

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
רָאָה (raah)	H7200	"seer" (5x as participle)	General "to see" — broad physical and mental sight; chozeh is specialized visionary perception
רֹאֶה (roeh)	H7203	"seer" (3x)	Active participle of raah; the older synonym that chozeh largely replaced in later usage (Chronicles)

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
προφήτης (prophetes) G4396	14	15.89	Primary rendering — LXX treats chozeh as equivalent to nabiy
ὁράω (horao) G3708	15	10.77	Verb "to see" — used when chozeh appears in participial/verbal contexts

The LXX overwhelmingly renders chozeh as prophetes (prophet), collapsing the Hebrew distinction between "seer" and "prophet" into a single Greek category. This means the specific nuance of visionary reception is lost in the Greek translation.