H2421 — חָיָה (châyâh)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H2421
Original: חָיָה
Transliteration: châyâh
Pronunciation: khaw-yaw
Part of Speech: Verb (primitive root)
Root: primitive root; cognate noun חַי (chay, H2416 "alive/living"); Aramaic counterpart חֲיָא/חֲיָה (H2418)
Occurrences: 239 unique verses / 361 tokens in OT
Books: 27
First Occurrence: Gen 5:3 — "And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; to live, whether literally or figuratively; causatively, to revive:— keep (leave, make) alive, certainly, give (promise) life, (let, suffer to) live, nourish up, preserve (alive), quicken, recover, repair, restore (to life), revive, (God) save (alive, life, lives), surely, be whole.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	Typical Meaning
Qal	204	to live, be alive, continue living (stative/fientive intransitive)
Piel	56	preserve alive, keep alive, let live, revive, quicken (factitive-declarative)
Hiphil	23	cause to live, keep alive, save alive (causative)

[Tallied from hebrew_parser.py output for lemma חיה, verb occurrences only. Piel and Hiphil overlap semantically — both cover "preserve alive" and "restore" senses, with Piel emphasizing the inner renewal/reviving force and Hiphil the external causation.]

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

[Top renderings; the full distribution contains 100+ phrase-level forms because the verb appears with many pronominal and modal combinations.]

Translation Cluster	Verses	%
lived / lived (pret.)	39	16.3%
live (general)	37	15.5%
alive / keep alive / save alive	50+	~21%
shall live / may live / ye shall live	45+	~19%
quicken / quicken me / quicken us / quicken thou me	12	5.0%
revive / revived / revive us / they shall revive	10	4.2%
recover / shall I recover / and he recovered	7	2.9%
save / saved / God save / they save us alive	18	7.5%
nourish up / nourished up / shall nourish	3	1.3%
restore / restored to life / repaired	4	1.7%
be whole / they were whole	1	0.4%

Three overlapping translation families emerge: (1) simple "live / be alive" (Qal), (2) "preserve / keep / save alive / revive / quicken" (Piel), (3) "cause to live / recover / restore to life" (Hiphil).

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Genesis	56	3.7
Habakkuk	2	3.6
2 Kings	17	2.4
Ezekiel	31	2.4
Amos	3	2.1
Ecclesiastes	4	1.8
Deuteronomy	13	1.4
Zechariah	3	1.4
Psalms	31	1.3
Joshua	8	1.2
Nehemiah	5	1.2
1 Kings	8	1.0
Hosea	2	1.0
Isaiah	9	0.7
Job	6	0.6
Jeremiah	8	0.6
2 Samuel	4	0.6
Esther	1	0.6
Lamentations	1	0.6
Numbers	6	0.5
Judges	3	0.5
1 Samuel	4	0.5
Exodus	5	0.4
Proverbs	4	0.4
2 Chronicles	2	0.2
Leviticus	2	0.2
1 Chronicles	1	0.1

Patterns: Highest density in Genesis (antediluvian genealogies "and X lived N years") and Ezekiel (prophetic "live/die" formulae in chs. 3, 18, 33). Habakkuk's density is an artifact of small book size but includes the theologically weighty 2:4 ("the just shall live by his faith"). Wisdom literature (Job, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs) uses it reflectively; Psalms concentrates the "quicken me" petitions (Ps 119). Absent or rare in cultic literature (Leviticus, Chronicles).

Semantic Categories¶

1. Simple Biological Life / Lifespan (Qal)¶

Gen 5:3 — "Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son"
Gen 5:5 — "all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years"
Gen 25:7 — "the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived"
2 Chr 25:25 — "Amaziah... lived after the death of Joash... fifteen years"

2. Remain Alive / Not Die (Qal, opposed to muwth H4191)¶

Gen 42:2 — "buy for us... that we may live, and not die"
Num 4:19 — "that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things"
Deut 4:33 — "hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire... and live"
Ezek 18:21 — "if the wicked will turn from all his sins... he shall surely live, he shall not die"

3. Revive / Recover from Sickness or Near-Death (Qal / Piel / Hiphil)¶

Gen 45:27 — "the spirit of Jacob their father revived"
Judg 15:19 — "he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived"
2 Kgs 1:2 — "enquire... whether I shall recover of this disease"
2 Kgs 8:8–14 — Ben-hadad / Hazael dialogue on recovery from sickness
Isa 38:9 — Hezekiah's writing after he "had been sick, and was recovered"

4. Resurrection / Restoration to Life (Qal / Piel — the strong theological sense)¶

1 Kgs 17:22 — "the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived"
2 Kgs 13:21 — "the man... revived, and stood up on his feet"
Job 14:14 — "if a man die, shall he live again?"
Isa 26:19 — "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise"
Ezek 37:3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14 — the dry-bones vision: "shall these bones live?... I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live"
Hos 6:2 — "after two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live"

5. Preserve Alive / Save from Death (Piel / Hiphil — causative)¶

Gen 12:12 — "they will kill me, but they will save thee alive"
Gen 45:7 — "to save your lives by a great deliverance"
Gen 50:20 — "to save much people alive"
Exod 1:17–22 — midwives "saved the men children alive"
Josh 2:13; 6:25 — Rahab "saved alive"
1 Sam 2:6 — "The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up"

6. Torah Life-Formula: Obey and Live (Qal imperfect, Deuteronomic)¶

Lev 18:5 — "which if a man do, he shall live in them" (quoted Ezek 20:11, 13, 21; Neh 9:29; Gal 3:12; Rom 10:5)
Deut 4:1 — "hearken... unto the statutes... that ye may live"
Deut 8:3 — "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live"
Deut 30:16, 19 — "choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live"
Amos 5:4, 6, 14 — "Seek ye me, and ye shall live"
Prov 4:4; 7:2; 9:6 — wisdom-parenesis "keep my commandments, and live"
Hab 2:4 — "the just shall live by his faith"

7. Liturgical "Quicken Me" — Psalm Petitions (Piel)¶

Ps 80:18 — "quicken us, and we will call upon thy name"
Ps 119:25, 37, 40, 88, 93, 107, 149, 154, 156, 159 — repeated petition "quicken me" (eleven times in Ps 119 alone)
Ps 143:11 — "quicken me, O LORD, for thy name's sake"
Hab 3:2 — "O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years"

8. Royal Acclamation "Let the King Live!" (Qal jussive)¶

1 Sam 10:24 — "God save the king" (yᵉḥî hammelek — "may the king live")
2 Sam 16:16; 1 Kgs 1:25, 31, 34, 39 — "God save king Solomon / David / Adonijah"
2 Kgs 11:12; Neh 2:3 — "Let the king live for ever"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
אָמַר (ʼâmar)	H559	66x (28%)	introduces direct speech containing the verb ("I said... live")
לֹא (lôʼ)	H3808	60x (25%)	negation — "shall not live" / "that ye may not die" (inverted)
שָׁנֶה (shâneh)	H8141	44x (18%)	"lived N years" — genealogical/biographical formula
בֵּן (bên)	H1121	41x (17%)	Gen 5/11 pattern: "lived N years and begat a son"
יְהֹוָה (YHWH)	H3068	40x (17%)	covenantal contexts — "that thou mayest live before the LORD"
יָלַד (yâlad)	H3205	36x (15%)	"lived... and begat" — Genesis genealogy pattern
מוּת (mûwth, to die)	H4191	35x (15%)	life/death antithesis — "live and not die"; Ezek 18 / Deut 30 choice
נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh)	H5315	27x (11%)	"soul revived" / "save lives" / "while my soul lives"
מֵאָה (mêʼâh, hundred)	H3967	25x (10%)	"lived an hundred N years" (Gen 5, 11, 25)
אֱלֹהִים (ʼĕlôhîym)	H430	24x (10%)	"God save the king"; "hear... God, and live"
שׁוּב (shûwb, turn/return)	H7725	21x (9%)	repentance → life in Ezek 18, 33 ("turn and live")

Signature pairings: חָיָה | מוּת (live vs. die) is the dominant antithetical frame in Ezekiel, Deuteronomy, and the prophets. חָיָה | יָלַד | שָׁנֶה (live + beget + years) is the antediluvian genealogy formula. חָיָה | שׁוּב is the repentance-to-life formula of Ezek 18, 33.

Word Family / Cognates¶

H2416 חַי (chay) — adjective/noun "alive, living, life"; the cognate form (449 OT) — the verbal-adjective counterpart to H2421
H2425 חָיַי (châyay) — byform of H2421 (~17 OT); identical semantic range, distinguished only by vocalization
H2424 חַיּוּת (chayyûwth) — "lifetime, widowhood-in-life" (1 OT: 2 Sam 20:3)
H2417 חַי (chay, Aramaic) — Aramaic adjective "alive" (~6 OT, Dan 2–7)
H2418 חֲיָא / חֲיָה (Aramaic) — Aramaic verbal counterpart "to live" (Dan 2:4, etc.)
H2465 חֶלֶד (cheled) — "lifetime, world, age" (related nominal)

Synonyms¶

No synonym entries were returned by search_relationships.py for H2421.

Antonyms¶

H4191 מוּת (mûwth) — to die; the direct verbal antithesis and the study's most frequent life/death pair.
H4194 מָוֶת (mâveth) — death; the nominal opposite within the same life/death formulas.
H7495 רָפָא (rapha) — heal; retained from the prior study as an adjacent recovery/restoration term, though not a strict antonym.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
חַי (chay)	H2416	"live, lived, alive" (co-translation 62x)	chay is the adjective/noun state ("being alive, living"); chayah is the verbal event ("to live, become alive, be made alive")
חָיַי (châyay)	H2425	"live, shall live"	phonological byform of H2421; functionally identical; distribution differs by vowel-pointing tradition
יָשַׁע (yâshaʻ)	H3467	"save, saved" (9x overlap on "save")	yashaʻ = rescue/deliver from danger (salvific-military); chayah = preserve from death / restore life (biological-ontological)
שָׁלַם (shâlam)	H7999	"whole, be whole"	shalam = complete/unbroken state; chayah "be whole" refers to recovery from illness (2 Kgs 8:10, Isa 38:1)
נָצַל (nâtsal)	H5337	"recover" (2x overlap)	natsal = snatch from peril; chayah "recover" = come back to biological life
רָפָא (rapha, heal)	H7495	thematically adjacent, rarely overlap	rapha = heal the specific disease/wound; chayah = restore the life that was ebbing

Semantic Domains¶

Code	Domain Label	Notes
002001001003	Alive	Core domain for biological life, continued existence, and restored vitality.
002001001056	Stage	Secondary lifecycle association returned by the tool, reflecting how chayah can mark continuance through a span of life.
002001001059	Strong	Peripheral association through vitality/strength contexts tied to being alive.
002001002003	Confident	Secondary extension where continued life overlaps with secure or stable existence.
002002001005	Dwell	Contextual overlap from covenant formulas where to "live" in the land entails remaining or dwelling there.
002002003003	Happen	Broad process/event association surfaced by the tool for contexts where life continues or comes to pass under stated conditions.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occurrences	PMI	Notes
ζάω (záō)	G2198	165	5.30	Primary bridge — "to live" verb; ~70% of chayah renderings
γεννάω (gennáō)	G1080	34	4.32	Secondary — bleeds into Gen 5/11 "lived and begat" where LXX collapses sequence
ζωογονέω (zōogonéō)	G2225	9	6.42	"engender alive / preserve alive" — used for Piel/Hiphil "save alive" (Exod 1:17; 1 Sam 2:6)
ζωγρέω (zōgréō)	G2221	7	6.38	"take alive" — for capturing/sparing sense
περιποιέομαι (peripoiéomai)	G4046	9	5.10	"preserve for oneself" — Piel "keep alive" contexts
ζωοποιέω (zōopoiéō)	G2227	5	6.09	"make alive / quicken" — theologically pregnant (Paul's resurrection vocabulary, 1 Cor 15:22, 36, 45; John 5:21)
ἀποθνῄσκω (apothnēskō)	G599	35	2.98	co-occurring antithesis in life/death passages (not a translation)
ἔτος (étos)	G2094	44	3.16	co-occurrence via "lived N years" genealogies

Primary bridge: ζάω (G2198). Secondary theologically-loaded bridges: ζωογονέω, ζωοποιέω — the latter carries the "make alive / resurrect" sense into Paul's resurrection theology. See TR-chay-zoe.md for the fuller chay/chayah → zōē/záō trace.