Midvash

חַיchay

חַי: alive, living

Pronunciation: khah'-ee · Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament) · H2416

Meanings

1.

a. of God, as the living one (Joshua 3:10; Hosea 2:1; Psalms 42:3)

b. of man (Lamentations 3:39; Isaiah 38:19; Ecclesiastes 7:2)

c. alive, living, of animals (Exodus 21:35; Exodus 22:3; Leviticus 16:10)

d. animals and man, phrases for either or both (Genesis 3:20; Genesis 8:21; Job 12:10)

e. green, (dubious) of vegetation, as thorns (Psalms 58:10)

f. of water, flowing, fresh (Genesis 26:19; Leviticus 14:5; Leviticus 14:6)

2. lively, active, (dubious) (2 Samuel 23:20; Psalms 38:20)

3. reviving (Genesis 18:10; Genesis 18:14; 2 Kings 4:16)

חַי: kinsfolk (1 Samuel 18:18)

חַיָּה: living thing, animal

1. animal, as living, active being

a. in general (Genesis 8:17; Leviticus 11:2; Leviticus 11:27)

b. wild animals, wild animal of the reeds (Genesis 7:14; Genesis 7:21; Genesis 8:1)

c. living beings (Ezekiel 1:5; Ezekiel 1:13; Ezekiel 1:14)

2. life, only in late poetry (Psalms 143:3; Job 33:18; Job 33:20)

3. appetite, activity of hunger (Job 38:39)

4. revival, renewal (Isaiah 57:10)

חַיָּה: community, (i.e. a group of allied families, making a raid together) (2 Samuel 23:13; 1 Chronicles 11:15; Psalms 68:11)

Same root

Where it appears

Appears 498 times in the Bible.

  • Genesis 1:20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.”
  • Genesis 1:21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.
  • Genesis 1:24 Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened.
  • Genesis 1:25 God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.
  • Genesis 1:28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”
  • Genesis 1:30 And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened.
See every passage

Source: Brown, Driver and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain; markup by unfoldingWord, CC BY (github.com/unfoldingWord/Brown-Driver-Briggs-Enhanced).