King James Bible
King James Version (KJV)
STRONGS NUMBER H2763
Transliteration: charam
Phonetic Spelling: (khaw-ram')
Part of Speech: Verb
Short Definition: to ban, devote, exterminate
Meaning: to seclude, to devote to religious uses, to be blunt as to the nose
Word Summary
charam: to ban, devote, exterminate
Original Word: חָרַםTransliteration: charam
Phonetic Spelling: (khaw-ram')
Part of Speech: Verb
Short Definition: to ban, devote, exterminate
Meaning: to seclude, to devote to religious uses, to be blunt as to the nose
Strong's Concordance
make accursed, consecrate, utterly destroy, devote, forfeit, have a flat nose, utterly slayA primitive root; to seclude; specifically (by a ban) to devote to religious uses (especially destruction); physical and reflexive, to be blunt as to the nose -- make accursed, consecrate, (utterly) destroy, devote, forfeit, have a flat nose, utterly (slay, make away).
Brown-Driver-Briggs
H2763. charam
I. [חָרַם] verb Hiph`il ban, devote, exterminate (MI17 החרמתה of devoting, dedicating a city to Chemosh, in clause with כי explaining massacre of all inhabitants; the altar-hearth of ׳י there was dragged before Chemosh; be prohibited, forbidden, unlawful, become sacred; II. make, pronounce sacred, inviolable; Ethiopic prohibit from common use, consecrate to God, esteem unlawful; Palmyrene חרם = consacrÈ VogNo 35; Nabataean id., Eutp. 28; Sabean מחרם sanctuary, temple, OsZMG 1865, 176. 252, חרמתן DHMZMG 1875, 594; Aramaic אַחֲרִים, and especially anathematize, excommunicate; see also WeSkizzen iii, 165, DrSm 100 ff., RSSemitic i. 140 (150)) — Hiph`il Perfect הֶהֱרִים Joshua 8:26 5t.; הֶחֱרִם 10:28; 2masculine singular וְהַחֲרַמְתָּ֫ה 1 Samuel 15:18; 1singular הֶחֱרַמְתִּי 15:20; וְהַחֲרַמְתִּ֫י Numbers 21:2; 2feminine singular וְהַחֲרַמְתְּ(יׅ consecutive Micah 4:13 (so ᵑ7 ᵑ6 ᵑ9 ᵐ5 RV most; ᵑ01singular), see Ges§ 44, R. 4; plural הֶחֱרִימוּ 1 Samuel 15:9; 2 Chronicles 32:14 etc.; (1 Samuel 15:3 read ᵐ5 והחרמתו We Dr); Imperfect יַחֲרִם Leviticus 27:28; וַיַּחֲרֵם Numbers 21:3; Joshua 10:37; suffix וַיַּחֲרִימָהּ 10:1; 1plural וַנַּחֲרֵם Deuteronomy 2:34; 3:6 etc.; Imperative הַחֲרֵם 13:16; plural הַחֲרִימוּ Jeremiah 51:3; suffix הַחֲרִימוּהָ 50:26; Infinitive absolute הַחֲרֵם Deuteronomy 3:6 4t.; construct הַחֲרִים2 Chronicles 20:23; Daniel 11:44; suffix הַחֲרִימָם Joshua 11:20 4t.; — ban, devote (especially religiously, followed by objects hostile to the theocracy [see especially Exodus 22:19 Hoph`al]; this involved Generally their destruction; when a city was 'devoted' the inhabitants were put to death, the spoil being destroyed or not according to the gravity of the occasion [contrast Joshua 6:17, 21; 1 Samuel 15:3 with Deuteronomy 2:34f. 3:6-7,], compare MI17 החרמתה כמש לעשתר to Ashtar-Chemosh I devoted it, i.e. the city Nebo); —
1 most often of devoting to destruction cities of Canaanites and other neighbours of Israel, exterminating inhabitants, and destroying or appropriating their possessions:
a. Israel and her leaders subject Numbers 21:2-3,(destruction according to vow), Joshua 6:21 (compare ליהוה חֵרֶם 6:17; all J); in 6:18 read תַּחְמְדוּ (for תַּחֲרִימוּ ᵑ0, see Di VB); 8:26 (ᵐ5, not ᵐ5L, omit verse), 10:1 (JE), Deuteronomy 2:34; 3:6 (twice in verse); 7:2 (twice in verse) (commanded through Moses, compare for underlying thought 7:4; 7:5; 7:6), 20:17 (twice in verse) (commanded by ׳י), Joshua 2:10; 10:28, 35, 37, 39, 40 (divine command), 11:11-12, 20, 21 (divine command 11:12; 11:20; all D), 1 Samuel 15:3, 8, 9 (twice in verse); 15:15, 18, 20 (divine command 15:3; 15:18; 15:20, compare 15:11; 15:22; 15:23); quite secondary is simple exterminate 1 Kings 9:21; 1 Chronicles 4:41.
b. secondary meaning destroy, exterminate, also with other nations subject: — 2 Kings 19:11 = Isaiah 37:11 2 Chronicles 32:14; 20:23; Jeremiah 50:21, 26 (both by divine command), 51:3; Daniel 11:44.
c. God as subject, figurative all nations and their armies Isaiah 34:2; the nations of Western Asia Jeremiah 25:9; the tongue of the Egyptian sea (by drying it up) Isaiah 11:15 (but read perhaps החריב with ᵑ7 ᵑ9 ᵑ6 ᵐ5).
d. so also of devoting even Israelites: a city of Israel for worshipping other gods Deuteronomy 13:16; residents of Jabesh-Gilead for not joining in campaign against Benjamin Judges 21:11.
2 devote to ׳י: for sacred uses ליהוה החרים the spoil of the nations Micah 4:13; private possessions, whether a man, animal, or field Leviticus 27:28 (P).
Hoph`al Imperfect יָחֳרַם Leviticus 27:29; Ezra 10:8; יָחֳרָ֑ם Exodus 22:19; —
1 be put under the ban, devoted (to death), for worshipping other gods than ׳י Exodus 22:19 (J E; earliest use of word in OT); for some other theocratic offence Leviticus 27:29 (P; see Di).
2 devoted, i.e. forfeited, to the temple treasures Ezra 10:8. — On חרם see especially Di (Kn) Leviticus 27:28; EwAntiq. 75. 78, Dr 1 Samuel 15:33.
II. [חָרַם] verb slit (nose, lip, ear, etc.), mutilate, especially face (Arabic perforate, pierce, slit the partition between the nostrils, or the lip, or the lobe of the ear) —
Qal Passive participle שָׂרוּעַ אוֺ חָרֻם אוֺ מִּסֵּחַ אוֺ עִוֵּר אִישׁ a man blind or lame or mutilated in the face (in nose, lip, ear, etc.), or too long in a limb Leviticus 21:18 (H), see Di (Kn).