חֲנֻפָּה (cha.nu.phah)
cha.nu.phah
profaneness
H:N-FQuick Reference
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
- Testament
- Old Testament
- Occurrences
- 1 verses
- Root
- —
- Part of speech
- H:N-F
Word Overview
The noun chanupah describes a state of profaneness or pollution that corrupts what should be holy. In the Hebrew Bible, it carries a heavy weight, pointing to actions that defile spiritual integrity and moral order. It is not merely a minor slip but a deep contamination that affects the community’s relationship with God.
This word appears only once in Scripture, in Jeremiah 23:15, where it characterizes the false prophets of Jerusalem. The text links chanupah to wickedness and deceit, showing how their lies polluted the land and led people astray. Here, it highlights the danger of religious hypocrisy that masks godlessness behind a facade of prophecy.
Its rarity underscores its severity. By using this specific term, Jeremiah emphasizes that such corruption is not just personal failure but a communal disaster. The word serves as a stark warning against allowing deceit to taint one’s spiritual life and witness.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word chanupah describes a deep contamination that corrupts what should be holy. It appears only once in Scripture, in Jeremiah 23:15, where it characterizes the false prophets of Jerusalem. The text links this profaneness to wickedness and deceit, showing how their lies polluted the land and led people astray. This rarity underscores its severity.
Jeremiah uses this specific term to highlight the danger of religious hypocrisy that masks godlessness behind a facade of prophecy. It is not merely a minor slip but a deep corruption affecting the community’s relationship with God. By allowing deceit to taint spiritual life, we risk turning our witness into a source of confusion rather than clarity.
May you find strength in truth and integrity, knowing that God values honesty over appearance. Let this rare word remind us to guard our hearts against the subtle pull of pretense, trusting instead in the purity of His Word.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 1 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- wicked behavior1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- חֲנֻפָּ֖ה1×
Key Verses
-
Jeremiah 23:15
Therefore Yahweh of Armies says concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink poisoned water; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”
This is the only occurrence of chanupah, where it identifies the source of widespread spiritual pollution from Jerusalem's prophets.