Lexical Summary
chalal: Slain, pierced, wounded, dead
Original Word:חָלָל
Part of Speech:noun masculine; Adjective
Transliteration:chalal
Pronunciation:khaw-LAWL
Phonetic Spelling:(khaw-lawl')
KJV: kill, profane, slain (man), X slew, (deadly) wounded
Word Origin:[fromH2490 (חָלַל - To profane)]
1. pierced (especially to death)
2. (figuratively) polluted
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
kill, profane, slain man, slew, deadly wounded
Fromchalal; pierced (especially to death); figuratively, polluted -- kill, profane, slain (man), X slew, (deadly) wounded.
see HEBREWchalal
Brown-Driver-Briggs
I.
90 , absolute
Deuteronomy 21:1 25t.; construct
Numbers 19:16; plural
Numbers 23:24 28t.; construct
Isaiah 22:2 21t.; suffix
Psalm 69:27, etc. + 11 t. suffixes; —
pierced, fatally woundedPsalm 69:27;Jeremiah 51:52;Ezekiel 26:15;Ezekiel 30:24;Lamentations 2:12. Elsewhere
slainNumbers 19:18;Numbers 31:8,19 (P), etc.; singular collective2 Samuel 23:8,18 =1 Chronicles 11:11,20;Ezekiel 6:7;Ezekiel 30:11, etc., but usually plural1 Samuel 17:52 (RVwounded)Jeremiah 51:49, etc.;Isaiah 22:2;Jeremiah 14:18;Ezekiel 31:17,18;Ezekiel 32:20,21,25,28,29,30,31,32;Zephaniah 2:12;Lamentations 4:9;Lamentations 4:9;Isaiah 66:16;Jeremiah 25:33.
II. ; — (read construct SS)profaned, dishonoured wicked oneEzekiel 21:30 (so AV Thes MV SS Co Or; but RV H"deadly wounded, Ew Smfallen, slain); plural constructEzekiel 21:34; feminine singular of woman sexually dishonouredLeviticus 21:7,14 (H; "" ).
Topical Lexicon
Meaning and Overviewחָלָל (chalal, Strong’s 2491) designates the slain, the pierced, or the defiled corpse. Across roughly ninety-three Old Testament occurrences the noun keeps two central ideas in tension: (1) violent death—especially in warfare—and (2) the ritual impurity that contact with such death conveys. The word therefore carries weight both in narratives of battle and in legislation touching holiness.
Foundational Usage in Genesis
Genesis 34:27 introduces the theme: “The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and looted the city, because their sister had been defiled.” Here chalal marks both the victims of the Shechemite massacre and the moral stain that triggered the brothers’ vengeance. From the outset chalal alerts readers to a breach in covenant ethics that must be reckoned with.
Purity and Ritual Law
Leviticus and Numbers integrate chalal into Israel’s holiness code:
•Numbers 19:11: “Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days.”
•Numbers 19:16 extends the impurity to anyone who even brushes against “one who was killed with the sword.”
InNumbers 31 purification with the water of cleansing is required for soldiers who have “killed a person” (31:19). The slain body defiles not only the individual but also the camp, underscoring the incompatibility of death’s corruption with the presence of the living God (cf.Deuteronomy 23:14).
Justice and the Sanctity of Life
Deuteronomy 21:1-9 prescribes a solemn ritual when “a man is found slain” in open country. The elders, priests, heifer, and flowing water all testify that innocent blood pollutes the land (cf.Numbers 35:33) until atonement is made. Chalal therefore establishes the theological baseline that every life is sacred and that blood guilt demands resolution.
Warfare and National Tragedy
The majority of occurrences cluster in historical narratives that recount Israel’s battles:
•1 Samuel 31:1-8 records Saul and his sons falling “slain” on Mount Gilboa.
•2 Samuel 1:19 laments, “Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights.”
•Numbers 31:8;Joshua 11:17;Judges 20:4;2 Kings 19:35; and parallel passages all confirm that chalal is the regular term for battlefield casualties. The chronicled toll of war is never sanitized; every chalal is a sober reminder of sin’s deadly reach.
Prophetic Oracles of Judgment
Prophets employ chalal to paint scenes of divine retribution:
•Isaiah 14:19 pictures the tyrant’s disgrace: “You are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch, clothed with the slain.”
• Jeremiah surveys Judah’s ruin: “If I go into the field, behold, those slain by the sword!” (Jeremiah 14:18).
•Ezekiel 9:7 commands the avenging angels, “Defile the house and fill the courts with the slain.”
•Ezekiel 37 deliberately contrasts chalal with God’s restorative power when dry bones—once “very many on the surface of the valley”—rise to life.
Psalms and Wisdom Literature
Psalm 88:5: “I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave,” uses chalal to voice the psalmist’s extreme desolation. Conversely,Psalm 110:6 celebrates Messiah’s final victory: “He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead.”Proverbs 7:26 warns that the seductive adulteress’s victims are “a mighty host of the slain,” equating moral folly with spiritual demise.
Messianic Foreshadowing
Isaiah 53 employs the cognate verb (“He was pierced”) to describe the Suffering Servant. Although the noun chalal itself does not appear in the verse, the semantic link directs readers to see Christ as the ultimate “slain” One. Revelation later echoes this typology, calling Jesus “the Lamb who was slain,” thereby gathering all Old Testament chalal into a single redemptive focal point. His resurrection, by contrast, empties the category of its finality for those united to Him.
Eschatological Hope
While chalal graphically depicts judgment, Scripture also promises reversal. Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones culminates in the Spirit’s life-giving breath, andDaniel 12:2 foresees those “who sleep in the dust” awakening. Thus chalal underscores humanity’s universal sentence of death, but it also frames the gospel promise that death itself will be swallowed up in victory (Isaiah 25:8;1 Corinthians 15:54).
Ministry and Pastoral Implications
1. Funeral and Bereavement Care.Numbers 19 demonstrates that proximity to the dead carries both emotional sorrow and spiritual weight. Pastors help mourners confront death realistically while pointing to cleansing through Christ (Hebrews 9:14).
2. Teaching on Holiness. Chalal shows that defilement spreads. Congregational teaching should stress the believer’s call to moral purity and the provision of continual cleansing (1 John 1:7).
3. Peacemaking and Justice.Deuteronomy 21 insists that innocent blood must not be glossed over. Churches can model repentance and restitution where violence or negligence has taken life.
4. Mission and Evangelism. The catalog of the slain throughout Scripture leads invariably to the cross, compelling proclamation of the One who died and rose so that “whoever lives and believes in Me will never die” (John 11:26).
Summary
חָלָל binds together the biblical testimony to the horror of death, the seriousness of defilement, and the necessity of atonement. Whether on ancient battlefields, in prophetic visions, or at the empty tomb, the slain body points simultaneously to sin’s wage and to the righteousness of the God who both judges and saves.
Forms and Transliterations
בֶּֽחָלָ֗ל בֶֽחָלָ֔ל בַּֽחֲלַל־ בחלל בחלל־ הֶחָלָ֑ל הֶחָלָֽל׃ הַ֣חֲלָלִ֔ים הַֽחֲלָלִ֑ים הַחֲלָלִ֑ים החלל החלל׃ החללים וְחַלְלֵיהֶ֣ם וַחֲלָלָ֣ה וַחֲלָלָה֙ וחללה וחלליהם חֲ֝לָלִ֗ים חֲ֠לָלִים חֲלָלִ֔ים חֲלָלִ֖ים חֲלָלִ֗ים חֲלָלִ֜ים חֲלָלִ֣ים חֲלָלִ֤ים חֲלָלִ֥ים חֲלָלִ֨ים ׀ חֲלָלִֽים׃ חֲלָלִים֙ חֲלָלִים֩ חֲלָלֵֽינוּ׃ חֲלָלֶ֖יהָ חֲלָלֶ֣יךָ חֲלָלַ֙יִךְ֙ חֲלָלָ֑יו חַֽלְלֵ֣י חַֽלְלֵ֤י חַֽלְלֵ֥י חַלְלֵי־ חַלְלֵיהֶ֗ם חַלְלֵיהֶֽם׃ חַלְלֵיכֶ֔ם חַלְלֵיכֶ֖ם חַלְלֵיכֶם֙ חָלָ֑ל חָלָ֖ל חָלָ֗ל חָלָ֜ל חָלָ֣ל חָלָֽל׃ חָלָל֙ חלל חלל׃ חללי חללי־ חלליה חלליהם חלליהם׃ חלליו חלליך חלליכם חללים חללים׃ חללינו׃ כֶּֽחָלָל֙ כֶחָלָ֣ל כחלל מֵֽחַלְלֵ֖י מחללי ba·ḥă·lal- bachalal baḥălal- be·ḥā·lāl ḇe·ḥā·lāl bechaLal beḥālāl ḇeḥālāl chaLal chalaLav chalaLayich chalaLeicha chalaLeiha chalaLeinu chalaLim chalLei challeiChem challeiHem chechaLal ha·ḥă·lā·lîm ḥă·lā·la·yiḵ ḥă·lā·lāw ḥă·lā·le·hā ḥă·lā·le·ḵā ḥă·lā·lê·nū ḥă·lā·lîm ḥā·lāl hachalaLim haḥălālîm ḥal·lê ḥal·lê- ḥal·lê·hem ḥal·lê·ḵem ḥālāl ḥălālāw ḥălālayiḵ ḥălālehā ḥălāleḵā ḥălālênū ḥălālîm ḥallê ḥallê- ḥallêhem ḥallêḵem he·ḥā·lāl hechaLal heḥālāl ke·ḥā·lāl ḵe·ḥā·lāl kechaLal keḥālāl ḵeḥālāl mê·ḥal·lê mechalLei mêḥallê vachalaLah vechaLal vechalleiHem wa·ḥă·lā·lāh waḥălālāh wə·ḥal·lê·hem wəḥallêhem
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