To pull off ; hence (intensively) to strip , (reflex.) to depart ; by implication, to deliver , equip (for fight); present , strengthen
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The Hebrew verb chalats can describe pulling something off or out, equipping people for battle, strengthening a person, or delivering someone from danger. Contaminated stones are removed from a house, a sandal is pulled off in a public legal ritual, troops cross the Jordan armed, and psalms praise the Lord's deliverance.
Reader summary
Full entry for חָלַץ (H2502) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Hebrew verb chalats can describe pulling something off or out, equipping people for battle, strengthening a person, or delivering someone from danger. Contaminated stones are removed from a house, a sandal is pulled off in a public legal ritual, troops cross the Jordan armed, and psalms praise the Lord's deliverance.
The BSB source-word alignment has 44 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include armed (5), He rescued me (2), may be delivered (2), the armed troops (2), . . . (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Leviticus 14:40. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (12), Numbers (9), Joshua (4), 2 Chronicles (3).
The Hebrew verb chalats can describe pulling something off or out, equipping people for battle, strengthening a person, or delivering someone from danger. Contaminated stones are removed from a house, a sandal is pulled off in a public legal ritual, troops cross the Jordan armed, and psalms praise the Lord's deliverance. Isaiah uses the verb for strengthening a person's frame, while Proverbs speaks of a righteous person rescued from trouble.
These uses share removal or readiness, but they do not collapse into one action. Military equipment in Israel's conquest setting does not authorize modern violence. The sandal ceremony belongs to ancient levirate responsibility and public adjudication; it must not be recreated to shame a widow, unmarried adult, or family member. Rescue texts declare real dependence on the Lord without guaranteeing that every believer will avoid harm or receive immediate relief.
Isaiah's strengthening promise does not permit medical blame or the claim that prayer replaces treatment. Responsible teaching identifies what is removed, who is equipped, who delivers, and what covenant, legal, wisdom, or worship context governs the action. It joins practical help and accountable rescue with humility about outcomes.
Chalats can describe drawing or pulling away, removing an object, equipping for battle, strengthening, or delivering from distress. Stem, object, and context distinguish physical removal, public legal action, military readiness, bodily support, and rescue.
He must order that the contaminated stones be pulled out and thrown into an unclean place outside the city.
The priest orders contaminated stones to be pulled from the house and discarded in an unclean place.
His brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal, spit in his face, and declare, “This is what is done to the man who will not maintain his brother’s line.”
The widow removes the refusing brother-in-law's sandal before the elders in the levirate responsibility procedure.
About 40,000 troops armed for battle crossed over before the Lord into the plains of Jericho.
About forty thousand troops cross before the Lord into the plains of Jericho armed for battle.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and he delivers them.
The psalm says the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.
The righteous man is delivered from trouble; in his place the wicked man goes in.
The wisdom saying contrasts the righteous person delivered from trouble with the wicked person entering it.
The Lord will always guide you; He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
Isaiah promises the Lord's guidance, provision in a scorched land, and strengthening of His people's frame.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Physical removal becomes liberation: stripping away obstacles to equip and deliver someone for battle or rescue.
Physical removal becomes liberation: stripping away obstacles to equip and deliver someone for battle or rescue.
to pull off; hence (intensively) to strip, (reflex.) to depart; by implication, to deliver, equip (for fight); present, strengthen BDB: draw off Usage: arm (self), (go, ready) armed (× man, soldier), deliver, draw out, make fat, loose, (ready) prepared, put off, take away, withdraw self.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 44 lexical occurrence verses.
חָלַץ is a primitive root - no further derivation.
The word emphasizes divine rescue from threatening circumstances.Proverbs 11:8
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Chalats moves from concrete removal to readiness and rescue. Leviticus orders contaminated building stones pulled out under a defined inspection process. The passage supports careful remediation, not improvised claims that a home or occupant is spiritually contaminated. Deuteronomy 25 uses sandal removal within Israel's levirate law and public elder process.
The ritual concerns a specific family obligation and must not become a modern ceremony of humiliation or coercive marriage pressure. Joshua's armed troops belong to Israel's entry into the land and a particular covenant-war narrative. Their equipment cannot authorize private militias, nationalist violence, or treating ministry as combat against people. Psalms gives the verb a rescue sense as the Lord delivers those who fear Him.
Proverbs expresses a wisdom pattern in which the righteous is delivered from trouble, but proverbs are not mechanical promises that faithful people never suffer. Isaiah 58 joins guidance and strengthening to the chapter's call for justice, release from oppression, feeding the hungry, and sheltering the vulnerable. It does not teach that fasting or generosity automatically cures illness.
Faithful application removes actual hazards through competent processes, supports people with practical resources, seeks rescue without presumption, and reads bodily strengthening alongside justice, medical care, rest, nutrition, and community support.
Isa.58.11
Chalats is the SBL citation-form transliteration of Hebrew חָלַץ. The inherited nechelatz is an inflected passive form, not the lemma. Qal, Niphal, Piel, and Hiphil settings contribute removal, arming, deliverance, and strengthening senses.
New Testament texts use distinct Greek verbs for taking off clothing, equipping believers, strengthening the weak, healing, rescuing, and saving. The G1295 study in this batch clarifies safe passage and healing, but it is not a direct lexical equivalent for every chalats sense.