2613. chanuppah
Lexical Summary
chanuppah: Hypocrisy, godlessness, impiety

Original Word: חֲנֻפָה
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: chanuphah
Pronunciation: khan-oop-paw'
Phonetic Spelling: (khan-oo-faw')
KJV: profaneness
NASB: pollution
Word Origin: [feminine from H2610 (חָנֵף - polluted)]

1. impiety

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
profaneness

Feminine from chaneph; impiety -- profaneness.

see HEBREW chaneph

NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin
from chaneph
Definition
profaneness, pollution
NASB Translation
pollution (1).

Brown-Driver-Briggs
חֲנֻמָּה (so Baer; van d. H חֲנֻפָךְ) noun feminine profaneness, pollution, Jeremiah 23:15.

Topical Lexicon
Meaning and Scope

חֲנֻפָה pictures a deep-seated moral distortion—an ungodliness that masks itself beneath pious externals. It connotes the spread of profaneness, hypocrisy, and covenant infidelity that hollows out true worship while retaining religious vocabulary.

Occurrence and Immediate Context

The term appears once, in Jeremiah 23:15. There the Lord declares, “from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land”. The noun describes a contagion radiating from leadership to laity, corrupting the entire covenant community.

Historical Setting in Jeremiah

Jeremiah ministered during Judah’s final decades before the Babylonian exile. Political instability, idolatry, and moral degradation were rampant. False prophets promised peace while refusing to confront sin (Jeremiah 6:14; Jeremiah 8:11). The single use of חֲנֻפָה captures this climate: charismatic religious voices, outwardly orthodox, secretly subverting the nation’s spiritual foundations.

Theological Emphasis

1. Holiness of God: חֲנֻפָה stands in stark tension with the Lord’s calls to holiness (Leviticus 11:44) and truth (Psalm 51:6). Its presence provokes divine judgment because God’s character cannot tolerate hypocrisy.
2. Communal Pollution: Unlike private sin, this profaneness is infectious; it “spreads” (Jeremiah 23:15). The prophets’ compromised message gave tacit approval to idolatry and immorality, turning communal worship into ritual veneer.
3. Word versus Words: Jeremiah contrasts his own God-given word with the self-generated “visions of their own minds” (Jeremiah 23:16). חֲנֻפָה surfaces whenever human rhetoric displaces the authoritative word of the Lord.

Relation to Other Biblical Terms

• Root Affinity: The cognate verb (to be profane or hypocritical) appears in Job 15:34; Proverbs 11:9; Isaiah 9:17, showing a wider semantic field of godlessness.
• Old Testament Parallels: Hosea 4:1-3 links moral decay and environmental collapse, echoing Jeremiah’s observation that the land “mourns” (Jeremiah 23:10).
• New Testament Echoes: Greek ἀσέβεια (“ungodliness”) paints a similar picture (Romans 1:18; Titus 2:12), while Jesus’ denunciation of hypocrites (Matthew 23) provides the clearest illustration of the concept embodied in חֲנֻפָה.

Prophetic Warnings and Pastoral Lessons

Jeremiah 23 exposes three pastoral dangers:

1. Diluted Doctrine—pretending peace where judgment looms.
2. Moral Compromise—private sin undermining public ministry.
3. Contagious Influence—leaders replicate their character in their hearers (Luke 6:40).

For modern ministry, fidelity to Scripture, transparent holiness, and courageous proclamation are indispensable safeguards against the rise of contemporary חֲנֻפָה.

Christological Resolution

Jesus, the true Prophet, embodies the antithesis of חֲנֻפָה. In Him “grace and truth came” (John 1:17). At the cross He bore the penalty for all ungodliness (Romans 5:6), and through the Spirit He forms a people zealous for good works (Titus 2:14).

Practical Applications

• Self-examination: test teaching and motives against the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).
• Accountability: establish structures that confront hidden sin before it metastasizes.
• Discipleship: train believers to discern truth, resisting “ear-tickling” messages (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
• Intercession: pray for prophetic faithfulness in pulpits and seminaries, that חֲנֻפָה may not take root.

Key Verse for Meditation

Jeremiah 23:15 – “Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says concerning the prophets: ‘I will feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.’”

Forms and Transliterations
חֲנֻפָּ֖ה חנפה chanupPah ḥă·nup·pāh ḥănuppāh
Links
Interlinear GreekInterlinear HebrewStrong's NumbersEnglishman's Greek ConcordanceEnglishman's Hebrew ConcordanceParallel Texts
Englishman's Concordance
Jeremiah 23:15
HEB: יְרוּשָׁלִַ֔ם יָצְאָ֥ה חֲנֻפָּ֖ה לְכָל־ הָאָֽרֶץ׃
NAS: of Jerusalem Pollution has gone forth
KJV: of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth
INT: of Jerusalem has gone Pollution all the land

1 Occurrence

Strong's Hebrew 2613
1 Occurrence


ḥă·nup·pāh — 1 Occ.

2612
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