Lexical Summary chanuppah: Hypocrisy, godlessness, impiety Original Word: חֲנֻפָה Strong's Exhaustive Concordance profaneness Feminine from chaneph; impiety -- profaneness. see HEBREW chaneph NAS Exhaustive Concordance Word Originfrom 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. 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. Prophetic Warnings and Pastoral Lessons Jeremiah 23 exposes three pastoral dangers: 1. Diluted Doctrine—pretending peace where judgment looms. 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). 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 ḥănuppāhLinks Interlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel TextsEnglishman'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 |
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