Joshua 1:9 · Symbol · Courage
The Words Chazaq, Amats and Parrhesia
Six words of the original languages stand behind the strength, boldness and confidence of the English text.
One Hebrew verb is translated strengthen, repair, seize and harden in English Bibles.
Be strong and courageous, all you who hope in the LORD.
- The word
- חָזַק (chazaq), H2388
- First appears
- Genesis 19:16 “But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his…”
Summary
The Old Testament's call to courage is carried by chazaq and amats, which stand together in the formula “be strong and courageous”. Chazaq is a word of grip and strength, and amats is its partner. In the New Testament the noun parrhesia first means plain, open speech and then the confidence that speaks without fear. A Greek verb, tharseo, gives the Lord's own word “Take courage”.
- The common Hebrew verb for fear, yare, does not stand in Joshua 1:9.
- John uses parrhesia in nine verses, more than any other book.
- Every use of tharseo in the New Testament is a command.
The Words Behind “Courage”
The six words differ widely in how often they stand in Scripture.
The Words Chazaq, Amats and Parrhesia studies the Hebrew and Greek words that the English Bible renders as courage. They belong to the value of courage, because the charge to be courageous in the Old Testament and the boldness of the apostles in the New are spoken in these words.
The question the page answers is what each word means in its own uses and how far its sense reaches. It gives the count of each word, its key verses, the grammar of Joshua 1:9, and the cautions a reader needs before building a lesson on a root.
Chazaq is the commonest of the courage words, and tharrheo the rarest.
| Word | Gloss | Uses |
|---|---|---|
| chazaq, חָזַק, H2388, verb | to fasten upon, to seize, to be strong | 291 |
| amats, אָמַץ, H553, verb | to be alert, in body or in courage | 41 |
| parrhesia, παῤῥησία, G3954, noun | all out-spokenness, frankness, assurance | 31 |
| parrhesiazomai, παῤῥησιάζομαι, G3955, verb | to be frank in utterance, or confident in spirit | 8 |
| tharseo, θαρσέω, G2293, verb | to have courage | 7 |
| tharrheo, θαῤῥέω, G2292, verb | to exercise courage | 6 |
Chazaq, a Word of Grip and Strength
The STEP Hebrew lexicon gives chazaq the first sense to fasten upon, and its uses run from rescue to repair to a hardened heart.
Chazaq stands in 266 verses across 28 books, and its first use is the rescue of Lot from Sodom.
Next to them, Meremoth son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, made repairs. Next to him, Meshullam son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabel, made repairs; and next to him, Zadok son of Baana made repairs as well.Nehemiah's builders use chazaq for their work on the wall, and 34 verses of the book carry the verb.
Still, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.The same verb names Pharaoh's hardened heart, so strength of will can be good or evil by what it holds to.
Chazaq book by book1 figure
2 Chronicles and Nehemiah use chazaq most often.
The eight counts as a table
| Book | Verses |
|---|---|
| 2 Chronicles | 38 |
| Nehemiah | 34 |
| Isaiah | 20 |
| Exodus | 15 |
| 2 Samuel | 15 |
| 2 Kings | 15 |
| Jeremiah | 15 |
| Judges | 12 |
Bars from zero for the eight books with the most verses carrying chazaq, of the 28 books that use it.
Amats and the Formula
Amats stands beside chazaq in the formula of Joshua's charge, and in promises of God's own strength.
Amats stands in 14 books. Every use of amats in the book of Joshua also carries chazaq, at Joshua 1:6, Joshua 1:7, Joshua 1:9, Joshua 1:18 and Joshua 10:25.
Wait patiently for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the LORD!David joins the formula to waiting on the LORD, so the strength commanded is the strength of one who waits.
Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness.Here amats is God's own act, “I will strengthen you”, set beside the command not to fear.
The Grammar of Joshua 1:9
The verse holds a question, two commands, two prohibitions and a reason, each in its own Hebrew form.
Joshua 1:9 commands strength and courage with two imperatives and forbids terror and dismay with two other verbs.
| Part | Hebrew | Form | The Berean words |
|---|---|---|---|
| The question | הֲלוֹא צִוִּיתִיךָ | a question particle with a perfect verb | Have I not commanded you |
| First command | חֲזַק, chazaq | imperative, masculine singular | to be strong |
| Second command | וֶאֱמָץ, amats | imperative, masculine singular | and courageous |
| Two prohibitions | אַל־תַּעֲרֹץ וְאַל־תֵּחָת, 'arats and chatat | 'al with the jussive | Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged |
| The reason | כִּי עִמְּךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ | a clause with no verb | for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go |
Yare, used 315 times in the Old Testament, is absent from Joshua 1:9. The English “Do not be afraid” there renders 'arats, to be terrified.
Parrhesia, Speech Without Fear
Parrhesia moves from frank speech in public to boldness before rulers and before God.
Abbott-Smith's lexicon gives parrhesia two senses, “freedom of speech, plainness, openness” and then “confidence, boldness”. The second sense comes, in his words, “from the absence of fear which accompanies freedom of speech”.
Yet no one would speak publicly about Him for fear of the Jews.John uses the word for the open speech that fear kept the crowds from, so its absence is the mark of fear.
Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will boldly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it fearlessly, as I should.Paul in chains asks prayer for the noun and its verb, the boldness to speak the gospel as he should.
Boldly and freely he proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.The last verse of Acts uses the word for Paul's preaching in Rome.
The council in Jerusalem saw the same boldness in Peter and John.
Confidence Before God
In Hebrews and 1 John parrhesia is the confidence of a believer coming to God.
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.Hebrews turns the word from speech before people to the approach to God's throne.
In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him.John gives the word its last reach, confidence on the day of judgment for those in whom love is perfected.
“Take Courage” from the Lord
Seven verses of the New Testament use tharseo.
Jesus spoke five of the seven commands to take courage during His ministry, and the risen Lord spoke the sixth.
| Speaker and hearer | The Berean words |
|---|---|
| Jesus to a paralysed man | Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven. |
| Jesus to a woman healed of bleeding | Take courage, daughter |
| Jesus to the disciples on the lake | Take courage! It is I. Do not be afraid. |
| Jesus to the disciples on the lake, in Mark | Take courage! It is I. |
| The crowd to blind Bartimaeus | Take courage! Get up! He is calling for you. |
| Jesus to the disciples the night before the cross | But take courage; I have overcome the world! |
| The risen Lord to Paul in Jerusalem | Take courage! |
Each of the seven is a present imperative, a command to go on taking heart. A related verb, tharrheo, is Paul's word in 2 Corinthians 5:6 and 2 Corinthians 5:8, rendered “confident”.
A Voice on the Formula
A nineteenth-century preacher answered the psalm's charge with a short saying.
1834 to 1892 · Charles Spurgeon
Charles Spurgeon wrote on Psalm 31:24 in The Treasury of David (1870): “Fear weakens, courage strengthens. Victory waits upon the banners of the brave.”
Cautions for the Reader
The counts and the root of a word each have limits.
The Hebrew lexicon's head sense of chazaq, to fasten upon, does not make every use a lesson about gripping, and the meaning of each use comes from its sentence. These counts follow one tagged Hebrew and Greek text, and a printed concordance on another text may differ by a few.
The English phrase “Do not be afraid” renders several Hebrew and Greek verbs, so a count of the phrase in English is not a count of one Hebrew command.
Sources
Scripture is the Berean Standard Bible.
- STEP Bible lexicons of Extended Strongs for Hebrew and Greek (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, with Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922)
- STEP Bible, Translators Amalgamated Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament, tagged texts (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0.
- Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David (1870)