Word study
Ablaze
6 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “ablaze”. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “ablaze” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- בָּעַר bâarburn, consumetranslated this way 3 times of its 93 uses · Strong’s H1197Verb · Translated: purge 12, burn 10, burned 7, burning 6Full study and all 90 verses →
Exodus 3:2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed.
Isaiah 30:33 For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
- לָהַט lâhaṭblaze up, flametranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H3857Verb · Translated: scorches 2, flames 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Job 41:21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth.
Malachi 4:1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of Hosts. “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”
- אֵשׁ êshfiretranslated this way 1 time of its 313 uses · Strong’s H784Noun · Translated: fire 256, like fire 11, fiery 8, burning 6Full study and all 289 verses →
Isaiah 33:12 The peoples will be burned to ashes, like thorns cut down and set ablaze.
- יָצַת yâtsathkindle, burntranslated this way 1 time of its 26 uses · Strong’s H3341Verb · Translated: kindle 5, fire 4, set 4, burned 3Full study and all 25 verses →
Jeremiah 51:30 The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze, the bars of her gates are broken.
- דְּלַק delaqburntranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H1815Verb · Translated: ablaze 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Daniel 7:9 As I continued to watch, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.
- דָּלַק dâlaqburntranslated this way 1 time of its 9 uses · Strong’s H1814Verb · Translated: hotly pursued 1, pursuit 1, fire 1, pursue 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Obadiah 1:18 Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fire, and the house of Joseph a burning flame; but the house of Esau will be stubble — Jacob will set it ablaze and consume it. Therefore no survivor will remain from the house of Esau.” For the LORD has spoken.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.