Word study

Affliction

3 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: affliction, afflictions. 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 “affliction” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • עֳנִי ŏnîaffliction, povertytranslated this way 32 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s H6040Noun  ·  Translated: affliction 31, cry of affliction 1, taken great pains 1, afflict 1

    Genesis 16:11 The angel of the LORD proceeded: “Behold, you have conceived and will bear a son. And you shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction.

    Exodus 3:7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.

    Full study and all 35 verses →
  • רַע rabad, eviltranslated this way 5 times of its 651 uses · Strong’s H7451Adjective  ·  Translated: evil 263, disaster 72, harm 38, wicked 31Full study and all 615 verses →
  • צָרָה tsârâhid.translated this way 4 times of its 73 uses · Strong’s H6869Noun  ·  Translated: distress 30, trouble 20, troubles 6, anguish 5

    Deuteronomy 31:17 On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’

    1 Samuel 10:19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your troubles and afflictions, and you have said to Him, ‘No, set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and clans.”

    Full study and all 72 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • θλῖψις thlîpsispersecution, affliction, distresstranslated this way 8 times of its 45 uses · Strong’s G2347Noun  ·  Translated: tribulation 9, affliction 6, trouble 5, troubles 5

    Acts 20:23 I only know that in town after town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions await me.

    Romans 12:12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer.

    Full study and all 43 verses →
  • μάστιξ mástixa scourge, lash, sufferingstranslated this way 3 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G3148Noun  ·  Translated: affliction 2, diseases 1, afflictions 1, flogged 1

    Mark 5:29 Immediately her bleeding stopped, and she sensed in her body that she was healed of her affliction.

    Luke 7:21 At that very hour Jesus healed many people of their diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits, and He gave sight to many who were blind.

    Full study and all 6 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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.