Word study
Afraid
5 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “afraid”. 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 “afraid” 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)
- יָרֵא yârêfeartranslated this way 110 times of its 312 uses · Strong’s H3372Verb · Translated: afraid 109, fear 98, feared 23, awesome 21Full study and all 303 verses →
Genesis 3:10 “I heard Your voice in the garden,” he replied, “and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
Exodus 2:14 But the man replied, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “This thing I have done has surely become known.”
- יָרֵא yârêfeartranslated this way 4 times of its 65 uses · Strong’s H3373Adjective · Translated: fear 33, fears 10, feared 5, afraid 4Full study and all 64 verses →
Genesis 32:11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me.
Deuteronomy 20:8 Then the officers shall speak further to the army, saying, “Is any man afraid or fainthearted? Let him return home, so that the hearts of his brothers will not melt like his own.”
- פָּחַד pâchaddread, be in dread, in awetranslated this way 4 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s H6342Verb · Translated: afraid 4, fear 4, tremble 3, overwhelmed 2Full study and all 25 verses →
Deuteronomy 28:66 So your life will hang in doubt before you, and you will be afraid night and day, never certain of survival.
Proverbs 3:24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you rest, your sleep will be sweet.
- גּוּר gûrsojourntranslated this way 2 times of its 88 uses · Strong’s H1481Verb · Translated: residing 8, reside 6, living 6, dwell 6Full study and all 85 verses →
Deuteronomy 18:22 When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD and the message does not come to pass or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
1 Samuel 18:15 When Saul saw that David was very successful, he was afraid of him.
- חָרַד châradtremble, be terrifiedtranslated this way 2 times of its 39 uses · Strong’s H2729Verb · Translated: trembled 5, tremble 5, frighten 4, fear 3Full study and all 39 verses →
Jeremiah 30:10 As for you, O Jacob My servant, do not be afraid, declares the LORD, and do not be dismayed, O Israel. For I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their captivity! Jacob will return to quiet and ease, with no one to make him afraid.
Jeremiah 46:27 But you, O Jacob My servant, do not be afraid, and do not be dismayed, O Israel. For I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their captivity! Jacob will return to quiet and ease, with no one to make him afraid.
Greek words (New Testament)
- φοβέω phobéōI fear, am terrifiedtranslated this way 48 times of its 94 uses · Strong’s G5399Verb · Translated: afraid 47, fear 23, fearing 4, terrified 3Full study and all 91 verses →
Matthew 1:20 But after he had pondered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to embrace Mary as your wife, for the One conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
Mark 5:15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
- δειλός deilóscowardly, timidtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G1169Adjective · Translated: afraid 2, awe 1, to 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Matthew 8:26 “You of little faith,” Jesus replied, “why are you so afraid?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was perfectly calm.
Mark 4:40 “Why are you so afraid?” He asked. “Do you still have no faith?”
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.