Word study

Alarm

3 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: alarmed, alarm. 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 “alarm” 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)

  • בְּהַל behalalarm, dismaytranslated this way 5 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H927Verb  ·  Translated: alarmed 4

    Daniel 4:5 I had a dream, and it frightened me; while I was in my bed, the images and visions in my mind alarmed me.

    Daniel 4:19 For a time, Daniel, who was also known as Belteshazzar, was perplexed, and his thoughts alarmed him. So the king said, “Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation alarm you.” “My lord,” replied Belteshazzar, “may the dream apply to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your enemies!

    Full study and all 10 verses →
  • חָפַז châphazbe in trepidation, hurry, or alarmtranslated this way 3 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H2648Verb  ·  Translated: hurrying 2, alarm 2, alarmed 1, haste 1

    Deuteronomy 20:3 saying to them, “Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be alarmed or terrified because of them.

    Psalm 31:22 In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from Your sight!” But You heard my plea for mercy when I called to You for help.

    Full study and all 8 verses →
  • יָרֵא yârêfeartranslated this way 2 times of its 312 uses · Strong’s H3372Verb  ·  Translated: afraid 109, fear 98, feared 23, awesome 21

    Joshua 10:2 So Adoni-zedek and his people were greatly alarmed, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and all its men were mighty.

    2 Chronicles 20:3 Jehoshaphat was alarmed and set his face to seek the LORD. And he proclaimed a fast throughout Judah.

    Full study and all 303 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • θροέω throéōI disturb, agitatetranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G2360Verb  ·  Translated: alarmed 3

    Matthew 24:6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come.

    Mark 13:7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come.

    Full study and all 3 verses →
  • ἐκθαμβέω ekthambéōI am greatly astonishedtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G1568Verb  ·  Translated: alarmed 2, filled with awe 1, deeply troubled 1

    Mark 16:5 When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

    Mark 16:6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here! See the place where they put Him.

    Full study and all 4 verses →
  • φοβέω phobéōI fear, am terrifiedtranslated this way 2 times of its 94 uses · Strong’s G5399Verb  ·  Translated: afraid 47, fear 23, fearing 4, terrified 3

    Acts 16:38 So the officers relayed this message to the magistrates, who were alarmed to hear that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.

    Acts 22:29 At once those who were about to interrogate Paul stepped back, and the commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put a Roman citizen in chains.

    Full study and all 91 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.