Word study
Anguish
8 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “anguish”. 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 “anguish” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- צָרָה tsârâhid.translated this way 6 times of its 73 uses · Strong’s H6869Noun · Translated: distress 30, trouble 20, troubles 6, anguish 5Full study and all 72 verses →
Genesis 42:21 Then they said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”
Psalm 31:7 I will be glad and rejoice in Your loving devotion, for You have seen my affliction; You have known the anguish of my soul.
- חִיל chîla writhing, anguishtranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H2427Noun · Translated: anguish 3, pain 3, agony 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Exodus 15:14 The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the dwellers of Philistia.
Psalm 48:6 Trembling seized them there, anguish like a woman in labor.
- חֶבֶל chebelcord, territory, bandtranslated this way 3 times of its 60 uses · Strong’s H2256Noun · Translated: cords 10, ropes 9, region 4, pain 3Full study and all 58 verses →
Isaiah 13:8 Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at one another, their faces flushed with fear.
Jeremiah 13:21 What will you say when He sets over you close allies whom you yourself trained? Will not pangs of anguish grip you, as they do a woman in labor?
- חַלְחָלָה chalchâlâhanguishtranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H2479Noun · Translated: anguish 3, tremble 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Isaiah 21:3 Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see.
Ezekiel 30:4 A sword will come against Egypt, and there will be anguish in Cush when the slain fall in Egypt, its wealth is taken away, and its foundations are torn down.
- מַר marbitter, bitternesstranslated this way 3 times of its 39 uses · Strong’s H4751Adjective · Translated: bitter 16, bitterness 6, bitterly 3, anguish 2Full study and all 36 verses →
Isaiah 38:15 What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk slowly all my years because of the anguish of my soul.
Lamentations 1:4 The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she herself is bitter with anguish.
- חוּל chûlwhirl, dance, writhetranslated this way 2 times of its 58 uses · Strong’s H2342Verb · Translated: brought forth 6, tremble 5, labor 3, waited 2Full study and all 55 verses →
Deuteronomy 2:25 This very day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon all the nations under heaven. They will hear the reports of you and tremble in anguish because of you.”
Ezekiel 30:16 I will set fire to Egypt, Pelusium will writhe in anguish, Thebes will be split open, and Memphis will face daily distress.
- צוֹק tsôqconstraint, distresstranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H6695Noun · Translated: anguish 2, distress 2Full study and all 4 verses →
Proverbs 1:27 when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you.
Isaiah 8:22 Then they will look to the earth and see only distress and darkness and the gloom of anguish. And they will be driven into utter darkness.
- מֵעֶה mêehinternal organs, inward parts (intestines, bowels), bellytranslated this way 2 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H4578Noun · Translated: body 4, within 4, heart 4, stomach 3Full study and all 28 verses →
Jeremiah 4:19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle.
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.