Word study
Ashamed
3 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “ashamed”. 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 “ashamed” 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)
- בּוּשׁ bûshbe ashamedtranslated this way 40 times of its 125 uses · Strong’s H954Verb · Translated: ashamed 40, put to shame 36, shame 10, disgraced 8Full study and all 112 verses →
Genesis 2:25 And the man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.
2 Kings 19:26 Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.
- כָּלַם kâlambe humiliatedtranslated this way 7 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s H3637Verb · Translated: humiliated 9, ashamed 7, disgraced 3, blush 2Full study and all 38 verses →
2 Chronicles 30:15 And on the fourteenth day of the second month they slaughtered the Passover lamb. The priests and Levites were ashamed, and they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of the LORD.
Jeremiah 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.
- חָפֵר châphêrbe abashed, ashamedtranslated this way 2 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H2659Verb · Translated: confounded 6, disgrace 3, ashamed 2, humiliated 2Full study and all 17 verses →
Psalm 34:5 Those who look to Him are radiant with joy; their faces shall never be ashamed.
Isaiah 33:9 The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is ashamed and decayed. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐπαισχύνομαι epaischýnomaiI am ashamedtranslated this way 10 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G1870Verb · Translated: ashamed 10, unashamed 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Mark 8:38 If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Luke 9:26 If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
- αἰσχύνομαι aischýnomaiI am ashamed, am put to shametranslated this way 4 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G153Verb · Translated: ashamed 3, way be ashamed 1, unashamed 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Luke 16:3 The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking away my position? I am too weak to dig and too ashamed to beg.
2 Corinthians 10:8 For even if I boast somewhat excessively about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed.
- ἐντρέπω entrépōI turn to confusion, put to shame, reverencetranslated this way 2 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s G1788Verb · Translated: respect 4, respected 2, ashamed 2, shame 1Full study and all 9 verses →
2 Thessalonians 3:14 Take note of anyone who does not obey the instructions we have given in this letter. Do not associate with him, so that he may be ashamed.
Titus 2:8 and wholesome speech that is above reproach, so that anyone who opposes us will be ashamed, having nothing bad to say about us.
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.