Word study
Attack
10 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: attack, attacked, attacks, attacking. 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 “attack” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- נָכָה nâkâhsmitetranslated this way 36 times of its 496 uses · Strong’s H5221Verb · Translated: struck 145, strike 59, put 31, defeated 28Full study and all 460 verses →
Genesis 32:8 He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.”
Exodus 2:13 The next day Moses went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your companion?”
- עָלָה âlâhgo up, ascend, climbtranslated this way 14 times of its 873 uses · Strong’s H5927Verb · Translated: go 118, went 107, brought 56, come 42Full study and all 807 verses →
Joshua 8:1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. See, I have delivered into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.
Judges 1:4 When Judah attacked, the LORD delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek.
- לָחַם lâchamfight, do battletranslated this way 7 times of its 175 uses · Strong’s H3898Verb · Translated: fight 77, fought 45, fighting 16, waged war 6Full study and all 170 verses →
Exodus 17:8 After this, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.
Numbers 21:1 When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked Israel and captured some prisoners.
- בּוֹא bôcome in, come, go in, gotranslated this way 6 times of its 2,442 uses · Strong’s H935Verb · Translated: come 358, came 298, bring 209, brought 201Full study and all 2,217 verses →
- עַל alheighttranslated this way 4 times of its 4,859 uses · Strong’s H5921Preposition · Translated: on 777, over 297, in 218, against 216Full study and all 3,996 verses →
- קוּם qûmarise, stand up, standtranslated this way 3 times of its 594 uses · Strong’s H6965Verb · Translated: rise 68, got 61, set 44, Get 42Full study and all 570 verses →
Deuteronomy 19:11 If, however, a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait, attacks him and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities,
Deuteronomy 22:26 Do nothing to the young woman, because she has committed no sin worthy of death. This case is just like one in which a man attacks his neighbor and murders him.
- שָׁלַח shâlachsendtranslated this way 3 times of its 829 uses · Strong’s H7971Verb · Translated: sent 334, send 126, go 43, sending 19Full study and all 783 verses →
- צָרַר tsârarbind, tie up, be restricted, narrow, scant, crampedtranslated this way 2 times of its 53 uses · Strong’s H6887Verb · Translated: distress 5, foes 4, enemy 4, enemies 4Full study and all 52 verses →
Numbers 10:9 When you enter into battle in your land against an adversary who attacks you, sound short blasts on the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the LORD your God and saved from your enemies.
Numbers 25:17 “Attack the Midianites and strike them dead.
- גּוּד gûdinvade, attacktranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H1464Verb · Translated: attacked 1, attack 1, invade 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Genesis 49:19 Gad will be attacked by raiders, but he will attack their heels.
- זָנַב zânabcut off, or smite, the tailtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H2179Verb · Translated: attacked 1, attack them from behind 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Deuteronomy 25:18 how they met you on your journey when you were tired and weary, and they attacked all your stragglers; they had no fear of God.
Joshua 10:19 But you, do not stop there. Pursue your enemies and attack them from behind. Do not let them reach their cities, for the LORD your God has delivered them into your hand.”
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.