Word study
Avenge
6 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: avenge, avenged, avenging, avenges. 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 “avenge” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- נָקַם nâqamavenge, take vengeancetranslated this way 12 times of its 34 uses · Strong’s H5358Verb · Translated: avenge 8, take vengeance 4, avenged 2, taken vengeance 2Full study and all 31 verses →
Genesis 4:15 “Not so!” replied the LORD. “If anyone slays Cain, then Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him.
Deuteronomy 32:43 Rejoice, [O heavens, with Him, and let all God’s angels worship Him.] Rejoice, O nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His children. He will take vengeance on His adversaries [and repay those who hate Him]; He will cleanse His land and His people.
- שׂוּם sûmput, place, settranslated this way 2 times of its 560 uses · Strong’s H7760Verb · Translated: put 84, set 71, make 45, made 39Full study and all 533 verses →
Judges 9:24 in order that the crime against the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come to justice and their blood be avenged on their brother Abimelech and on the leaders of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers.
1 Kings 2:5 Moreover, you know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me— what he did to Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether, the two commanders of the armies of Israel. He killed them in peacetime to avenge the blood of war. He stained with the blood of war the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet.
- שָׁפַט shâphaṭjudge, governtranslated this way 2 times of its 199 uses · Strong’s H8199Verb · Translated: judge 81, judges 35, judged 15, vindicate 7Full study and all 181 verses →
2 Samuel 18:19 Then Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Please let me run and tell the king the good news that the LORD has avenged him of his enemies.”
2 Samuel 18:31 Just then the Cushite came and said, “May my lord the king hear the good news: Today the LORD has avenged you of all who rose up against you!”
- נָקָה nâqâhbe empty(?), cleantranslated this way 2 times of its 36 uses · Strong’s H5352Verb · Translated: go unpunished 10, leave anyone unpunished 2, leave the guilty unpunished 2, acquit 2Full study and all 32 verses →
Joel 3:21 For I will avenge their blood, which I have not yet avenged.” For the LORD dwells in Zion.
- יָשַׁע yâshadelivertranslated this way 2 times of its 203 uses · Strong’s H3467Verb · Translated: save 98, saved 40, saves 13, Savior 12Full study and all 198 verses →
1 Samuel 25:26 Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, since the LORD has held you back from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, may your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.
1 Samuel 25:33 Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.
- נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 2 times of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb · Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐκδικέω ekdikéōI give justice over, defend, avenge, vindicatetranslated this way 3 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G1556Verb · Translated: avenge 2, Give me justice 1, give her justice 1, punish 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Romans 12:19 Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”
Revelation 6:10 And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge those who dwell upon the earth and avenge our blood?”
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.