Word study
Beaten
5 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “beaten”. 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 “beaten” 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)
- נָכָה nâkâhsmitetranslated this way 8 times of its 496 uses · Strong’s H5221Verb · Translated: struck 145, strike 59, put 31, defeated 28Full study and all 460 verses →
Exodus 5:14 Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why have you not fulfilled your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”
Numbers 22:28 Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?”
- נָגַע nâgatouch, reach, striketranslated this way 1 time of its 144 uses · Strong’s H5060Verb · Translated: touches 35, touched 20, touch 19, Whoever touches 6Full study and all 136 verses →
Joshua 8:15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.
- שָׁחַח shâchachbow, be bowed down, crouchtranslated this way 1 time of its 21 uses · Strong’s H7817Verb · Translated: brought low 5, downcast 3, humbled 2, bow 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Psalm 10:10 They are crushed and beaten down; the helpless fall prey to his strength.
- נֹקֶף nôqephstriking offtranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H5363Noun · Translated: beaten 1, like a harvested 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Isaiah 17:6 Yet gleanings will remain, like an olive tree that has been beaten— two or three berries atop the tree, four or five on its fruitful branches,” declares the LORD, the God of Israel.
- חָבַט châbaṭbeat off, beat outtranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s H2251Verb · Translated: beat 2, threshing 1, thresh 1, beaten 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Isaiah 28:27 Surely caraway is not threshed with a sledge, and the wheel of a cart is not rolled over the cumin. But caraway is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.
Greek words (New Testament)
- δέρω dérōI flay, flog, scourge, beattranslated this way 3 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G1194Verb · Translated: beat 8, beaten 3, strike 1, flogged 1Full study and all 15 verses →
Mark 13:9 So be on your guard. You will be delivered over to the councils and beaten in the synagogues. On My account you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them.
Luke 12:47 That servant who knows his master’s will but does not get ready or follow his instructions will be beaten with many blows.
- ῥαβδίζω rhabdízōI beat with rods, scourgetranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4463Verb · Translated: beaten with rods 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 16:22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered that they be stripped and beaten with rods.
2 Corinthians 11:25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.
- κολαφίζω kolaphízōI strike with the fist, maltreattranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s G2852Verb · Translated: struck 1, struck him with their fists 1, brutally treated 1, torment 1Full study and all 5 verses →
1 Peter 2:20 How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
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.