Word study

Befall

8 Hebrew words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: befall, befalls. 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 “befall” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • מָצָא mâtsâattain to, findtranslated this way 3 times of its 436 uses · Strong’s H4672Verb  ·  Translated: found 197, find 87, finds 13, present 7

    Deuteronomy 31:17 On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’

    Esther 8:6 For how could I bear to see the disaster that would befall my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”

    Full study and all 411 verses →
  • קָרָא qârâencounter, befalltranslated this way 2 times of its 127 uses · Strong’s H7122Verb  ·  Translated: meet 58, against 11, confront 8, met 6

    Genesis 42:4 But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “I am afraid that harm might befall him.”

    Deuteronomy 31:29 For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. And in the days to come, disaster will befall you because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger by the work of your hands.”

    Full study and all 124 verses →
  • אָנָה ânâhbe opportune, meet, encounter opportunelytranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H579Verb  ·  Translated: allowed it to happen 1, seeking a quarrel 1, befall 1, befalls 1

    Psalm 91:10 no evil will befall you, no plague will approach your tent.

    Proverbs 12:21 No harm befalls the righteous, but the wicked are filled with trouble.

    Full study and all 4 verses →
  • בּוֹא bôcome in, come, go in, gotranslated this way 1 time of its 2,442 uses · Strong’s H935Verb  ·  Translated: come 358, came 298, bring 209, brought 201Full study and all 2,217 verses →
  • קָרָה qârâhencounter, meet, befalltranslated this way 1 time of its 25 uses · Strong’s H7136Verb  ·  Translated: happened 4, met 4, happen 3, laid its beams 2

    Ecclesiastes 2:15 So I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will also befall me. What then have I gained by being wise?” And I said to myself that this too is futile.

    Full study and all 25 verses →
  • הָיָה hâyâhfall out, come to pass, become, betranslated this way 1 time of its 2,848 uses · Strong’s H1961Verb  ·  Translated: will be 206, become 178, came 169, was 151Full study and all 2,573 verses →
  • נָפַל nâphalfall, lietranslated this way 1 time of its 432 uses · Strong’s H5307Verb  ·  Translated: fall 104, fell 77, fallen 54, falls 21Full study and all 403 verses →
  • עָשָׂה âsâhdo, maketranslated this way 1 time of its 2,478 uses · Strong’s H6213Verb  ·  Translated: done 292, made 265, make 143, did 112Full study and all 2,206 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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.