Word study

Blasphemy

1 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

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

Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • נְאָצָה neâtsâhcontempt, contumelytranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H5007Noun  ·  Translated: disgrace 2, blasphemies 2, contemptuous word 1

    Nehemiah 9:18 Even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and when they committed terrible blasphemies,

    Nehemiah 9:26 But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.

    Full study and all 5 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • βλασφημία blasphēmíaabusive or scurrilous language, blasphemytranslated this way 8 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s G988Noun  ·  Translated: blasphemy 6, slander 5, blasphemous 3, blasphemies 2

    Matthew 12:31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

    Mark 3:28 Truly I tell you, the sons of men will be forgiven all sins and blasphemies, as many as they utter.

    Full study and all 17 verses →
  • βλασφημέω blasphēméōI speak evil against, blasphemetranslated this way 1 time of its 34 uses · Strong’s G987Verb  ·  Translated: blaspheme 4, slander 4, blasphemed 3, heaped abuse 3

    John 10:36 then what about the One whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world? How then can you accuse Me of blasphemy for stating that I am the Son of God?

    Full study and all 34 verses →
  • βλάσφημος blásphēmosslanderoustranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s G989Adjective  ·  Translated: blasphemy 1, blasphemer 1, abusive 1, slanderous 1

    Acts 6:11 Then they prompted some men to say, “We heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”

    Full study and all 4 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.

What the Bible says about blasphemy: passages by topic →

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.