Word study
Brandish
7 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: brandished, brandish, brandishes, brandishing. 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 “brandish” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- עוּר ûrrouse oneself, awaketranslated this way 1 time of its 80 uses · Strong’s H5782Verb · Translated: Awake 19, stirred 9, awaken 6, rouse 5Full study and all 65 verses →
Isaiah 10:26 And the LORD of Hosts will brandish a whip against them, as when He struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. He will raise His staff over the sea, as He did in Egypt.
- עוּף ûphflytranslated this way 1 time of its 26 uses · Strong’s H5774Verb · Translated: flying 5, fly 4, fly away 4, flies 3Full study and all 25 verses →
Ezekiel 32:10 I will cause many peoples to be appalled over you, and their kings will shudder in horror because of you when I brandish My sword before them. On the day of your downfall each of them will tremble every moment for his life.’
- נוּף nûphmove to and fro, wave, besprinkletranslated this way 1 time of its 37 uses · Strong’s H5130Verb · Translated: wave 15, waved 4, presented 3, use 2Full study and all 35 verses →
Isaiah 19:16 In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble with fear beneath the uplifted hand of the LORD of Hosts, when He brandishes it against them.
- תְּנוּפָה tenûphâha swinging, waving, wave-offering, offeringtranslated this way 1 time of its 30 uses · Strong’s H8573Noun · Translated: wave offering 26, waved 1, wave offerings 1, uplifted 1Full study and all 28 verses →
Isaiah 30:32 And with every stroke of the rod of punishment that the LORD brings down on them, the tambourines and lyres will sound as He battles with weapons brandished.
- רָעַל râalquiver, shake, reeltranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H7477Verb · Translated: brandished 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Nahum 2:3 The shields of his mighty men are red; the valiant warriors are dressed in scarlet. The fittings of the chariots flash like fire on the day they are prepared, and the spears of cypress have been brandished.
- עֶרְיָה eryâhnakednesstranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s H6181Noun · Translated: bare 4, nakedness 1, brandished 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Habakkuk 3:9 You brandished Your bow; You called for many arrows. Selah You split the earth with rivers.
- תָּפַשׂ tâphaslay hold of, wieldtranslated this way 1 time of its 64 uses · Strong’s H8610Verb · Translated: seized 8, captured 7, take 4, Seize 4Full study and all 60 verses →
Ezekiel 38:4 I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws, and bring you out with all your army — your horses, your horsemen in full armor, and a great company armed with shields and bucklers, all brandishing their swords.
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.