Word study
Burn
16 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: burned, burn, burning, burns. 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 “burn” 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)
- קָטַר qâṭarmake sacrifices smoke, send them up in smoketranslated this way 100 times of its 114 uses · Strong’s H6999Verb · Translated: burn 33, burned incense 21, burn incense 14, burning incense 13Full study and all 112 verses →
Exodus 29:13 Take all the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and both kidneys with the fat on them, and burn them on the altar.
Leviticus 1:9 The entrails and legs must be washed with water, and the priest shall burn all of it on the altar as a burnt offering, a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
- שָׂרַף sâraphburntranslated this way 95 times of its 109 uses · Strong’s H8313Verb · Translated: burned 59, burn 29, burns 3Full study and all 104 verses →
Genesis 38:24 About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and now she is pregnant.” “Bring her out!” Judah replied. “Let her be burned to death!”
Exodus 29:14 But burn the flesh of the bull and its hide and dung outside the camp; it is a sin offering.
- חָרָה chârâhburn, be kindledtranslated this way 38 times of its 89 uses · Strong’s H2734Verb · Translated: burned 26, angry 15, kindled 11, furious 6Full study and all 87 verses →
Genesis 39:19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me,” he burned with anger.
Exodus 4:14 Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well, and he is now on his way to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.
- בָּעַר bâarburn, consumetranslated this way 26 times of its 93 uses · Strong’s H1197Verb · Translated: purge 12, burn 10, burned 7, burning 6Full study and all 90 verses →
Exodus 3:3 So Moses thought, “I must go over and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?”
Numbers 11:3 So that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD had burned among them.
- חָרוֹן chârôn(burning of) angertranslated this way 12 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H2740Noun · Translated: fierce 10, burning anger 8, fierce anger 7, fury 4Full study and all 40 verses →
Exodus 15:7 You overthrew Your adversaries by Your great majesty. You unleashed Your burning wrath; it consumed them like stubble.
Numbers 32:14 Now behold, you, a brood of sinners, have risen up in place of your fathers to further stoke the burning anger of the LORD against Israel.
- אֵשׁ êshfiretranslated this way 11 times of its 313 uses · Strong’s H784Noun · Translated: fire 256, like fire 11, fiery 8, burning 6Full study and all 289 verses →
Exodus 12:10 Do not leave any of it until morning; before the morning you must burn up any part that is left over.
Leviticus 1:8 Then Aaron’s sons the priests are to arrange the pieces, including the head and the fat, atop the burning wood on the altar.
- יָקַד yâqadbe kindled, burntranslated this way 7 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H3344Verb · Translated: kept burning 3, burns 2, burn 2, kindled 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Leviticus 6:9 “Command Aaron and his sons that this is the law of the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the hearth of the altar all night, until morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar.
Deuteronomy 32:22 For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.
- מִכְוָה mikvâhburnt-spot, scar of a burntranslated this way 5 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H4348Noun · Translated: burn 5Full study and all 3 verses →
Leviticus 13:24 When there is a burn on someone’s skin and the raw area of the burn becomes reddish-white or white,
Leviticus 13:25 the priest must examine it. If the hair in the spot has turned white and the spot appears to be deeper than the skin, it is a disease that has broken out in the burn. The priest must pronounce him unclean; it is a diseased infection.
- יָצַת yâtsathkindle, burntranslated this way 4 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s H3341Verb · Translated: kindle 5, fire 4, set 4, burned 3Full study and all 25 verses →
2 Kings 22:13 “Go and inquire of the LORD for me, for the people, and for all Judah concerning the words in this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book by doing all that is written about us.”
Nehemiah 1:3 And they told me, “The remnant who survived the exile are there in the province, in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
- שְׂרֵפָה serêphâhburningtranslated this way 4 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H8316Noun · Translated: fire 2, burned 2Full study and all 12 verses →
Numbers 19:6 The priest is to take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer.
Deuteronomy 29:23 All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.
- חָרַר chârarbe hot, scorched, burn poettranslated this way 4 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H2787Verb · Translated: burn 2, burned 2, charred 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Job 30:30 My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
Psalm 102:3 For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.
- גֶּחֶל gechelembertranslated this way 4 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H1513Noun · Translated: coals 8, burning coals 4, glowing coals 2Full study and all 18 verses →
Psalm 120:4 Sharp arrows will come from the warrior, with burning coals of the broom tree!
Proverbs 25:22 For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.
- שָׁלַח shâlachsendtranslated this way 2 times of its 829 uses · Strong’s H7971Verb · Translated: sent 334, send 126, go 43, sending 19Full study and all 783 verses →
- עָלָה âlâhgo up, ascend, climbtranslated this way 2 times of its 873 uses · Strong’s H5927Verb · Translated: go 118, went 107, brought 56, come 42Full study and all 807 verses →
Exodus 27:20 And you are to command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.
Leviticus 24:2 “Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.
- גׇּפְרִית gophrîthbrimstonetranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H1614Noun · Translated: sulfur 5, burning sulfur 2Full study and all 7 verses →
Job 18:15 Fire resides in his tent; burning sulfur rains down on his dwelling.
Isaiah 30:33 For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
- כְּוִיָּה kevîâhid.translated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H3555Noun · Translated: burn 2Full study and its 1 verse →
Exodus 21:25 burn for burn, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe.
Greek words (New Testament)
- καίω kaíōI ignite, light, burntranslated this way 10 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G2545Verb · Translated: burning 6, burned 3, do 1, burns 1Full study and all 11 verses →
Luke 12:35 Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning.
John 5:35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you were willing for a season to bask in his light.
- κατακαίω katakaíōI burn up, consume entirelytranslated this way 9 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G2618Verb · Translated: burned 6, burn 3, consumed 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Luke 3:17 His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
- πῦρ pŷrfire, trialstranslated this way 2 times of its 71 uses · Strong’s G4442Noun · Translated: fire 63, fiery 3, burning 2, flames of fire 1Full study and all 69 verses →
Acts 7:30 After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.
Romans 12:20 On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
- πυρόω pyróōI burn, am purified by firetranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G4448Verb · Translated: refined 2, burn with passion 1, burn with grief 1, flaming 1Full study and all 6 verses →
1 Corinthians 7:9 But if they cannot control themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
2 Corinthians 11:29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?
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.