Word study
Burst
6 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: burst, bursting. 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 “burst” 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)
- פָּרַץ pâratsbreak throughtranslated this way 5 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s H6555Verb · Translated: broken 7, break 5, broke 3, spread 2Full study and all 48 verses →
2 Samuel 5:20 So David went to Baal-perazim, where he defeated the Philistines and said, “Like a bursting flood, the LORD has burst out against my enemies before me.” So he called that place Baal-perazim.
1 Chronicles 13:11 Then David became angry because the LORD had burst forth against Uzzah. So he named that place Perez-uzzah, as it is called to this day.
- בָּקַע bâqacleave, break open or throughtranslated this way 4 times of its 51 uses · Strong’s H1234Verb · Translated: split 7, breached 4, divided 3, burst forth 2Full study and all 50 verses →
Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.
Job 26:8 He wraps up the waters in His clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their own weight.
- פֶּרֶץ peretsbursting forth, breachtranslated this way 2 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H6556Noun · Translated: breach 4, Like a bursting 2, gap 2, wound 2Full study and all 15 verses →
2 Samuel 5:20 So David went to Baal-perazim, where he defeated the Philistines and said, “Like a bursting flood, the LORD has burst out against my enemies before me.” So he called that place Baal-perazim.
1 Chronicles 14:11 So David and his men went up to Baal-perazim, where he defeated the Philistines and said, “Like a bursting flood, God has burst out against my enemies by my hand.” So they called that place Baal-perazim.
- גִּיחַ gîachburst forthtranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s H1518Verb · Translated: charged 1, burst forth 1, surges 1, brought me forth 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Job 38:8 Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
- פָּצַח pâtsachcause to break or burst forth, break forth withtranslated this way 1 time of its 8 uses · Strong’s H6476Verb · Translated: break forth 4, break 1, Break forth in joy 1, burst 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Isaiah 55:12 You will indeed go out with joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
- 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 →
Greek words (New Testament)
- ῥήγνυμι rhḗgnymiI break, break forthtranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G4486Verb · Translated: burst 3, tear you to pieces 1, throws him to the ground 1, slammed him to the ground 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Matthew 9:17 Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Mark 2:22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into new wineskins.”
- λάσχω láschōI burst asunder with a loud noisetranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G2997Verb · Translated: burst open 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Acts 1:18 (Now with the reward for his wickedness Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong and burst open in the middle, and all his intestines spilled out.
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.