Word study
Cast
15 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: cast, casts, casting. 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 “cast” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- שָׁלַךְ shâlakthrow, fling, casttranslated this way 35 times of its 126 uses · Strong’s H7993Verb · Translated: cast 27, threw 20, throw 16, thrown 10Full study and all 121 verses →
Exodus 15:25 And Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log. And when he cast it into the waters, they were sweetened. There the LORD made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested them,
Deuteronomy 9:21 And I took that sinful thing, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust, and I cast it into the stream that came down from the mountain.
- נָפַל nâphalfall, lietranslated this way 19 times of its 432 uses · Strong’s H5307Verb · Translated: fall 104, fell 77, fallen 54, falls 21Full study and all 403 verses →
1 Samuel 14:42 Then Saul said, “Cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan.” And Jonathan was selected.
1 Chronicles 24:31 As their brothers the descendants of Aaron did, they also cast lots in the presence of King David and of Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the families of the priests and Levites— the family heads and their younger brothers alike.
- יָצַק yâtsaqpour, cast, flowtranslated this way 13 times of its 50 uses · Strong’s H3332Verb · Translated: pour 12, cast 10, poured 8, anointed 2Full study and all 48 verses →
Exodus 25:12 Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, two rings on one side and two on the other.
1 Kings 7:24 Below the rim, ornamental buds encircled it, ten per cubit all the way around the Sea, cast in two rows as a part of the Sea.
- מַסֵּכָה massêkâhmolten metal, or imagetranslated this way 7 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s H4541Noun · Translated: molten 5, molten idol 5, cast images 4, molten image 3Full study and all 28 verses →
Numbers 33:52 you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places.
2 Kings 17:16 They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves two cast idols of calves and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the host of heaven and served Baal.
- נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 4 times of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb · Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
Leviticus 16:8 After Aaron casts lots for the two goats, one for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat,
- טוּל ṭûlhurl, casttranslated this way 4 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H2904Verb · Translated: hurled 4, cast 4, hurl 2Full study and all 14 verses →
Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.
Jeremiah 16:13 So I will cast you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’
- מוּצָק mûtsâqa castingtranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H4165Noun · Translated: cast 1, cast metal 1, casting 1, mass 1Full study and all 4 verses →
1 Kings 7:16 He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars, each capital five cubits high.
1 Kings 7:23 He also made the Sea of cast metal. It was circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim, five cubits in height, and thirty cubits in circumference.
- שָׁלַח shâlachsendtranslated this way 3 times of its 829 uses · Strong’s H7971Verb · Translated: sent 334, send 126, go 43, sending 19Full study and all 783 verses →
- יָדַד yâdadcasttranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H3032Verb · Translated: cast 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Joel 3:3 They cast lots for My people; they bartered a boy for a prostitute and sold a girl for wine to drink.
Obadiah 1:11 On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were just like one of them.
- יָרָה yârâhthrow, shoottranslated this way 2 times of its 78 uses · Strong’s H3384Verb · Translated: teach 20, shoot 9, instruct 6, shot 5Full study and all 72 verses →
Exodus 15:4 Pharaoh’s chariots and army He has cast into the sea; the finest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea.
Joshua 18:6 When you have mapped out the seven portions of land and brought it to me, I will cast lots for you here in the presence of the LORD our God.
- נָדַח nâdachimpel, thrust, banishtranslated this way 2 times of its 54 uses · Strong’s H5080Verb · Translated: banished 13, exiles 5, driven 4, banish 4Full study and all 53 verses →
2 Samuel 14:14 For we will surely die and be like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. Yet God does not take away a life, but He devises ways that the banished one may not be cast out from Him.
Psalm 62:4 They fully intend to cast him down from his lofty perch; they delight in lies; with their mouths they bless, but inwardly they curse. Selah
- זָנַח zânachreject, spurntranslated this way 2 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H2186Verb · Translated: rejected 10, reject 2Full study and all 20 verses →
2 Chronicles 29:19 Moreover, we have prepared and consecrated all the articles that King Ahaz in his unfaithfulness cast aside during his reign. They are now in front of the altar of the LORD.”
Lamentations 3:31 For the Lord will not cast us off forever.
- יָרַד yâradcome or go down, descendtranslated this way 2 times of its 372 uses · Strong’s H3381Verb · Translated: went 56, go 55, come 35, came 26Full study and all 341 verses →
Psalm 56:7 In spite of such sin, will they escape? In Your anger, O God, cast down the nations.
- נָגַע nâgatouch, reach, striketranslated this way 2 times of its 144 uses · Strong’s H5060Verb · Translated: touches 35, touched 20, touch 19, Whoever touches 6Full study and all 136 verses →
Isaiah 25:12 The high-walled fortress will be brought down, cast to the ground, into the dust.
Isaiah 26:5 For He has humbled those who dwell on high; He lays the lofty city low. He brings it down to the ground; He casts it into the dust.
- נָסַךְ nâsakpour outtranslated this way 2 times of its 27 uses · Strong’s H5258Verb · Translated: poured 9, pour 6, pouring drink offerings 2, instead 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Isaiah 40:19 To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?
Isaiah 44:10 Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing?
Greek words (New Testament)
- βάλλω bállōI cast, throw, rush, put, place, droptranslated this way 15 times of its 120 uses · Strong’s G906Verb · Translated: thrown 26, put 16, throw 11, cast 10Full study and all 106 verses →
Matthew 4:18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
Mark 1:16 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
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.