Word study
Caught
5 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “caught”. 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 “caught” 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)
- לָכַד lâkadcapture, seize, take (by lot)translated this way 8 times of its 120 uses · Strong’s H3920Verb · Translated: captured 62, capture 12, selected 9, caught 8Full study and all 112 verses →
Joshua 7:15 The one who is caught with the things devoted to destruction must be burned, along with all that belongs to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD and committed an outrage in Israel.’”
Judges 15:4 Then Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes. And he took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and fastened a torch between each pair of tails.
- מָצָא mâtsâattain to, findtranslated this way 6 times of its 436 uses · Strong’s H4672Verb · Translated: found 197, find 87, finds 13, present 7Full study and all 411 verses →
Exodus 22:2 If a thief is caught breaking in and is beaten to death, no one shall be guilty of bloodshed.
Deuteronomy 24:7 If a man is caught kidnapping one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. So you must purge the evil from among you.
- תָּפַשׂ tâphaslay hold of, wieldtranslated this way 4 times of its 64 uses · Strong’s H8610Verb · Translated: seized 8, captured 7, take 4, Seize 4Full study and all 60 verses →
Numbers 5:13 by sleeping with another man, and it is concealed from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she was not caught in the act),
Psalm 10:2 In pride the wicked pursue the needy; let them be caught in the schemes they devise.
- אָחַז âchazgrasp, take hold, take possessiontranslated this way 2 times of its 65 uses · Strong’s H270Verb · Translated: seized 9, seize 4, grip 3, took hold 3Full study and all 61 verses →
Genesis 22:13 Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
Ecclesiastes 9:12 For surely no man knows his time: Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensnared in an evil time that suddenly falls upon them.
- חָזַק châzaqbe or grow firm, strong, strengthentranslated this way 2 times of its 290 uses · Strong’s H2388Verb · Translated: strong 37, made repairs 22, strengthened 16, repaired 15Full study and all 264 verses →
Exodus 4:4 “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses, who reached out his hand and caught the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand.
2 Samuel 18:9 Now Absalom was riding on his mule when he met the servants of David, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s head was caught fast in the tree. The mule under him kept going, so that he was suspended in midair.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἁρπάζω harpázōI seize, snatch, obtain by robberytranslated this way 4 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s G726Verb · Translated: caught 4, snatch 2Full study and all 14 verses →
2 Corinthians 12:2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.
- καταλαμβάνω katalambánōI seize tight hold of, overtake, comprehendtranslated this way 2 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G2638Verb · Translated: caught 2, overtake 2Full study and all 14 verses →
John 8:3 The scribes and Pharisees, however, brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before them
John 8:4 and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
- πιάζω piázōI lay hold oftranslated this way 2 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s G4084Verb · Translated: seize 3, arrest 2, caught 2Full study and all 12 verses →
John 21:3 Simon Peter told them, “I am going fishing.” “We will go with you,” they said. So they went out and got into the boat, but caught nothing that night.
John 21:10 Jesus told them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”
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.