Word study
Chase
7 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: chased, chase, chasing, chases. 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 “chase” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- רָדַף râdaphpursue, chase, persecutetranslated this way 9 times of its 142 uses · Strong’s H7291Verb · Translated: pursued 36, pursue 35, pursues 9, pursuers 9Full study and all 135 verses →
Exodus 14:23 And the Egyptians chased after them— all Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen— and followed them into the sea.
Deuteronomy 1:44 Then the Amorites who lived in the hills came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They routed you from Seir all the way to Hormah.
- אַחַר acharbehindtranslated this way 3 times of its 556 uses · Strong’s H310Preposition · Translated: after 123, behind 56, and after 22, after that 19Full study and all 533 verses →
2 Samuel 2:21 So Abner told him, “Turn to your right or to your left, seize one of the young men, and take his equipment for yourself.” But Asahel would not stop chasing him.
2 Samuel 2:22 Once again, Abner warned Asahel, “Stop chasing me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How could I show my face to your brother Joab?”
- נָדַד nâdadretreat, flee, depart, stray, wander, fluttertranslated this way 2 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s H5074Verb · Translated: fled 4, flee 4, wanders 2, flees 2Full study and all 25 verses →
Job 18:18 He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world.
Job 20:8 He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.
- רוּץ rûtsruntranslated this way 2 times of its 103 uses · Strong’s H7323Verb · Translated: ran 22, run 21, guards 11, couriers 6Full study and all 92 verses →
Jeremiah 49:19 Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Edom from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”
Jeremiah 50:44 Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Babylon from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”
- בּוֹא bôcome in, come, go in, gotranslated this way 1 time of its 2,442 uses · Strong’s H935Verb · Translated: come 358, came 298, bring 209, brought 201Full study and all 2,217 verses →
Exodus 14:28 The waters flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen — the entire army of Pharaoh that had chased the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
- נָדַח nâdachimpel, thrust, banishtranslated this way 1 time of its 54 uses · Strong’s H5080Verb · Translated: banished 13, exiles 5, driven 4, banish 4Full study and all 53 verses →
Jeremiah 50:17 Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”
- מָהַר mâharhastentranslated this way 1 time of its 66 uses · Strong’s H4116Verb · Translated: quickly 20, hurried 9, Hurry 6, swift 4Full study and all 61 verses →
Psalm 16:4 Sorrows will multiply to those who chase other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood, or speak their names with my lips.
Greek words (New Testament)
- διώκω diṓkōI pursue, persecutetranslated this way 1 time of its 45 uses · Strong’s G1377Verb · Translated: persecute 13, persecuted 11, pursue 7, persecuting 4Full study and all 44 verses →
Luke 17:23 People will tell you, ‘Look, there He is!’ or ‘Look, here He is!’ Do not go out or chase after them.
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.