Word study
Commotion
3 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “commotion”. 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 “commotion” 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)
- הָמוֹן hâmônsound, murmur, roar, crowd, abundancetranslated this way 3 times of its 81 uses · Strong’s H1995Noun · Translated: multitude 12, army 10, multitudes 8, many 6Full study and all 77 verses →
1 Samuel 4:14 Eli heard the outcry and asked, “Why this commotion?” So the man hurried over and reported to Eli.
Jeremiah 3:23 Surely deception comes from the hills, and commotion from the mountains. Surely the salvation of Israel is in the LORD our God.
- תְּשֻׁאָה teshuâhnoisetranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s H8663Noun · Translated: thunder roars 1, shouts 1, commotion 1, accompanied by shouts 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Isaiah 22:2 O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle.
- רַעַשׁ raashquaking, shakingtranslated this way 1 time of its 16 uses · Strong’s H7494Noun · Translated: earthquake 7, rumbling 3, Trembling 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Jeremiah 10:22 Listen! The sound of a report is coming — a great commotion from the land to the north. It will make the cities of Judah a desolation, a haunt for jackals.
Greek words (New Testament)
- θόρυβος thórybosconfused noise, riot, disturbancetranslated this way 1 time of its 7 uses · Strong’s G2351Noun · Translated: riot 3, uproar 3, commotion 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Mark 5:38 When they arrived at the house of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw the commotion and the people weeping and wailing loudly.
- θορυβέω thorybéōI disturb greatly, terrify, strike with panictranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s G2350Verb · Translated: noisy 1, commotion 1, upset 1, sent the city into an uproar 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Mark 5:39 He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but asleep.”
- τάραχος tárachosa disturbance, commotiontranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G5017Noun · Translated: commotion 1, disturbance 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 12:18 At daybreak there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.
- συστροφή systrophḗa gathering together, riotous concoursetranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4963Noun · Translated: commotion 1, conspiracy 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 19:40 For we are in jeopardy of being charged with rioting for today’s events, and we have no justification to account for this commotion.”
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.