Word study
Confusion
6 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “confusion”. 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 “confusion” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- מְהוּמָה mehûmâhtumult, confusion, disquietde, discomfituretranslated this way 5 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s H4103Noun · Translated: confusion 4, turmoil 2, panic 2Full study and all 12 verses →
Deuteronomy 7:23 But the LORD your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed.
1 Samuel 5:9 But after they had moved the ark to Gath, the LORD’s hand was also against that city, throwing it into great confusion and afflicting the men of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.
- הָמַם hâmammake a noise, move noisily, confuse, discomfittranslated this way 4 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H2000Verb · Translated: routed 3Full study and all 14 verses →
Exodus 14:24 At morning watch, however, the LORD looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, and He threw their camp into confusion.
Joshua 10:10 And the LORD threw them into confusion before Israel, who defeated them in a great slaughter at Gibeon, pursued them along the ascent to Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah.
- בּוּךְ bûkperplex, confusetranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H943Verb · Translated: confusion 2, wander in confusion 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Exodus 14:3 For Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, ‘They are wandering the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in.’
Esther 3:15 The couriers left, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion.
- מְבוּכָה mebûkâhconfusion, confoundingtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H3998Noun · Translated: confusion 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Isaiah 22:5 For the Lord GOD of Hosts has set a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the Valley of Vision— of breaking down the walls and crying to the mountains.
Micah 7:4 The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper than a hedge of thorns. The day for your watchmen has come, the day of your visitation. Now is the time of their confusion.
- תִּמָּהוֹן timmâhônbewildermenttranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H8541Noun · Translated: confusion 1, panic 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Deuteronomy 28:28 The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind,
- עַוְעֶה avehperversitytranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H5773Noun · Translated: confusion 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Isaiah 19:14 The LORD has poured into her a spirit of confusion. Egypt has been led astray in all she does, as a drunkard staggers through his own vomit.
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.
What the Bible says about confusion: passages by topic →
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.