Word study
Consume
6 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: consumed, consume, consumes, consuming. 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 “consume” 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)
- אָכַל âkaleattranslated this way 95 times of its 784 uses · Strong’s H398Verb · Translated: eat 341, ate 64, eaten 63, consumed 39Full study and all 696 verses →
Genesis 31:40 As it was, the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.
Exodus 3:2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed.
- כָּלָה kâlâhbe complete, at an end, finished, accomplished, spenttranslated this way 17 times of its 206 uses · Strong’s H3615Verb · Translated: finished 54, fail 12, consumed 9, completed 7Full study and all 200 verses →
Exodus 32:10 Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
Numbers 16:21 “Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.”
- בָּעַר bâarburn, consumetranslated this way 5 times of its 93 uses · Strong’s H1197Verb · Translated: purge 12, burn 10, burned 7, burning 6Full study and all 90 verses →
1 Kings 16:3 So now I will consume Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat:
Psalm 83:14 As fire consumes a forest, as a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
- תָּמַם tâmambe complete, finishedtranslated this way 4 times of its 56 uses · Strong’s H8552Verb · Translated: gone 6, finished 4, consumed 4, meet their end 3Full study and all 54 verses →
Jeremiah 36:23 And as soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns, Jehoiakim would cut them off with a scribe’s knife and throw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll had been consumed by the fire.
Lamentations 3:22 Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.
- בָּלַע bâlaswallow down, swallow up, engulftranslated this way 3 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s H1104Verb · Translated: swallowed 19, swallow 12, swallows 3Full study and all 48 verses →
Job 20:18 He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading.
Proverbs 21:20 Precious treasures and oil are in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man consumes them.
- לָהַט lâhaṭblaze up, flametranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H3857Verb · Translated: scorches 2, flames 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Psalm 97:3 Fire goes before Him and consumes His foes on every side.
Psalm 106:18 Then fire blazed through their company; flames consumed the wicked.
Greek words (New Testament)
- περίλυπος perílyposvery sorrowfultranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G4036Adjective · Translated: consumed with sorrow 3, sad 1, sadness 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Matthew 26:38 Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.”
Mark 6:26 The king was consumed with sorrow, but because of his oaths and his guests, he did not want to refuse her.
- ἀναλίσκω analískōI destroy, annihilatetranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G355Verb · Translated: consume 1, consumed 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Luke 9:54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”
Galatians 5:15 But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.
- κατεσθίω katesthíōI eat till it is finishedtranslated this way 2 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s G2719Verb · Translated: devoured 3, defraud 2Full study and all 14 verses →
John 2:17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”
Revelation 20:9 And they marched across the broad expanse of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. But fire came down from heaven and consumed them.
- πύρωσις pýrōsisa burning, trial, fiery testtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G4451Noun · Translated: fire that consumes 2, fiery 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Revelation 18:9 Then the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail at the sight of the smoke rising from the fire that consumes her.
Revelation 18:18 and cry out at the sight of the smoke rising from the fire that consumes her. “What city was ever like this great city?” they will exclaim.
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.