Word study

Courage

2 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “courage”. 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 “courage” 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)

  • חָזַק châzaqbe or grow firm, strong, strengthentranslated this way 5 times of its 290 uses · Strong’s H2388Verb  ·  Translated: strong 37, made repairs 22, strengthened 16, repaired 15

    Judges 20:22 But the Israelite army took courage and again took their battle positions in the same place where they had arrayed themselves on the first day.

    1 Samuel 4:9 Take courage and be men, O Philistines! Otherwise, you will serve the Hebrews just as they served you. Now be men and fight!”

    Full study and all 264 verses →
  • לֵב lêbinner man, mind, will, hearttranslated this way 3 times of its 526 uses · Strong’s H3820Noun  ·  Translated: heart 326, hearts 78, mind 30, judgment 11

    2 Samuel 7:27 For You, O LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant when You said, ‘I will build a house for you.’ Therefore Your servant has found the courage to offer this prayer to You.

    Jeremiah 4:9 “In that day,” declares the LORD, “the king and officials will lose their courage. The priests will tremble in fear, and the prophets will be astounded.”

    Full study and all 495 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • θαρσέω tharséōbe of good cheertranslated this way 7 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G2293Verb  ·  Translated: Take courage 7

    Matthew 9:2 Just then some men brought to Him a paralytic lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”

    Mark 6:50 for they all saw Him and were terrified. But Jesus spoke up at once: “Take courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.”

    Full study and all 7 verses →
  • εὐθυμέω euthyméōI am cheerfultranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G2114Verb  ·  Translated: keep up your courage 1, take courage 1, cheerful 1

    Acts 27:22 But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because you will not experience any loss of life, but only of the ship.

    Acts 27:25 So take courage, men, for I believe God that it will happen just as He told me.

    Full study and all 3 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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 courage: 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.