Word study
Crooked
8 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “crooked”. 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 “crooked” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- עִקֵּשׁ iqqêshtwisted, pervertedtranslated this way 3 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H6141Adjective · Translated: perverse 8, crooked 3Full study and all 11 verses →
2 Samuel 22:27 to the pure You show Yourself pure, but to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd.
Psalm 18:26 to the pure You show Yourself pure, but to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd.
- פְּתַלְתֹּל pethaltôltortuoustranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H6618Adjective · Translated: crooked 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Deuteronomy 32:5 His people have acted corruptly toward Him; the blemish on them is not that of His children, but of a perverse and crooked generation.
- עֲקַלְקַל ăqalqalcrookedtranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H6128Adjective · Translated: byways 1, crooked ways 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Psalm 125:5 But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.
- פָּתַל pâthaltwisttranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s H6617Verb · Translated: show yourself shrewd 2, wrestled 1, cunning 1, crooked 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Proverbs 8:8 All the words of my mouth are righteous; none are crooked or perverse.
- הֲפַכְפַּךְ hăphakpakcrookedtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H2019Adjective · Translated: crooked 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Proverbs 21:8 The way of a guilty man is crooked, but the conduct of the innocent is upright.
- עָוַת âvathbe bent, crookedtranslated this way 1 time of its 11 uses · Strong’s H5791Verb · Translated: pervert 3Full study and all 10 verses →
Ecclesiastes 1:15 What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
- עָקַשׁ âqashtwisttranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s H6140Verb · Translated: declare me guilty 1, perverts 1, whoever is perverse 1, crooked 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Isaiah 59:8 The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their tracks. They have turned them into crooked paths; no one who treads on them will know peace.
- עָוָה âvâhbend, twisttranslated this way 1 time of its 17 uses · Strong’s H5753Verb · Translated: done wrong 4, perverted 2Full study and all 17 verses →
Lamentations 3:9 He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.
Greek words (New Testament)
- σκολιός skolióscrooked, perverse, unfairtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G4646Adjective · Translated: crooked 2, corrupt 1, unreasonable 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Luke 3:5 Every valley shall be filled in, and every mountain and hill made low. The crooked ways shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth.
Philippians 2:15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world
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.