Word study

Dash

8 Hebrew words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: dashed, dash, dashes. 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 “dash” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • רָטַשׁ râṭâshdash in piecestranslated this way 4 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H7376Verb  ·  Translated: dashed to pieces 4, pieces 2

    Isaiah 13:16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be ravished.

    Hosea 10:14 the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be demolished as Shalman devastated Beth-arbel in the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to pieces along with their children.

    Full study and all 6 verses →
  • עוֹלֵל ôlêlchildtranslated this way 1 time of its 20 uses · Strong’s H5768Noun  ·  Translated: children 11, infants 4

    2 Kings 8:12 “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.”

    Full study and all 20 verses →
  • גָּרַם gâramlay aside, leave, savetranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H1633Verb  ·  Translated: crush 1, dash 1, leaving 1

    Ezekiel 23:34 You will drink it and drain it; you will dash it to pieces, and tear your breasts. For I have spoken,’ declares the Lord GOD.

    Full study and all 3 verses →
  • נָפַל nâphalfall, lietranslated this way 1 time of its 432 uses · Strong’s H5307Verb  ·  Translated: fall 104, fell 77, fallen 54, falls 21Full study and all 403 verses →
  • הָלַל hâlalshinetranslated this way 1 time of its 165 uses · Strong’s H1984Verb  ·  Translated: praise 65, Hallelujah 24, praised 14, boast 9

    Nahum 2:4 The chariots dash through the streets; they rush around the plazas, appearing like torches, darting about like lightning.

    Full study and all 140 verses →
  • בָּקַע bâqacleave, break open or throughtranslated this way 1 time of its 51 uses · Strong’s H1234Verb  ·  Translated: split 7, breached 4, divided 3, burst forth 2

    2 Chronicles 25:12 and the army of Judah also captured 10,000 men alive. They took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces.

    Full study and all 50 verses →
  • אָבַד âbadperishtranslated this way 1 time of its 179 uses · Strong’s H6Verb  ·  Translated: perish 53, destroy 27, perished 15, destroyed 14

    Psalm 9:18 For the needy will not always be forgotten; nor the hope of the oppressed forever dashed.

    Full study and all 173 verses →
  • נָפַץ nâphatsshattertranslated this way 1 time of its 22 uses · Strong’s H5310Verb  ·  Translated: shatter 11, shattered 2

    Psalm 137:9 Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

    Full study and all 17 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.

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.