Word study
Deadly
7 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “deadly”. 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 “deadly” 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)
- מָוֶת mâvethdeathtranslated this way 5 times of its 153 uses · Strong’s H4194Noun · Translated: death 108, die 7, died 7, dies 6Full study and all 148 verses →
1 Samuel 5:11 Then the Ekronites called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel. It must return to its place, so that it will not kill us and our people!” For a deadly confusion had pervaded the city; the hand of God was very heavy upon it.
Psalm 7:13 He has prepared His deadly weapons; He ordains His arrows with fire.
- מוּת mûthdietranslated this way 2 times of its 771 uses · Strong’s H4191Verb · Translated: die 198, died 152, dead 89, put to death 47Full study and all 694 verses →
Numbers 35:17 Or if anyone has in his hand a stone of deadly size, and he strikes and kills another, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death.
Numbers 35:18 If anyone has in his hand a deadly object of wood, and he strikes and kills another, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death.
- רַע rabad, eviltranslated this way 2 times of its 651 uses · Strong’s H7451Adjective · Translated: evil 263, disaster 72, harm 38, wicked 31Full study and all 615 verses →
- אַכְזָר akzârcruel, fiercetranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H393Adjective · Translated: deadly 1, fierce 1, become cruel 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Deuteronomy 32:33 Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.
- הַוָּה havvâhdesiretranslated this way 1 time of its 15 uses · Strong’s H1942Noun · Translated: destruction 6Full study and all 15 verses →
Psalm 91:3 Surely He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly plague.
- שָׁחַט shâchaṭslaughter, beattranslated this way 1 time of its 80 uses · Strong’s H7819Verb · Translated: slaughtered 40, slaughter 26, killed 3, slaughters 2Full study and all 70 verses →
Jeremiah 9:8 Their tongues are deadly arrows; they speak deception. With his mouth a man speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him.
- מָמוֹת mâmôthdeathtranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H4463Noun · Translated: deadly 1, die 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Jeremiah 16:4 “They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and beasts of the earth.”
Greek words (New Testament)
- θανάσιμος thanásimosdeadly, mortaltranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G2286Adjective · Translated: deadly poison 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Mark 16:18 they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.”
- τηλικοῦτος tēlikoûtosso greattranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s G5082Demonstrative Pronoun · Translated: deadly peril 1, great 1, large 1, mighty 1Full study and all 4 verses →
2 Corinthians 1:10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. In Him we have placed our hope that He will yet again deliver us,
- θανατήφορος thanatḗphorosdeath-bringing, deadlytranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G2287Adjective · Translated: deadly 1Full study and its 1 verse →
James 3:8 but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
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.