Word study
Death
7 Hebrew and 7 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: death, deaths. 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 “death” 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)
- מוּת mûthdietranslated this way 125 times of its 771 uses · Strong’s H4191Verb · Translated: die 198, died 152, dead 89, put to death 47Full study and all 694 verses →
Genesis 26:11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever harms this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
Exodus 16:3 “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt!” they said. “There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death!”
- מָוֶת mâvethdeathtranslated this way 119 times of its 153 uses · Strong’s H4194Noun · Translated: death 108, die 7, died 7, dies 6Full study and all 148 verses →
Genesis 25:11 After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near Beer-lahai-roi.
Exodus 10:17 Now please forgive my sin once more and appeal to the LORD your God, that He may remove this death from me.”
- הָרַג hâragkill, slaytranslated this way 5 times of its 159 uses · Strong’s H2026Verb · Translated: killed 50, kill 49, slain 12, slaughtered 6Full study and all 156 verses →
2 Samuel 4:10 when someone told me, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was a bearer of good news, I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag. That was his reward for his news!
Esther 7:4 For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would justify burdening the king.”
- צַלְמָוֶת tsalmâvethdeath-shadow, deep shadowtranslated this way 5 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H6757Noun · Translated: shadow of death 5, darkness 3, gloom 2, deep shadow 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Job 38:17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
- אֵשׁ êshfiretranslated this way 2 times of its 313 uses · Strong’s H784Noun · Translated: fire 256, like fire 11, fiery 8, burning 6Full study and all 289 verses →
Judges 14:15 So on the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”
Judges 15:6 “Who did this?” the Philistines demanded. “It was Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite,” they were told. “For his wife was given to his companion.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.
- נֶפֶשׁ nepheshsoul, living being, life, self, person, desire, appetite, emotion, and passiontranslated this way 2 times of its 666 uses · Strong’s H5315Noun · Translated: soul 178, life 119, lives 30, person 22Full study and all 622 verses →
1 Kings 3:11 So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this instead of requesting long life or wealth for yourself or death for your enemies — but you have asked for discernment to administer justice —
- תְּמוּתָה temûthâhdeathtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H8546Noun · Translated: death 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Psalm 79:11 May the groans of the captives reach You; by the strength of Your arm preserve those condemned to death.
Psalm 102:20 to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death,
Greek words (New Testament)
- θάνατος thánatosdeathtranslated this way 107 times of its 114 uses · Strong’s G2288Noun · Translated: death 104, death sentence 2, died 2, mortal 2Full study and all 103 verses →
Matthew 4:16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.”
Mark 9:1 Then Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God arrive with power.”
- θανατόω thanatóōI put to death, subduetranslated this way 9 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G2289Verb · Translated: put to death 5, put him to death 3, died 1, face death 1Full study and all 11 verses →
Matthew 10:21 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death.
Mark 13:12 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise against their parents and have them put to death.
- ἀναιρέω anairéōI take up, abolish, murdertranslated this way 3 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s G337Verb · Translated: kill 8, put 4, killed 4, put to death 2Full study and all 23 verses →
Matthew 2:16 When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.
Acts 12:2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
- τελευτάω teleutáōI end, finish, dietranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G5053Verb · Translated: died 5, put to death 2, dies 1, die 1Full study and all 11 verses →
Matthew 15:4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
Mark 7:10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
- ἀπόλλυμι apóllymiI destroy, lose, am perishingtranslated this way 2 times of its 90 uses · Strong’s G622Verb · Translated: lost 12, lose 11, perish 10, destroy 9Full study and all 84 verses →
Matthew 27:20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus put to death.
Luke 15:17 Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food, but here I am, starving to death!
- νεκρός nekrósdead, a corpsetranslated this way 2 times of its 126 uses · Strong’s G3498Adjective · Translated: dead 110, of 11, death 2, corpse 1Full study and all 118 verses →
Romans 6:13 Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.
Hebrews 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!
- ἀποθνήσκω apothnḗskōI am dying, am about to dietranslated this way 2 times of its 107 uses · Strong’s G599Verb · Translated: died 48, die 31, dies 11, dead 8Full study and all 97 verses →
1 Corinthians 15:31 I face death every day, brothers, as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Hebrews 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated.
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.
What the Bible says about death: 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.