Word study
Decay
7 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: decay, decayed. 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 “decay” 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)
- רָקָב râqâbrottenness, decaytranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H7538Noun · Translated: like decay 2, like something rotten 1, rots 1, Decay 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Proverbs 12:4 A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but she who causes shame is like decay in his bones.
Hosea 5:12 So I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah.
- שַׁחַת shachathpittranslated this way 2 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s H7845Noun · Translated: pit 18, decay 2, corruption 1, destruction 1Full study and all 23 verses →
Psalm 16:10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.
Psalm 49:9 that he should live on forever and not see decay.
- מָקַק mâqaqdecay, rot, festertranslated this way 1 time of its 10 uses · Strong’s H4743Verb · Translated: rot 3, waste away 2, wasting away 2, decay 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Leviticus 26:39 Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers.
- בָּלָה bâlâhbecome old and worn outtranslated this way 1 time of its 15 uses · Strong’s H1086Verb · Translated: wear 6, worn 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Psalm 49:14 Like sheep they are destined for Sheol. Death will be their shepherd. The upright will rule them in the morning, and their form will decay in Sheol, far from their lofty abode.
- הָיָה hâyâhfall out, come to pass, become, betranslated this way 1 time of its 2,848 uses · Strong’s H1961Verb · Translated: will be 206, become 178, came 169, was 151Full study and all 2,573 verses →
- קָמַל qâmalbe decayedtranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H7060Verb · Translated: wither 1, decayed 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Isaiah 33:9 The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is ashamed and decayed. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
- סָרַח sârachgo free, be unrestrained, overrun, exceedtranslated this way 1 time of its 7 uses · Strong’s H5628Adjective · Translated: hang 2, decayed 1, spreading 1, flowing 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Jeremiah 49:7 Concerning Edom, this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom decayed?
Greek words (New Testament)
- διαφθορά diaphthorádestruction, decay, corruptiontranslated this way 6 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G1312Noun · Translated: decay 6Full study and all 6 verses →
Acts 2:27 because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.
Acts 2:31 Foreseeing this, David spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His body see decay.
- φθορά phthorácorruption, destruction, decaytranslated this way 1 time of its 8 uses · Strong’s G5356Noun · Translated: perishable 2Full study and all 8 verses →
Romans 8:21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
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.