Word study
Deceive
7 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: deceive, deceived, deceives, deceiving. 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 “deceive” 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)
- נָשָׁא nâshâbeguile, deceivetranslated this way 13 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H5377Verb · Translated: deceive 7, deceived 6, exact tribute 1Full study and all 14 verses →
Genesis 3:13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”
2 Kings 18:29 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you; he cannot deliver you from my hand.
- רָמָה râmâhcast, shoottranslated this way 6 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H7411Verb · Translated: deceived 3, thrown 2, deceive 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Genesis 29:25 When morning came, there was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob said to Laban. “Wasn’t it for Rachel that I served you? Why have you deceived me?”
Joshua 9:22 Then Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said, “Why did you deceive us by telling us you live far away from us, when in fact you live among us?
- פָּתָה pâthâhbe spacious, wide, opentranslated this way 6 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s H6601Verb · Translated: entice 8, enticed 5, deceived 4, deceive 2Full study and all 26 verses →
2 Samuel 3:25 Surely you realize that Abner son of Ner came to deceive you and to track your movements and all that you are doing.”
Psalm 78:36 But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues.
- גָּנַב gânabstealtranslated this way 3 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s H1589Verb · Translated: steal 8, stolen 8, stole 2, deceived 2Full study and all 36 verses →
Genesis 31:20 Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away.
Genesis 31:26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives of war!
- תָּעָה tââherrtranslated this way 2 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s H8582Verb · Translated: astray 5, go astray 4, wandered 3, stray 3Full study and all 45 verses →
Job 15:31 Let him not deceive himself with trust in emptiness, for emptiness will be his reward.
Jeremiah 42:20 For you have deceived yourselves by sending me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray to the LORD our God on our behalf, and as for all that the LORD our God says, tell it to us and we will do it.’
- הָתַל hâthaldeceive, mocktranslated this way 2 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H2048Verb · Translated: mocked 3, deceive 2Full study and all 9 verses →
Job 13:9 Would it be well when He examined you? Could you deceive Him as you would deceive a man?
- כָּחַשׁ kâchashbe disappointing, deceive, fail, grow leantranslated this way 2 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s H3584Verb · Translated: cower 4, denied 2, lied 2, deny 2Full study and all 22 verses →
Leviticus 6:2 “If someone sins and acts unfaithfully against the LORD by deceiving his neighbor in regard to a deposit or security entrusted to him or stolen, or if he extorts his neighbor
Zechariah 13:4 And on that day every prophet who prophesies will be ashamed of his vision, and he will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive.
Greek words (New Testament)
- πλανάω planáōI lead astray, deceivetranslated this way 24 times of its 39 uses · Strong’s G4105Verb · Translated: deceived 10, deceive 7, deceives 3, deceiving 2Full study and all 37 verses →
Matthew 24:4 Jesus answered, “See to it that no one deceives you.
Mark 13:5 Jesus began by telling them, “See to it that no one deceives you.
- ἐξαπατάω exapatáōI deceive thoroughlytranslated this way 6 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G1818Verb · Translated: deceived 3, deceive 3Full study and all 6 verses →
Romans 7:11 For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.
1 Corinthians 3:18 Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise.
- ἀπατάω apatáōI deceive, lead into errortranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G538Verb · Translated: deceive 1, deceived 1, deceives 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Ephesians 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.
1 Timothy 2:14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression.
- παραλογίζομαι paralogízomaiI deceive, beguiletranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G3884Verb · Translated: deceive 1, deceiving 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Colossians 2:4 I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric.
James 1:22 Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.
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.