Word study
Deception
4 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “deception”. 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 “deception” 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)
- שֶׁקֶר sheqerdeception, disappointment, falsehoodtranslated this way 2 times of its 104 uses · Strong’s H8267Noun · Translated: lies 18, lying 16, false 12, falsely 10Full study and all 100 verses →
Jeremiah 3:23 Surely deception comes from the hills, and commotion from the mountains. Surely the salvation of Israel is in the LORD our God.
Jeremiah 8:8 How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us,’ when in fact the lying pen of the scribes has produced a deception?
- מִרְמָה mirmâhdeceit, treacherytranslated this way 2 times of its 39 uses · Strong’s H4820Noun · Translated: deceit 17, deceitful 7, deceitfully 4, dishonest 4Full study and all 38 verses →
Jeremiah 9:6 You dwell in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the LORD.
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.
- עִקְּשׁוּת iqqeshûthcrookednesstranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H6143Noun · Translated: deception 1, perverse 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Proverbs 4:24 Put away deception from your mouth; keep your lips from perverse speech.
- מַשָּׁאוֹן mashshâônguile, dissimulationtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H4860Noun · Translated: deception 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Proverbs 26:26 Though his hatred is concealed by deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀπάτη apátēdeceit, deceptiontranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G539Noun · Translated: deceitfulness 3, deception 3, deceitful 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ.
2 Thessalonians 2:10 and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.
- πλάνη plánēa wandering, errortranslated this way 2 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G4106Noun · Translated: error 5, deception 2, deceitful 1, deceit 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Matthew 27:64 So give the order that the tomb be secured until the third day. Otherwise, His disciples may come and steal Him away and tell the people He has risen from the dead. And this last deception would be worse than the first.”
1 John 4:6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.
- φρεναπάτης phrenapátēsa mind-deceivertranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G5423Noun · Translated: deception 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Titus 1:10 For many are rebellious and full of empty talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision,
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 deception: 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.