Word study
Depart
8 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: departed, depart, departs. 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 “depart” 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)
- הָלַךְ hâlakgo, come, walktranslated this way 42 times of its 1,461 uses · Strong’s H1980Verb · Translated: go 338, went 173, walk 116, Come 84Full study and all 1,299 verses →
Genesis 12:4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
Exodus 10:28 “Depart from me!” Pharaoh said to Moses. “Make sure you never see my face again, for on the day you see my face, you will die.”
- סוּר sûrturn asidetranslated this way 20 times of its 294 uses · Strong’s H5493Verb · Translated: removed 46, remove 38, turn away 23, turn aside 16Full study and all 277 verses →
Genesis 49:10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.
Exodus 8:11 The frogs will depart from you and your houses and your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.”
- יָצָא yâtsâgo or come outtranslated this way 18 times of its 1,035 uses · Strong’s H3318Verb · Translated: brought 108, went 103, go 82, came 78Full study and all 975 verses →
Genesis 15:14 But I will judge the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will depart with many possessions.
Exodus 9:33 Then Moses departed from Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the LORD. The thunder and hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down on the land.
- מוּשׁ mûshdepart, removetranslated this way 6 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H4185Verb · Translated: depart 4, leave 3, departed 2, removed 2Full study and all 19 verses →
Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in all you do.
Judges 6:18 Please do not depart from this place until I return to You. Let me bring my offering and set it before You.” And the LORD said, “I will stay until you return.”
- עָבַר âbarpass over, through, by, pass ontranslated this way 3 times of its 542 uses · Strong’s H5674Verb · Translated: pass 62, crossed 57, cross 52, passed 35Full study and all 487 verses →
1 Kings 22:24 Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah went up, struck Micaiah in the face, and demanded, “Which way did the Spirit of the LORD go when He departed from me to speak with you?”
2 Chronicles 18:23 Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah went up, struck Micaiah in the face, and demanded, “Which way did the Spirit of the LORD go when He departed from me to speak with you?”
- רָפָא râphâlax, ghost, deadtranslated this way 3 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H7496Noun · Translated: dead 4, departed spirits 3, spirits of the dead 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Psalm 88:10 Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah
Proverbs 2:18 For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits.
- גָּלָה gâlâhuncover, removetranslated this way 2 times of its 170 uses · Strong’s H1540Verb · Translated: revealed 14, uncovered 13, exiled 12, sexual relations 11Full study and all 161 verses →
1 Samuel 4:21 And she named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God had been captured and her father-in-law and her husband had been killed.
1 Samuel 4:22 “The glory has departed from Israel,” she said, “for the ark of God has been captured.”
- רָשַׁע râshabe wicked, act wickedlytranslated this way 2 times of its 34 uses · Strong’s H7561Verb · Translated: condemn 7, acted wickedly 6, condemned 3, wickedly departed 2Full study and all 34 verses →
2 Samuel 22:22 For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not wickedly departed from my God.
Psalm 18:21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not wickedly departed from my God.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀπέρχομαι apérchomaiI come or go away from, depart, returntranslated this way 3 times of its 114 uses · Strong’s G565Verb · Translated: went 30, go 21, went away 19, left 5Full study and all 113 verses →
Matthew 5:30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to depart into hell.
Luke 8:37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to depart from them, because great fear had taken hold of them. So He got into the boat and started back.
- πορεύομαι poreúomaiI travel, journey, gotranslated this way 2 times of its 147 uses · Strong’s G4198Verb · Translated: go 59, went 22, going 10, way 8Full study and all 141 verses →
Matthew 25:41 Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
John 4:50 “Go,” said Jesus. “Your son will live.” The man took Jesus at His word and departed.
- ἀποχωρέω apochōréōI go away, departtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G672Verb · Translated: depart 1, departs 1, left 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 7:23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’
Luke 9:39 A spirit keeps seizing him, and he screams abruptly. It throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It keeps mauling him and rarely departs from him.
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.