Word study
Desecrate
3 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: desecrate, desecrated. 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 “desecrate” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- חָלַל châlalbore, piercetranslated this way 4 times of its 138 uses · Strong’s H2490Verb · Translated: began 24, profaned 24, profane 14, defile 10Full study and all 129 verses →
Leviticus 21:12 He must not leave or desecrate the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am the LORD.
Ezekiel 24:21 Tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I am about to desecrate My sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and the delight of your soul. And the sons and daughters you left behind will fall by the sword.’
- טָמֵא ṭâmêbe or become uncleantranslated this way 4 times of its 158 uses · Strong’s H2930Verb · Translated: unclean 47, defiled 38, defile 23, pronounce him unclean 10Full study and all 141 verses →
2 Kings 23:8 Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which was to the left of the city gate.
Isaiah 30:22 So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”
- אָשַׁם âshamoffend, be guiltytranslated this way 1 time of its 33 uses · Strong’s H816Verb · Translated: guilty 8, incur guilt 3, incurs guilt 2, guilt 2Full study and all 32 verses →
Ezekiel 6:6 Wherever you live, the cities will be laid waste and the high places will be demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and desecrated, your idols smashed and obliterated, your incense altars cut down, and your works blotted out.
Greek words (New Testament)
- βεβηλόω bebēlóōI profanetranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G953Verb · Translated: break 1, desecrate 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 24:6 and he even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized 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.