Word study
Despair
13 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: despair, despairing, despairs, despaired. 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 “despair” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- יָאַשׁ yâashdespairtranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H2976Verb · Translated: despair 2, hopeless 2, stop 1, hope 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Job 6:26 Do you intend to correct my words, and treat as wind my cry of despair?
Ecclesiastes 2:20 So my heart began to despair over all the labor that I had done under the sun.
- דְּאָבוֹן deâbônfaintness, languishingtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H1671Noun · Translated: despairing 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Deuteronomy 28:65 Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul.
- מָס mâsdespairingtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H4523Adjective · Translated: despairing man 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Job 6:14 A despairing man should have the kindness of his friend, even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
- מַסָּה massâhdespairtranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s H4531Noun · Translated: trials 3, despair 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Job 9:23 When the scourge brings sudden death, He mocks the despair of the innocent.
- שָׁאוֹן shâônroartranslated this way 1 time of its 18 uses · Strong’s H7588Noun · Translated: uproar 4, tumult 4, noise 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Psalm 40:2 He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.
- נוּשׁ nûshbe sicktranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H5136Verb · Translated: despair 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Psalm 69:20 Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found no one.
- פּוּן pûnturn, be perplexedtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H6323Verb · Translated: despair 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Psalm 88:15 From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.
- כֵּהֶה kêhehdim, dull, fainttranslated this way 1 time of its 7 uses · Strong’s H3544Adjective · Translated: faded 3, dull 1, grown so dim 1, smoldering 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Isaiah 61:3 to console the mourners in Zion — to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.
- אָנַשׁ ânashbe weak, sicktranslated this way 1 time of its 9 uses · Strong’s H605Verb · Translated: incurable 5, became ill 1, beyond cure 1, despair 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Jeremiah 17:16 But I have not run away from being Your shepherd; I have not desired the day of despair. You know that the utterance of my lips was spoken in Your presence.
- שִׁמָּמוֹן shimmâmônappalment, horrortranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H8078Noun · Translated: despair 1, dread 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Ezekiel 4:16 Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure.
- שְׁמָמָה shemâmâha devastation, wastetranslated this way 1 time of its 56 uses · Strong’s H8077Noun · Translated: desolate 26, desolation 19, wasteland 4Full study and all 52 verses →
Ezekiel 7:27 The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, and I will judge them by their own standards. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”
- אָמַן âmanconfirm, supporttranslated this way 1 time of its 104 uses · Strong’s H539Verb · Translated: believe 24, faithful 14, trust 8, believed 7Full study and all 98 verses →
Job 15:22 He despairs of his return from darkness; he is marked for the sword.
- שָׁחַח shâchachbow, be bowed down, crouchtranslated this way 1 time of its 21 uses · Strong’s H7817Verb · Translated: brought low 5, downcast 3, humbled 2, bow 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Psalm 42:6 O my God, my soul despairs within me. Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon — even from Mount Mizar.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐξαπορέομαι exaporéomaiI am utterly without resource, am in despairtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1820Verb · Translated: despaired 1, despair 1Full study and all 2 verses →
2 Corinthians 1:8 We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.
2 Corinthians 4:8 We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
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 despair: 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.