Word study
Detest
7 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: detest, detests, detested. 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 “detest” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- שָׁקַץ shâqatsdetest, make detestabletranslated this way 4 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H8262Verb · Translated: detest 2, defile 1, become contaminated 1, utterly detest 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Leviticus 11:11 They shall be an abomination to you; you must not eat their meat, and you must detest their carcasses.
Deuteronomy 7:26 And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.
- תּוֹעֵבַה tôêbahabominationtranslated this way 3 times of its 116 uses · Strong’s H8441Noun · Translated: abominations 52, detestable 30, abomination 14, detests 3Full study and all 111 verses →
Proverbs 3:32 for the LORD detests the perverse, but He is a friend to the upright.
Proverbs 15:9 The LORD detests the way of the wicked, but He loves those who pursue righteousness.
- קוּץ qûtsfeel a loathing, abhorrence, sickening dreadtranslated this way 1 time of its 9 uses · Strong’s H6973Verb · Translated: weary 1, Egyptians came to dread 1, abhorred 1, detest 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Numbers 21:5 and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”
- קוּט qûṭfeel a loathingtranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s H6962Verb · Translated: loathe 3, angry 1, loathing 1, detest 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Psalm 139:21 Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD, and detest those who rise against You?
- שָׂנֵא sânêhatetranslated this way 1 time of its 143 uses · Strong’s H8130Verb · Translated: hate 65, hated 23, hates 17, enemies 6Full study and all 139 verses →
Amos 6:8 The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself— the LORD, the God of Hosts, has declared: “I abhor Jacob’s pride and detest his citadels, so I will deliver up the city and everything in it.”
- זָהַם zâhambe foul, loathsometranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H2092Verb · Translated: detests 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Job 33:20 so that he detests his bread, and his soul loathes his favorite food.
- בָּחַל bâchalfeel loathingtranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H973Verb · Translated: gained 1, detested 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Zechariah 11:8 And in one month I dismissed three shepherds. My soul grew impatient with the flock, and their souls also detested me.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀποστυγέω apostygéōI detest, abhortranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G655Verb · Translated: Detest 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Romans 12:9 Love must be sincere. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good.
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.