Word study
Die
5 Hebrew and 6 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: die, died, dies. 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 “die” 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)
- מוּת mûthdietranslated this way 402 times of its 771 uses · Strong’s H4191Verb · Translated: die 198, died 152, dead 89, put to death 47Full study and all 694 verses →
Genesis 2:17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
Exodus 1:6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,
- מָוֶת mâvethdeathtranslated this way 24 times of its 153 uses · Strong’s H4194Noun · Translated: death 108, die 7, died 7, dies 6Full study and all 148 verses →
Genesis 21:16 Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I cannot bear to watch the boy die!” And as she sat nearby, she lifted up her voice and wept.
Leviticus 11:32 When one of them dies and falls on something, that article becomes unclean; any article of wood, clothing, leather, sackcloth, or any implement used for work must be rinsed with water and will remain unclean until evening; then it will be clean.
- גָּוַע gâvaexpire perish, dietranslated this way 8 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s H1478Verb · Translated: die 6, perished 4, breathed his last 4, perish 3Full study and all 23 verses →
Numbers 20:29 When the whole congregation saw that Aaron had died, the entire house of Israel mourned for him thirty days.
Job 3:11 Why did I not perish at birth; why did I not die as I came from the womb?
- הָלַךְ hâlakgo, come, walktranslated this way 2 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 25:32 “Look,” said Esau, “I am about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?”
- חָלָל châlâlpiercedtranslated this way 2 times of its 93 uses · Strong’s H2491Noun · Translated: slain 53, dead 6, killed 6, wounded 5Full study and all 84 verses →
Isaiah 22:2 O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle.
Lamentations 4:9 Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀποθνήσκω apothnḗskōI am dying, am about to dietranslated this way 92 times of its 107 uses · Strong’s G599Verb · Translated: died 48, die 31, dies 11, dead 8Full study and all 97 verses →
Matthew 8:32 “Go!” He told them. So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and died in the waters.
Mark 12:19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man is to marry his brother’s widow and raise up offspring for him.
- τελευτάω teleutáōI end, finish, dietranslated this way 7 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G5053Verb · Translated: died 5, put to death 2, dies 1, die 1Full study and all 11 verses →
Matthew 2:19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.
Mark 9:48 where ‘their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.’
- θάνατος thánatosdeathtranslated this way 3 times of its 114 uses · Strong’s G2288Noun · Translated: death 104, death sentence 2, died 2, mortal 2Full study and all 103 verses →
Matthew 26:66 What do you think?” “He deserves to die,” they answered.
Philippians 2:30 because he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for your deficit of service to me.
- συναποθνήσκω synapothnḗskōI die together withtranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G4880Verb · Translated: die 1, die together 1, died 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Mark 14:31 But Peter kept insisting, “Even if I have to die with You, I will never deny You.” And all the others said the same thing.
2 Corinthians 7:3 I do not say this to condemn you. I have said before that you so occupy our hearts that we live and die together with you.
- κοπάζω kopázōI cease, droptranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G2869Verb · Translated: died 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 14:32 And when they had climbed back into the boat, the wind died down.
Mark 4:39 Then Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the sea. “Silence!” He commanded. “Be still!” And the wind died down, and it was perfectly calm.
- ἐκψύχω ekpsýchōI breathe my last, die, expiretranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G1634Verb · Translated: died 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Acts 5:5 On hearing these words, Ananias fell down and died. And great fear came over all who heard what had happened.
Acts 5:10 At that instant she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
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.