Word study
Discourage
4 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: discouraged, discouraging, discourage. 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 “discourage” 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)
- חָתַת châthathbe shattered, dismayedtranslated this way 10 times of its 52 uses · Strong’s H2865Verb · Translated: dismayed 11, discouraged 10, shattered 10, terrified 7Full study and all 46 verses →
Deuteronomy 1:21 See, the LORD your God has placed the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
- רָפָה râphâhsink, relaxtranslated this way 3 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s H7503Verb · Translated: leave 4, abandon 3, go 3, Withdraw 2Full study and all 43 verses →
2 Chronicles 15:7 But as for you, be strong; do not be discouraged, for your work will be rewarded.”
Ezra 4:4 Then the people of the land set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to build.
- נוּא nûhinder, restrain, frustratetranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H5106Verb · Translated: prohibits 2Full study and all 7 verses →
Numbers 32:7 Why are you discouraging the Israelites from crossing into the land that the LORD has given them?
Numbers 32:9 For when your fathers went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land that the LORD had given them.
- רָצַץ râtsatscrushtranslated this way 1 time of its 19 uses · Strong’s H7533Verb · Translated: oppressed 6, crushed 4, splintered 3Full study and all 18 verses →
Isaiah 42:4 He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.”
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐκκακέω ekkakéōI am faint, am wearytranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s G1573Verb · Translated: lose heart 3, grow weary 2, discouraged 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Ephesians 3:13 So I ask you not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
- ἀθυμέω athyméōI lose hearttranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G120Verb · Translated: become discouraged 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Colossians 3:21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they will not become discouraged.
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.