Word study
Disgrace
10 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: disgrace, disgraced, disgraces. 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 “disgrace” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- כְּלִמָּה kelimmâhinsult, reproach, ignominytranslated this way 18 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H3639Noun · Translated: disgrace 18, reproach 3, shame 3, scorn 2Full study and all 29 verses →
Psalm 44:15 All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face,
Proverbs 18:13 He who answers a matter before he hears it— this is folly and disgrace to him.
- חֶרְפָּה cherpâhreproachtranslated this way 17 times of its 72 uses · Strong’s H2781Noun · Translated: reproach 30, disgrace 16, shame 6, scorn 6Full study and all 72 verses →
Genesis 34:14 “We cannot do such a thing,” they said. “To give our sister to an uncircumcised man would be a disgrace to us.
1 Samuel 17:26 David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
- בּוּשׁ bûshbe ashamedtranslated this way 12 times of its 125 uses · Strong’s H954Verb · Translated: ashamed 40, put to shame 36, shame 10, disgraced 8Full study and all 112 verses →
2 Samuel 19:5 Then Joab went into the house and said to the king, “Today you have disgraced all your servants who have saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, of your wives, and of your concubines.
Psalm 6:10 All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed; they will turn back in sudden disgrace.
- כָּלַם kâlambe humiliatedtranslated this way 5 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s H3637Verb · Translated: humiliated 9, ashamed 7, disgraced 3, blush 2Full study and all 38 verses →
Numbers 12:14 But the LORD answered Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; after that she may be brought back in.”
Proverbs 28:7 A discerning son keeps the law, but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father.
- חָפֵר châphêrbe abashed, ashamedtranslated this way 5 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H2659Verb · Translated: confounded 6, disgrace 3, ashamed 2, humiliated 2Full study and all 17 verses →
Psalm 83:17 May they be ever ashamed and terrified; may they perish in disgrace.
Proverbs 13:5 The righteous hate falsehood, but the wicked bring shame and disgrace.
- קָלוֹן qâlônignominy, dishonourtranslated this way 4 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H7036Noun · Translated: shame 10, disgrace 3, dishonor 1, insult 1Full study and all 17 verses →
Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes wisdom.
Isaiah 22:18 roll you into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will remain— a disgrace to the house of your master.
- חֶסֶד chesedgoodness, kindnesstranslated this way 2 times of its 247 uses · Strong’s H2617Noun · Translated: loving devotion 175, kindness 31, according to your loving devotion 6, favor 4Full study and all 241 verses →
Leviticus 20:17 If a man marries his sister, whether the daughter of his father or of his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered the nakedness of his sister; he shall bear his iniquity.
Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.
- נְאָצָה neâtsâhcontempt, contumelytranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H5007Noun · Translated: disgrace 2, blasphemies 2, contemptuous word 1Full study and all 5 verses →
2 Kings 19:3 to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
Isaiah 37:3 to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
- בֹּשֶׁת bôshethshametranslated this way 2 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H1322Noun · Translated: shame 23, shameful 2Full study and all 29 verses →
2 Chronicles 32:21 and the LORD sent an angel who annihilated every mighty man of valor and every leader and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons struck him down with the sword.
Zephaniah 3:19 Behold, at that time, I will deal with all who afflict you. I will save the lame and gather the scattered; and I will appoint praise and fame for the disgraced throughout the earth.
- חָלַל châlalbore, piercetranslated this way 2 times of its 138 uses · Strong’s H2490Verb · Translated: began 24, profaned 24, profane 14, defile 10Full study and all 129 verses →
Isaiah 43:28 So I will disgrace the princes of your sanctuary, and I will devote Jacob to destruction and Israel to reproach.”
Ezekiel 28:16 By the vastness of your trade, you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mountain of God, and I banished you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὀνειδισμός oneidismósreproach, revilingtranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G3680Noun · Translated: disgrace 3, insults 1, ridicule 1Full study and all 5 verses →
1 Timothy 3:7 Furthermore, he must have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the snare of the devil.
Hebrews 11:26 He valued disgrace for Christ above the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his reward.
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.