Word study
Disperse
8 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: disperse, dispersed, dispersing, disperses. 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 “disperse” 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)
- פּוּץ pûtsbe dispersed, scatteredtranslated this way 6 times of its 67 uses · Strong’s H6327Verb · Translated: scattered 30, scatter 15, disperse 5, deserted 2Full study and all 66 verses →
Ezekiel 12:15 And they will know that I am the LORD, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them throughout the countries.
Ezekiel 22:15 I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you throughout the lands; I will purge your uncleanness.
- חָלַק châlaqdivide, sharetranslated this way 2 times of its 65 uses · Strong’s H2505Verb · Translated: divided 14, divide 9, distributed 4, dividing 3Full study and all 64 verses →
Genesis 49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
Job 38:24 In which direction is the lightning dispersed, or the east wind scattered over the earth?
- נָפַל nâphalfall, lietranslated this way 1 time of its 432 uses · Strong’s H5307Verb · Translated: fall 104, fell 77, fallen 54, falls 21Full study and all 403 verses →
Psalm 106:27 to disperse their offspring among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands.
- זָרָה zârâhscatter, fan, winnowtranslated this way 1 time of its 39 uses · Strong’s H2219Verb · Translated: scatter 18, scattered 7, spread 3, winnow 3Full study and all 38 verses →
Ezekiel 20:23 However, with an uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands.
- פָּרַץ pâratsbreak throughtranslated this way 1 time of its 49 uses · Strong’s H6555Verb · Translated: broken 7, break 5, broke 3, spread 2Full study and all 48 verses →
2 Chronicles 11:23 Rehoboam also acted wisely by dispersing some of his sons throughout the districts of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the fortified cities. He gave them abundant provisions and sought many wives for them.
- פָּרַד pâraddividetranslated this way 1 time of its 26 uses · Strong’s H6504Verb · Translated: separated 3, spread 3, separates 3, divided 2Full study and all 26 verses →
Esther 3:8 Then Haman informed King Xerxes, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples of every province of your kingdom. Their laws are different from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.
- נָדַח nâdachimpel, thrust, banishtranslated this way 1 time of its 54 uses · Strong’s H5080Verb · Translated: banished 13, exiles 5, driven 4, banish 4Full study and all 53 verses →
Isaiah 56:8 Thus declares the Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: “I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered.”
- נָחָה nâchâhlead, guidetranslated this way 1 time of its 39 uses · Strong’s H5148Verb · Translated: lead 14, led 7, guide 6, guided 3Full study and all 39 verses →
Job 12:23 He makes nations great and destroys them; He enlarges nations, then disperses them.
Greek words (New Testament)
- διασπορά diasporádispersiontranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s G1290Noun · Translated: dispersed 1, Dispersion 1, of 1Full study and all 3 verses →
John 7:35 At this, the Jews said to one another, “Where does He intend to go that we will not find Him? Will He go where the Jews are dispersed among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?
- διαλύω dialýōI break up, dispersetranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G1262Verb · Translated: dispersed 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Acts 5:36 Some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.
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.