Word study

Disturb

7 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: disturbed, disturb, disturbing. 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 “disturb” 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)

  • רָגַז râgazbe agitated, quiver, quake, be excited, perturbedtranslated this way 3 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H7264Verb  ·  Translated: tremble 10, trembled 5, disturbed 3, shaken 2

    1 Samuel 28:15 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” “I am deeply distressed,” replied Saul. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”

    2 Samuel 7:10 And I will provide a place for My people Israel and will plant them so that they may dwell in a place of their own and be disturbed no more. No longer will the sons of wickedness oppress them as they did at the beginning

    Full study and all 40 verses →
  • רָעַע râabe evil, badtranslated this way 1 time of its 97 uses · Strong’s H7489Verb  ·  Translated: wicked 9, harm 8, evil 8, evildoers 8

    Nehemiah 2:10 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were deeply disturbed that someone had come to seek the well-being of the Israelites.

    Full study and all 97 verses →
  • נוּעַ nûaquiver, wave, waver, tremble, tottertranslated this way 1 time of its 38 uses · Strong’s H5128Verb  ·  Translated: shake 5, sway 3, shakes 3, fugitive 2

    2 Kings 23:18 “Let him rest,” said Josiah. “Do not let anyone disturb his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed, along with those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

    Full study and all 36 verses →
  • פָּקַד pâqadattend to, visit, muster, appointtranslated this way 1 time of its 294 uses · Strong’s H6485Verb  ·  Translated: punish 41, numbered 26, appointed 15, counted 14

    Isaiah 27:3 I, the LORD, am its keeper; I water it continually. I guard it night and day so no one can disturb it;

    Full study and all 267 verses →
  • דָּלַח dâlachmake turbidtranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H1804Verb  ·  Translated: churning 1, muddy 1, disturb 1

    Ezekiel 32:13 I will slaughter all her cattle beside the abundant waters. No human foot will muddy them again, and no cattle hooves will disturb them.

    Full study and all 2 verses →
  • זוּעַ zûatremble, quaketranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H2111Verb  ·  Translated: tremble in fear 1, tremble 1, disturb 1

    Habakkuk 2:7 Will not your creditors suddenly arise and those who disturb you awaken? Then you will become their prey.

    Full study and all 3 verses →
  • נׇכְרִי nokrîforeign, alientranslated this way 1 time of its 42 uses · Strong’s H5237Adjective  ·  Translated: foreign 14, foreigner 13, foreigners 4, stranger 4

    Isaiah 28:21 For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim. He will rouse Himself as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do His work, His strange work, and to perform His task, His disturbing task.

    Full study and all 42 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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.