Word study

Ease

7 Hebrew words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “ease”. 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 “ease” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • שָׁאַן shâanbe at ease or at peace, rest securelytranslated this way 4 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H7599Verb  ·  Translated: ease 4, secure 1

    Job 3:18 The captives enjoy their ease; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.

    Jeremiah 30:10 As for you, O Jacob My servant, do not be afraid, declares the LORD, and do not be dismayed, O Israel. For I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their captivity! Jacob will return to quiet and ease, with no one to make him afraid.

    Full study and all 5 verses →
  • שָׁלָה shâlâhbe quiet, at easetranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H7951Verb  ·  Translated: ease 2, safe 1, prosper 1, live at ease 1

    Job 3:26 I am not at ease or quiet; I have no rest, for trouble has come.”

    Jeremiah 12:1 Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?

    Full study and all 5 verses →
  • שַׁאֲנָן shaănânat ease, securetranslated this way 3 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H7600Adjective  ·  Translated: ease 3, arrogance 2

    Job 12:5 The one at ease scorns misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

    Amos 6:1 Woe to those at ease in Zion and those secure on Mount Samaria, the distinguished ones of the foremost nation, to whom the house of Israel comes.

    Full study and all 10 verses →
  • שָׁלֵו shâlêvquiet, at easetranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H7961Adjective  ·  Translated: ease 3, carefree 2, quiet 1, prosperous 1

    Job 16:12 I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has set me up as His target;

    Jeremiah 49:31 Rise up, advance against a nation at ease, one that dwells securely,” declares the LORD. “They have no gates or bars; they live alone.

    Full study and all 7 verses →
  • נָשָׂא nâsâlift, take, carrytranslated this way 1 time of its 642 uses · Strong’s H5375Verb  ·  Translated: bear 49, lift 45, lifted 41, carried 38Full study and all 601 verses →
  • שְׁלָה shelâhat easetranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H7954Adjective  ·  Translated: ease 1

    Daniel 4:4 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace.

    Full study and its 1 verse →
  • נָצַל nâtsalstrip, plundertranslated this way 1 time of its 205 uses · Strong’s H5337Verb  ·  Translated: deliver 75, delivered 34, rescue 30, rescued 9

    Jonah 4:6 So the LORD God appointed a vine, and it grew up to provide shade over Jonah’s head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant.

    Full study and all 191 verses →
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.