Word study
Engulf
6 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: engulfed, engulf, engulfs. 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 “engulf” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- שָׁטַף shâṭaphoverflow, rinse or wash offtranslated this way 3 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H7857Verb · Translated: rinsed 3, torrents 3, overflowing 2, like a flood 2Full study and all 29 verses →
Psalm 69:2 I have sunk into the miry depths, where there is no footing; I have drifted into deep waters, where the flood engulfs me.
Psalm 69:15 Do not let the floods engulf me or the depths swallow me up; let not the Pit close its mouth over me.
- כָּסָה kâsâhcovertranslated this way 2 times of its 150 uses · Strong’s H3680Verb · Translated: covered 51, cover 36, covers 16, covering 9Full study and all 148 verses →
Joshua 24:7 So your fathers cried out to the LORD, and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, over whom He brought the sea and engulfed them. Your very eyes saw what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.
Psalm 78:53 He led them safely, so they did not fear, but the sea engulfed their enemies.
- אָפַף âphaphsurround, encompasstranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H661Verb · Translated: engulfed 2, encompassed 1, surround 1, entangled 1Full study and all 5 verses →
2 Samuel 22:5 For the waves of death engulfed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me.
Jonah 2:5 The waters engulfed me to take my life; the watery depths closed around me; the seaweed wrapped around my head.
- צוּף tsûphflow, overflow, [float]translated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H6687Verb · Translated: engulf 1, float 1, flowed 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Deuteronomy 11:4 what He did to the Egyptian army and horses and chariots when He made the waters of the Red Sea engulf them as they pursued you, and how He destroyed them completely, even to this day;
- בָּלַע bâlaswallow down, swallow up, engulftranslated this way 1 time of its 49 uses · Strong’s H1104Verb · Translated: swallowed 19, swallow 12, swallows 3Full study and all 48 verses →
Psalm 21:9 You will place them in a fiery furnace at the time of Your appearing. In His wrath the LORD will engulf them, and the fire will consume them.
- סָבַב sâbabturn about, go around, surroundtranslated this way 1 time of its 153 uses · Strong’s H5437Verb · Translated: turned 16, surrounded 13, surround 10, turn 8Full study and all 144 verses →
Psalm 88:17 All day long they engulf me like water; they enclose me on every side.
Greek words (New Testament)
- καλύπτω kalýptōI veil, hide, conceal, enveloptranslated this way 1 time of its 8 uses · Strong’s G2572Verb · Translated: covers 2, veiled 2, Cover 2, engulfed 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Matthew 8:24 Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was engulfed by the waves. But Jesus was sleeping.
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.