Word study
Escape
9 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: escape, escaped, escapes, escaping. 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 “escape” 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)
- מָלַט mâlaṭslip awaytranslated this way 48 times of its 93 uses · Strong’s H4422Verb · Translated: escaped 22, escape 20, deliver 6, delivered 5Full study and all 85 verses →
Judges 3:26 Ehud, however, had escaped while the servants waited. He passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah.
1 Samuel 19:10 Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear. But David eluded him and the spear struck the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.
- פְּלֵיטָה pelêṭâhescapetranslated this way 9 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s H6413Noun · Translated: escape 6, survivors 6, remnant 6, deliverance 4Full study and all 28 verses →
Genesis 32:8 He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.”
2 Samuel 15:14 And David said to all the servants with him in Jerusalem, “Arise and let us flee, or we will not escape from Absalom! We must leave quickly, or he will soon overtake us, heap disaster on us, and put the city to the sword.”
- פָּלִיט pâlîṭescaped one, fugitivetranslated this way 8 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s H6412Noun · Translated: fugitive 5, escape 5, fugitives 4, survivors 3Full study and all 23 verses →
2 Kings 9:15 but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he had suffered at the hands of the Arameans in the battle against Hazael their king.) So Jehu said, “If you commanders wish to make me king, then do not let anyone escape from the city to go and tell it in Jezreel.”
Jeremiah 42:17 So all who resolve to go to Egypt to reside there will die by sword and famine and plague. Not one of them will survive or escape the disaster I will bring upon them.’
- יָצָא yâtsâgo or come outtranslated this way 7 times of its 1,035 uses · Strong’s H3318Verb · Translated: brought 108, went 103, go 82, came 78Full study and all 975 verses →
- נוּס nûsflee, escapetranslated this way 5 times of its 157 uses · Strong’s H5127Verb · Translated: fled 65, flee 47, ran 5, run 5Full study and all 141 verses →
Genesis 39:12 She grabbed Joseph by his cloak and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his cloak in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.
Joshua 8:20 When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now turned against their pursuers.
- פָּנִים pânîmface, beforetranslated this way 3 times of its 1,836 uses · Strong’s H6440Noun · Translated: before 448, face 222, presence 147, before you 123Full study and all 1,671 verses →
Genesis 7:7 And Noah and his wife, with his sons and their wives, entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
- מָנוֹס mânôsflight.translated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H4498Noun · Translated: refuge 4, escape 2, Flight 1, flee 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Job 11:20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; they will hope for their last breath.”
Amos 2:14 Escape will fail the swift, the strong will not prevail by his strength, and the mighty will not save his life.
- פָּלַט pâlaṭescapetranslated this way 2 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s H6403Verb · Translated: deliverer 5, deliver 5, delivered 4, delivers 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Psalm 56:7 In spite of such sin, will they escape? In Your anger, O God, cast down the nations.
Ezekiel 7:16 The survivors will escape and live in the mountains, moaning like doves of the valley, each for his own iniquity.
- הָיָה hâyâhfall out, come to pass, become, betranslated this way 2 times of its 2,848 uses · Strong’s H1961Verb · Translated: will be 206, become 178, came 169, was 151Full study and all 2,573 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐκφεύγω ekpheúgōI flee out, away, I escapetranslated this way 7 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G1628Verb · Translated: escape 5, escaped 2, ran 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Luke 21:36 So keep watch at all times, and pray that you may have the strength to escape all that is about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Acts 16:27 When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, presuming that the prisoners had escaped.
- φεύγω pheúgōI flee, escape, shuntranslated this way 4 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s G5343Verb · Translated: flee 13, fled 6, ran 3, escape 3Full study and all 29 verses →
Matthew 23:33 You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell?
Acts 27:30 Meanwhile, the sailors attempted to escape from the ship. Pretending to lower anchors from the bow, they let the lifeboat down into the sea.
- λανθάνω lanthánōI am hidden, escape noticetranslated this way 4 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G2990Verb · Translated: escape their notice 1, escape notice 1, escaped 1, without knowing 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Mark 7:24 Jesus left that place and went to the region of Tyre. Not wanting anyone to know He was there, He entered a house, but was unable to escape their notice.
Luke 8:47 Then the woman, seeing that she could not escape notice, came trembling and fell down before Him. In the presence of all the people, she explained why she had touched Him and how she had immediately been healed.
- ἀποφεύγω apopheúgōI flee from, escapetranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G668Verb · Translated: escaped 2, escaping 1Full study and all 3 verses →
2 Peter 1:4 Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
2 Peter 2:18 With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.
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.
What the Bible says about escape: passages by topic →
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.