Word study

Fade

3 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: fading, faded, fade, fades. 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 “fade” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • כֵּהֶה kêhehdim, dull, fainttranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H3544Adjective  ·  Translated: faded 3, dull 1, grown so dim 1, smoldering 1

    Leviticus 13:21 But when the priest examines it, if there is no white hair in it, and it is not beneath the skin and has faded, the priest shall isolate him for seven days.

    Leviticus 13:26 But if the priest examines it and there is no white hair in the spot, and it is not beneath the skin but has faded, the priest shall isolate him for seven days.

    Full study and all 7 verses →
  • נָבֵל nâbêlbe senseless, foolishtranslated this way 3 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s H5034Verb  ·  Translated: wither 4, fall 3, lose heart 2, fading 2

    Isaiah 24:4 The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and fades; the exalted of the earth waste away.

    Isaiah 28:1 Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower of his glorious splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, the pride of those overcome by wine.

    Full study and all 21 verses →
  • כָּהָה kâhâhbe or grow dim, fainttranslated this way 2 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H3543Verb  ·  Translated: weak 2, faded 2

    Leviticus 13:6 The priest will examine him again on the seventh day, and if the sore has faded and has not spread on the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is a rash. The person must wash his clothes and be clean.

    Leviticus 13:56 If the priest examines it and the mildew has faded after it has been washed, he must cut the contaminated section out of the fabric, leather, weave, or knit.

    Full study and all 9 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • καταργέω katargéōI bring to naught, sever, abolishtranslated this way 2 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s G2673Verb  ·  Translated: nullify 4, released 2, destroy 2, destroyed 2

    2 Corinthians 3:11 For if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which endures!

    2 Corinthians 3:13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away.

    Full study and all 26 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.