Word study

Falsehood

5 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “falsehood”. 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 “falsehood” 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)

  • שֶׁקֶר sheqerdeception, disappointment, falsehoodtranslated this way 7 times of its 104 uses · Strong’s H8267Noun  ·  Translated: lies 18, lying 16, false 12, falsely 10

    Job 36:4 For truly my words are free of falsehood; one perfect in knowledge is with you.

    Psalm 7:14 Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.

    Full study and all 100 verses →
  • שָׁוְא shâveemptiness, vanitytranslated this way 5 times of its 52 uses · Strong’s H7723Noun  ·  Translated: vain 12, false 8, falsehood 4, worthless 4

    Job 31:5 If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit,

    Psalm 41:6 My visitor speaks falsehood; he gathers slander in his heart; he goes out and spreads it abroad.

    Full study and all 47 verses →
  • מַעַל maalunfaithful, treacherous acttranslated this way 1 time of its 22 uses · Strong’s H4604Noun  ·  Translated: unfaithfulness 10, unfaithfully 5, committed 3, breach of faith 2

    Job 21:34 So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”

    Full study and all 22 verses →
  • כָּזָב kâzâblie, falsehood, deceptive thingtranslated this way 1 time of its 27 uses · Strong’s H3577Noun  ·  Translated: lies 14, lying 4, speak lying 2

    Psalm 40:4 Blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, who has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.

    Full study and all 27 verses →
  • דָּבָר dâbârspeech, wordtranslated this way 1 time of its 1,244 uses · Strong’s H1697Noun  ·  Translated: word 342, words 299, acts 51, Chronicles 42Full study and all 1,120 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ψεῦδος pseûdosa lietranslated this way 2 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s G5579Noun  ·  Translated: lie 5, falsehood 2, false 1, genuine 1

    Ephesians 4:25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.

    Revelation 22:15 But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

    Full study and all 9 verses →
  • ἀδικία adikíaunrighteousnesstranslated this way 1 time of its 24 uses · Strong’s G93Noun  ·  Translated: wickedness 9, unrighteousness 3, unjust 2, iniquity 2

    John 7:18 He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is a man of truth; in Him there is no falsehood.

    Full study and all 23 verses →
  • ψεῦσμα pseûsmaa falsehood, lietranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G5582Noun  ·  Translated: falsehood 1

    Romans 3:7 However, if my falsehood accentuates God’s truthfulness, to the increase of His glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?

    Full study and its 1 verse →
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.

What the Bible says about falsehood: 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.