Word study
Fever
4 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “fever”. 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 “fever” 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)
- קַדַּחַת qaddachathfevertranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H6920Noun · Translated: fever 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Leviticus 26:16 then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.
Deuteronomy 28:22 The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; these will pursue you until you perish.
- חֹרֶב chôrebdryness, drought, heattranslated this way 1 time of its 16 uses · Strong’s H2721Noun · Translated: heat 3, dry 3, drought 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Job 30:30 My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
- זַלְעָפָה zalâphâhraging heattranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H2152Noun · Translated: scorching 1, Rage 1, fever 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Lamentations 5:10 Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.
- רֶשֶׁף reshephflame, fire-bolttranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s H7565Noun · Translated: pestilence 1, flaming arrows 1, bolts of lightning 1, sparks 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Habakkuk 3:5 Plague went before Him, and fever followed in His steps.
Greek words (New Testament)
- πυρετός pyretósa fevertranslated this way 6 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G4446Noun · Translated: fever 6Full study and all 6 verses →
Matthew 8:15 So He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve Him.
Mark 1:31 So He went to her, took her by the hand, and helped her up. The fever left her, and she began to serve them.
- πυρέσσω pyréssōI am sick with a fevertranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4445Verb · Translated: fever 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 8:14 When Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, He saw Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed with a fever.
Mark 1:30 Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever, and they promptly told Jesus about her.
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 fever: 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.