Word study
Flame
6 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: flame, flames, flaming, flamed. 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 “flame” 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)
- לֶהָבָה lehâbâhid.translated this way 16 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H3852Noun · Translated: flame 9, flames 4, like a flaming 2, blaze 1Full study and all 18 verses →
Psalm 29:7 The voice of the LORD strikes with flames of fire.
Isaiah 4:5 Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a canopy,
- אֵשׁ êshfiretranslated this way 7 times of its 313 uses · Strong’s H784Noun · Translated: fire 256, like fire 11, fiery 8, burning 6Full study and all 289 verses →
Genesis 15:17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses.
Judges 16:9 While the men were hidden in her room, she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he snapped the bowstrings like a strand of yarn seared by a flame. So the source of his strength remained unknown.
- לַהַב lahabflame, bladetranslated this way 6 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H3851Noun · Translated: flame 4, flames 2Full study and all 9 verses →
Judges 13:20 When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground.
Job 41:21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth.
- רֶשֶׁף reshephflame, fire-bolttranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H7565Noun · Translated: pestilence 1, flaming arrows 1, bolts of lightning 1, sparks 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Psalm 76:3 There He shattered the flaming arrows, the shield and sword and weapons of war. Selah
Song of Solomon 8:6 Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.
- שְׂבִיב sebîbflametranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H7631Noun · Translated: flames 1, flaming 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Daniel 3:22 The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the fiery flames killed the men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Daniel 7:9 As I continued to watch, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.
- לָהַט lâhaṭblaze up, flametranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H3857Verb · Translated: scorches 2, flames 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Psalm 104:4 He makes the winds His messengers, flames of fire His servants.
Isaiah 42:25 So He poured out on them His furious anger and the fierceness of battle. It enveloped them in flames, but they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.
Greek words (New Testament)
- πῦρ pŷrfire, trialstranslated this way 2 times of its 71 uses · Strong’s G4442Noun · Translated: fire 63, fiery 3, burning 2, flames of fire 1Full study and all 69 verses →
Acts 2:3 They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
1 Corinthians 3:15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames.
- φλόξ phlóxa flametranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G5395Noun · Translated: blazing 4, flames 2, fire 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Acts 7:30 After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.
Hebrews 1:7 Now about the angels He says: “He makes His angels winds, His servants flames of fire.”
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.