Word study

Flash

3 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: flash, flashes, flashing, flashed. 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 “flash” 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)

  • בָּרָק bârâqlightningtranslated this way 4 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H1300Noun  ·  Translated: lightning 10, flash like lightning 3, like lightning 2, shining 2

    Deuteronomy 32:41 when I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me.

    Ezekiel 21:10 it is sharpened for the slaughter, polished to flash like lightning! Should we rejoice in the scepter of My son? The sword despises every such stick.

    Full study and all 21 verses →
  • לָקַח lâqachtaketranslated this way 2 times of its 938 uses · Strong’s H3947Verb  ·  Translated: take 247, took 245, taken 40, get 26

    Exodus 9:24 The hail fell and the lightning continued flashing through it. The hail was so severe that nothing like it had ever been seen in all the land of Egypt from the time it became a nation.

    Full study and all 890 verses →
  • לַהַב lahabflame, bladetranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H3851Noun  ·  Translated: flame 4, flames 2

    Job 39:23 A quiver rattles at his side, along with a flashing spear and lance.

    Nahum 3:3 Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end— they stumble over their dead—

    Full study and all 9 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἀστραπή astrapḗa flash of lightning, brightness, lustertranslated this way 4 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s G796Noun  ·  Translated: lightning 4, flashes of lightning 4, shining 1

    Revelation 4:5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder. Before the throne burned seven torches of fire. These are the seven spirits of God.

    Revelation 8:5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

    Full study and all 9 verses →
  • περιαστράπτω periastráptōI flash around like lightningtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4015Verb  ·  Translated: flashed around 1, flashed 1

    Acts 9:3 As Saul drew near to Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

    Acts 22:6 About noon as I was approaching Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.

    Full study and all 2 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.