Word study
Flee
9 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: fled, flee, flees, fleeing. 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 “flee” 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)
- נוּס nûsflee, escapetranslated this way 125 times of its 157 uses · Strong’s H5127Verb · Translated: fled 65, flee 47, ran 5, run 5Full study and all 141 verses →
Genesis 14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some men fell into the pits, but the survivors fled to the hill country.
Exodus 14:25 He caused their chariot wheels to wobble, so that they had difficulty driving. “Let us flee from the Israelites,” said the Egyptians, “for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt!”
- בָּרַח bârachgo through, fleetranslated this way 46 times of its 64 uses · Strong’s H1272Verb · Translated: fled 30, flee 9, ran away 3, running away 2Full study and all 63 verses →
Genesis 16:6 “Here,” said Abram, “your servant is in your hands. Do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she fled from her.
Exodus 2:15 When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, where he sat down beside a well.
- נָדַד nâdadretreat, flee, depart, stray, wander, fluttertranslated this way 11 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s H5074Verb · Translated: fled 4, flee 4, wanders 2, flees 2Full study and all 25 verses →
Genesis 31:40 As it was, the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.
Psalm 31:11 Among all my enemies I am a disgrace, and among my neighbors even more. I am dreaded by my friends — they flee when they see me on the street.
- בּוֹא bôcome in, come, go in, gotranslated this way 5 times of its 2,442 uses · Strong’s H935Verb · Translated: come 358, came 298, bring 209, brought 201Full study and all 2,217 verses →
- נוּד nûdmove to and fro, wander, flutter, shew grieftranslated this way 3 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s H5110Verb · Translated: Flee 3, wanderer 2, grieve 2, mourn 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Psalm 11:1 For the choirmaster. Of David. In the LORD I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain!
Jeremiah 50:3 For a nation from the north will come against her; it will make her land a desolation. No one will live in it; both man and beast will flee.”
- הָלַךְ hâlakgo, come, walktranslated this way 3 times of its 1,461 uses · Strong’s H1980Verb · Translated: go 338, went 173, walk 116, Come 84Full study and all 1,299 verses →
- מָלַט mâlaṭslip awaytranslated this way 2 times of its 93 uses · Strong’s H4422Verb · Translated: escaped 22, escape 20, deliver 6, delivered 5Full study and all 85 verses →
Genesis 19:17 As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
Genesis 19:20 Look, there is a town nearby where I can flee, and it is a small place. Please let me flee there — is it not a small place? Then my life will be saved.”
- מְנוּסָה menûsâhflighttranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H4499Noun · Translated: flees 1, flee in haste 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Leviticus 26:36 As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
Isaiah 52:12 For you will not leave in a hurry nor flee in haste, for the LORD goes before you, and the God of Israel is your rear guard.
- בָּרִיחַ bârîachfleeingtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H1281Adjective · Translated: fleeing 2, fugitives 2Full study and all 4 verses →
Job 26:13 By His breath the skies were cleared; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
Isaiah 27:1 In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent— Leviathan the coiling serpent— and He will slay the dragon of the sea.
Greek words (New Testament)
- φεύγω pheúgōI flee, escape, shuntranslated this way 19 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s G5343Verb · Translated: flee 13, fled 6, ran 3, escape 3Full study and all 29 verses →
Matthew 2:13 When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”
Mark 13:14 So when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
- καταφεύγω katapheúgōI flee for refugetranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G2703Verb · Translated: fled 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 14:6 they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding region,
Hebrews 6:18 Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.
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.