Word study
Fleet
6 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: fleeting, fleet. 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 “fleet” 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)
- הֶבֶל hebelvapour, breathtranslated this way 5 times of its 73 uses · Strong’s H1892Noun · Translated: futile 25, worthless idols 9, futility 8, fleeting 5Full study and all 64 verses →
Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Ecclesiastes 6:12 For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?
- אֳנִי ŏnîships, fleettranslated this way 4 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H590Noun · Translated: fleet 3, ships 2, fleet of ships 1, galley 1Full study and all 5 verses →
1 Kings 9:26 King Solomon also assembled a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea.
1 Kings 9:27 And Hiram sent his servants, sailors who knew the sea, to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s servants.
- קַל qallight, swift, fleettranslated this way 2 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H7031Adjective · Translated: swift 6, fleet 2, swiftly 2, foam 1Full study and all 13 verses →
2 Samuel 2:18 The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was fleet of foot like a wild gazelle,
Amos 2:15 The archer will not stand his ground, the fleet of foot will not escape, and the horseman will not save his life.
- צֵל tsêlshadowtranslated this way 1 time of its 48 uses · Strong’s H6738Noun · Translated: shade 18, shadow 17, like a shadow 3, protection 2Full study and all 47 verses →
Job 14:2 Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
- רֶגַע regaa momenttranslated this way 1 time of its 21 uses · Strong’s H7281Noun · Translated: moment 9, instant 4Full study and all 21 verses →
Psalm 30:5 For His anger is fleeting, but His favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay the night, but joy comes in the morning.
- חָדֵל châdêlforbearing, lackingtranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H2310Adjective · Translated: fleeting 1, rejected 1, refuse 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Psalm 39:4 “Show me, O LORD, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is.
Greek words (New Testament)
- καταργέω katargéōI bring to naught, sever, abolishtranslated this way 1 time of its 29 uses · Strong’s G2673Verb · Translated: nullify 4, released 2, destroy 2, destroyed 2Full study and all 26 verses →
2 Corinthians 3:7 Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its fleeting glory,
- πρόσκαιρος próskairostemporarytranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s G4340Adjective · Translated: season 2, temporary 1, fleeting 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Hebrews 11:25 He chose to suffer oppression with God’s people rather than to experience the fleeting enjoyment of sin.
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.