Word study

Foe

5 Hebrew words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: foes, foe. 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 “foe” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • צַר tsarnarrow, tighttranslated this way 25 times of its 110 uses · Strong’s H6862Noun  ·  Translated: enemies 22, foes 22, distress 18, enemy 10

    Deuteronomy 33:7 And concerning Judah he said: “O LORD, hear the cry of Judah and bring him to his people. With his own hands he defends his cause, but may You be a help against his foes.”

    Psalm 3:1 A Psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom. O LORD, how my foes have increased! How many rise up against me!

    Full study and all 106 verses →
  • אֹיֵב ôyêbbe hostile totranslated this way 11 times of its 279 uses · Strong’s H341Verb  ·  Translated: enemies 187, enemy 69, foes 8, enemy's 3

    Psalm 27:2 When the wicked came upon me to devour my flesh, my enemies and foes stumbled and fell.

    Isaiah 59:18 So He will repay according to their deeds: fury to His enemies, retribution to His foes, and recompense to the islands.

    Full study and all 273 verses →
  • שָׂנֵא sânêhatetranslated this way 6 times of its 143 uses · Strong’s H8130Verb  ·  Translated: hate 65, hated 23, hates 17, enemies 6

    Deuteronomy 33:11 Bless his substance, O LORD, and accept the work of his hands. Smash the loins of those who rise against him, and of his foes so they can rise no more.”

    2 Samuel 22:18 He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from foes too mighty for me.

    Full study and all 139 verses →
  • צָרַר tsârarbind, tie up, be restricted, narrow, scant, crampedtranslated this way 5 times of its 53 uses · Strong’s H6887Verb  ·  Translated: distress 5, foes 4, enemy 4, enemies 4

    Exodus 23:22 But if you will listen carefully to his voice and do everything I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.

    Psalm 6:7 My eyes fail from grief; they grow dim because of all my foes.

    Full study and all 52 verses →
  • קוּם qûmarise, stand up, standtranslated this way 5 times of its 594 uses · Strong’s H6965Verb  ·  Translated: rise 68, got 61, set 44, Get 42

    2 Samuel 22:40 You have armed me with strength for battle; You have subdued my foes beneath me.

    2 Samuel 22:49 who frees me from my enemies. You exalt me above my foes; You rescue me from violent men.

    Full study and all 570 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.