Word study

Frighten

4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

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

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • חָרַד châradtremble, be terrifiedtranslated this way 5 times of its 39 uses · Strong’s H2729Verb  ·  Translated: trembled 5, tremble 5, frighten 4, fear 3

    Ezekiel 30:9 On that day messengers will go out from Me in ships to frighten Cush out of complacency. Anguish will come upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom. For it is indeed coming.

    Micah 4:4 And each man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, with no one to frighten him. For the mouth of the LORD of Hosts has spoken.

    Full study and all 39 verses →
  • יָרֵא yârêfeartranslated this way 3 times of its 312 uses · Strong’s H3372Verb  ·  Translated: afraid 109, fear 98, feared 23, awesome 21

    Genesis 43:18 But the brothers were frightened that they had been taken to Joseph’s house. “We have been brought here because of the silver that was returned in our bags the first time,” they said. “They intend to overpower us and take us as slaves, along with our donkeys.”

    2 Chronicles 32:18 Then the Assyrians called out loudly in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them in order to capture the city.

    Full study and all 303 verses →
  • בָּעַת bâathfall upon, startle, terrifytranslated this way 3 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H1204Verb  ·  Translated: terrify 4, overwhelmed 2, frighten 2

    Job 9:34 Let Him remove His rod from me, so that His terror will no longer frighten me.

    Job 13:21 Withdraw Your hand from me, and do not let Your terror frighten me.

    Full study and all 16 verses →
  • חָתַת châthathbe shattered, dismayedtranslated this way 2 times of its 52 uses · Strong’s H2865Verb  ·  Translated: dismayed 11, discouraged 10, shattered 10, terrified 7

    Job 7:14 then You frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,

    Job 39:22 He laughs at fear, frightened of nothing; he does not turn back from the sword.

    Full study and all 46 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἔμφοβος émphobosfull of fear, terrifiedtranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G1719Adjective  ·  Translated: frightened 2, terror 1, fear 1, terrified 1

    Luke 24:37 But they were startled and frightened, thinking they had seen a spirit.

    Acts 24:25 As Paul expounded on righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and said, “You may go for now. When I find the time, I will call for you.”

    Full study and all 5 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.