Word study
Frustrate
6 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: frustrate, frustrates, frustrated. 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 “frustrate” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- פָּרַר pârarbreak, frustratetranslated this way 2 times of its 47 uses · Strong’s H6565Verb · Translated: break 11, broken 7, nullifies 3, thwart 3Full study and all 46 verses →
Ezra 4:5 They hired counselors against them to frustrate their plans throughout the reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.
Nehemiah 4:15 When our enemies heard that we were aware of their scheme and that God had frustrated it, each of us returned to his own work on the wall.
- בָּלַע bâlaswallow down, swallow up, engulftranslated this way 1 time of its 49 uses · Strong’s H1104Verb · Translated: swallowed 19, swallow 12, swallows 3Full study and all 48 verses →
Isaiah 19:3 Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them, and I will frustrate their plans, so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead, to mediums and spiritists.
- לָאָה lââhbe weary, impatienttranslated this way 1 time of its 19 uses · Strong’s H3811Verb · Translated: wearied 4, weary 4, wearies 2, try the patience 2Full study and all 18 verses →
Ezekiel 24:12 It has frustrated every effort; its thick rust has not been removed, even by the fire.
- פּוּר pûrcrushtranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H6331Verb · Translated: frustrates 1, withdraw 1, broke 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Psalm 33:10 The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples.
- עָוַת âvathbe bent, crookedtranslated this way 1 time of its 11 uses · Strong’s H5791Verb · Translated: pervert 3Full study and all 10 verses →
Psalm 146:9 The LORD protects foreigners; He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked He frustrates.
- סָלַף sâlaphtwist, pervert, overturntranslated this way 1 time of its 7 uses · Strong’s H5557Verb · Translated: twists 2, overthrows 1, undermines 1, subverts 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Proverbs 22:12 The LORD’s eyes keep watch over knowledge, but He frustrates the words of the faithless.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀθετέω athetéōI annultranslated this way 1 time of its 16 uses · Strong’s G114Verb · Translated: rejects 6, rejected 2, reject 2Full study and all 12 verses →
1 Corinthians 1:19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
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.