Word study
Groan
8 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: groaning, groan, groans, groaned. 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 “groan” 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)
- אָנַח ânachsigh, groantranslated this way 12 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H584Verb · Translated: groan 8, groaning 2, groaned 1, groans 1Full study and all 12 verses →
Exodus 2:23 After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
Proverbs 29:2 When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.
- אֲנָחָה ănâchâhsighing, groaningtranslated this way 8 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H585Noun · Translated: groaning 7, sighing 2, sigh 1, groans 1Full study and all 11 verses →
Job 23:2 “Even today my complaint is bitter. His hand is heavy despite my groaning.
Psalm 6:6 I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
- אֲנָקָה ănâqâhcrying, groaningtranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H603Noun · Translated: groaning 3, groans 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Psalm 12:5 “For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”
Malachi 2:13 And this is another thing you do: You cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer regards your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands.
- אָנַק ânaqcry, groantranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H602Verb · Translated: groan 3, groaning 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Jeremiah 51:52 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan.
Ezekiel 9:4 “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem,” said the LORD, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men sighing and groaning over all the abominations committed there.”
- נְאָקָה neâqâhgroan, groaningtranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H5009Noun · Translated: groaning 3, like 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Exodus 2:24 So God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Judges 2:18 Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, He was with that judge and saved them from the hands of their enemies while the judge was still alive; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning under those who oppressed them and afflicted them.
- שְׁאָגָה sheâgâhroaringtranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H7581Noun · Translated: groaning 2, roaring 2, groans 1, roar 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Job 3:24 I sigh when food is put before me, and my groans pour out like water.
Psalm 22:1 For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Doe of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning?
- נָאַק nâaqgroantranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H5008Verb · Translated: groan 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Job 24:12 From the city, men groan, and the souls of the wounded cry out, yet God charges no one with wrongdoing.
Ezekiel 30:24 I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king and place My sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, who will groan before him like a mortally wounded man.
- נָהַם nâhamgrowl, groantranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H5098Verb · Translated: groan 2, Like a roaring 1, growl 1, roar 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Proverbs 5:11 At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,
Ezekiel 24:23 Your turbans will remain on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep, but you will waste away because of your sins, and you will groan among yourselves.
Greek words (New Testament)
- στενάζω stenázōI groantranslated this way 3 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G4727Verb · Translated: groan 3, sighed deeply 1, grief 1, complain 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Romans 8:23 Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
2 Corinthians 5:2 For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling,
- στεναγμός stenagmósa groaningtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4726Noun · Translated: groaning 1, groans 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 7:34 I have indeed seen the oppression of My people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’
Romans 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.
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.