Word study
Guilt
7 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “guilt”. 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 “guilt” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- אָשָׁם âshâmoffence, guilttranslated this way 38 times of its 42 uses · Strong’s H817Noun · Translated: guilt offering 31, guilt offerings 5, guilt 2Full study and all 40 verses →
Genesis 26:10 “What is this you have done to us?” asked Abimelech. “One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
Leviticus 5:6 and he must bring his guilt offering to the LORD for the sin he has committed: a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering. And the priest will make atonement for him concerning his sin.
- עָוֺן âvôniniquity, guilt, or punishment of iniquitytranslated this way 20 times of its 230 uses · Strong’s H5771Noun · Translated: iniquity 128, iniquities 37, guilt 20, punishment 12Full study and all 214 verses →
Exodus 28:43 Aaron and his sons must wear them whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they will not incur guilt and die. This is to be a permanent statute for Aaron and his descendants.’’
Leviticus 10:17 “Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the holy place? For it is most holy; it was given to you to take away the guilt of the congregation by making atonement for them before the LORD.
- אַשְׁמָה ashmâhwrong-doing, guiltinesstranslated this way 18 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H819Noun · Translated: guilt 13Full study and all 17 verses →
Leviticus 4:3 If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without blemish as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.
1 Chronicles 21:3 But Joab replied, “May the LORD multiply His troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all servants of my lord? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”
- אָשַׁם âshamoffend, be guiltytranslated this way 15 times of its 33 uses · Strong’s H816Verb · Translated: guilty 8, incur guilt 3, incurs guilt 2, guilt 2Full study and all 32 verses →
Leviticus 4:13 Now if the whole congregation of Israel strays unintentionally and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly so that they violate any of the LORD’s commandments and incur guilt by doing what is forbidden,
Judges 21:22 When their fathers or brothers come to us to complain, we will tell them, ‘Do us a favor by helping them, since we did not get wives for each of them in the war. Since you did not actually give them your daughters, you have no guilt.’”
- חֵטְא chêṭesintranslated this way 4 times of its 32 uses · Strong’s H2399Noun · Translated: sin 9, sins 7, guilt 4, guilty of sin 4Full study and all 32 verses →
Leviticus 19:17 You must not harbor hatred against your brother in your heart. Directly rebuke your neighbor, so that you will not incur guilt on account of him.
Numbers 18:22 No longer may the Israelites come near to the Tent of Meeting, or they will incur guilt and die.
- חָטָא châṭâmisstranslated this way 2 times of its 233 uses · Strong’s H2398Verb · Translated: sinned 73, sin 33, committed 26, sins 21Full study and all 217 verses →
Genesis 43:9 I will guarantee his safety. You may hold me personally responsible. If I do not bring him back and set him before you, then may I bear the guilt before you all my life.
Genesis 44:32 Indeed, your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will bear the guilt before you, my father, all my life.’
- נָקִי nâqîclean, free from, exempttranslated this way 2 times of its 43 uses · Strong’s H5355Adjective · Translated: innocent 28, released 2, free 2, guilt of shedding innocent 2Full study and all 42 verses →
Deuteronomy 19:13 You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you.
Deuteronomy 21:9 So you shall purge from among you the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD.
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.
What the Bible says about guilt: passages by topic →
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.