Word study
Hang
6 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: hang, hanged, hanging, hangs. 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 “hang” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- תָּלָה tâlâhhangtranslated this way 18 times of its 27 uses · Strong’s H8518Verb · Translated: hung 8, hanged 7, hang 7Full study and all 27 verses →
Genesis 40:19 Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh of your body.”
Deuteronomy 21:22 If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,
- נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 3 times of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb · Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
Exodus 26:32 Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood, overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases.
Exodus 26:33 And hang the veil from the clasps and place the ark of the Testimony behind the veil. So the veil will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.
- יָקַע yâqabe dislocated, alienatedtranslated this way 3 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H3363Verb · Translated: hanged 2, disgust 2, dislocated 1, execute 1Full study and all 8 verses →
2 Samuel 21:6 let seven of his male descendants be delivered to us so that we may hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” “I will give them to you,” said the king.
2 Samuel 21:9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the LORD. So all seven of them fell together; they were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.
- סָרַח sârachgo free, be unrestrained, overrun, exceedtranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H5628Adjective · Translated: hang 2, decayed 1, spreading 1, flowing 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Exodus 26:12 As for the overlap that remains of the tent curtains, the half curtain that is left over shall hang down over the back of the tabernacle.
Exodus 26:13 And the tent curtains will be a cubit longer on either side, and the excess will hang over the sides of the tabernacle to cover it.
- פָּרַע pâraact as leader, lead (?)translated this way 2 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H6544Verb · Translated: hang loose 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Leviticus 13:45 A diseased person must wear torn clothes and let his hair hang loose, and he must cover his mouth and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’
Leviticus 21:10 The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair hang loose or tear his garments.
- רָפָה râphâhsink, relaxtranslated this way 2 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s H7503Verb · Translated: leave 4, abandon 3, go 3, Withdraw 2Full study and all 43 verses →
Jeremiah 6:24 We have heard the report; our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.
Jeremiah 50:43 The king of Babylon has heard the report, and his hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped him, pain like that of a woman in labor.
Greek words (New Testament)
- κρεμάννυμι kremánnymiI hang up, suspendtranslated this way 4 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G2910Verb · Translated: hung 3, hanging 3, hang 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Matthew 22:40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Acts 5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree.
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.