Word study
Hardship
8 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: hardship, hardships. 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 “hardship” 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)
- תְּלָאָה telââhweariness, hardshiptranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H8513Noun · Translated: hardship 3, hardships 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Exodus 18:8 Then Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships they had encountered along the way, and how the LORD had delivered them.
Numbers 20:14 From Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to tell the king of Edom, “This is what your brother Israel says: You know all the hardship that has befallen us,
- עָמָל âmâltrouble, labour, toiltranslated this way 1 time of its 55 uses · Strong’s H5999Noun · Translated: labor 15, trouble 14, toil 4, misery 4Full study and all 54 verses →
Genesis 41:51 Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, saying, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s household.”
- רַע rabad, eviltranslated this way 1 time of its 651 uses · Strong’s H7451Adjective · Translated: evil 263, disaster 72, harm 38, wicked 31Full study and all 615 verses →
Numbers 11:1 Soon the people began to complain about their hardship in the hearing of the LORD, and when He heard them, His anger was kindled, and fire from the LORD blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.
- קָשָׁה qâshâhbe hard, severe, fiercetranslated this way 1 time of its 28 uses · Strong’s H7185Verb · Translated: stiffened 6, difficult 2, harden 2, stiffen 2Full study and all 28 verses →
Deuteronomy 15:18 Do not regard it as a hardship to set your servant free, because his six years of service were worth twice the wages of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.
- קָשֶׁה qâshehhard, severetranslated this way 1 time of its 35 uses · Strong’s H7186Adjective · Translated: stiff-necked 6, harshly 5, hard 3, stubborn 2Full study and all 35 verses →
Psalm 60:3 You have shown Your people hardship; we are staggered from the wine You made us drink.
- צָרָה tsârâhid.translated this way 1 time of its 73 uses · Strong’s H6869Noun · Translated: distress 30, trouble 20, troubles 6, anguish 5Full study and all 72 verses →
Isaiah 30:6 This is the burden against the beasts of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people of no profit to them.
- צָבָא tsâbâarmy, war, warfaretranslated this way 1 time of its 468 uses · Strong’s H6635Noun · Translated: Hosts 286, army 66, host 23, divisions 21Full study and all 448 verses →
Job 10:17 You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me in wave after wave.
- עָנָה ânâhbe occupied, busied withtranslated this way 1 time of its 80 uses · Strong’s H6031Verb · Translated: afflicted 15, humble 12, oppress 5, afflict 4Full study and all 78 verses →
Psalm 132:1 A song of ascents. O LORD, remember on behalf of David all the hardships he endured,
Greek words (New Testament)
- θλῖψις thlîpsispersecution, affliction, distresstranslated this way 2 times of its 45 uses · Strong’s G2347Noun · Translated: tribulation 9, affliction 6, trouble 5, troubles 5Full study and all 43 verses →
Acts 14:22 strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith. “We must endure many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.
2 Corinthians 1:8 We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.
- ἀνάγκη anánkēnecessity, constraint, compulsiontranslated this way 2 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s G318Noun · Translated: necessary 4, must 2, need 2, distress 2Full study and all 17 verses →
2 Corinthians 6:4 Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships, and calamities;
2 Corinthians 12:10 That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
- κακοπαθέω kakopathéōI suffer evil, endure afflictiontranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s G2553Verb · Translated: suffer 1, endure hardship 1, suffering 1Full study and all 3 verses →
2 Timothy 4:5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
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.