Word study
Harm
6 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: harm, harmed, harms, harming. 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 “harm” 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)
- רַע rabad, eviltranslated this way 39 times of its 651 uses · Strong’s H7451Adjective · Translated: evil 263, disaster 72, harm 38, wicked 31Full study and all 615 verses →
Genesis 26:29 that you will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have done only good to you, sending you on your way in peace. And now you are blessed by the LORD.”
Exodus 32:12 Why should the Egyptians declare, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce anger and relent from doing harm to Your people.
- רָעַע râabe evil, badtranslated this way 10 times of its 97 uses · Strong’s H7489Verb · Translated: wicked 9, harm 8, evil 8, evildoers 8Full study and all 97 verses →
Genesis 31:7 And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me.
1 Samuel 25:34 Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.”
- נָגַע nâgatouch, reach, striketranslated this way 2 times of its 144 uses · Strong’s H5060Verb · Translated: touches 35, touched 20, touch 19, Whoever touches 6Full study and all 136 verses →
Genesis 26:11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever harms this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
Genesis 26:29 that you will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have done only good to you, sending you on your way in peace. And now you are blessed by the LORD.”
- אָסוֹן âsônmischief, evil, harmtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H611Noun · Translated: harm 2, injury 1, serious injury 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Genesis 42:4 But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “I am afraid that harm might befall him.”
Genesis 44:29 Now if you also take this one from me and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’
- שָׂנֵא sânêhatetranslated this way 2 times of its 143 uses · Strong’s H8130Verb · Translated: hate 65, hated 23, hates 17, enemies 6Full study and all 139 verses →
Deuteronomy 19:4 Now this is the situation regarding the manslayer who flees to one of these cities to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally, without intending to harm him:
Deuteronomy 19:6 Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in a rage, overtake him if the distance is great, and strike him dead though he did not deserve to die, since he did not intend any harm.
- עָשָׂה âsâhdo, maketranslated this way 2 times of its 2,478 uses · Strong’s H6213Verb · Translated: done 292, made 265, make 143, did 112Full study and all 2,206 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀδικέω adikéōI act unjustly towardstranslated this way 11 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s G91Verb · Translated: harm 7, wrong 4, wronged 3, harmed 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Luke 10:19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you.
2 Corinthians 7:12 So even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did wrong or the one who was harmed, but rather that your earnestness on our behalf would be made clear to you in the sight of God.
- κακός kakósbad, eviltranslated this way 3 times of its 50 uses · Strong’s G2556Adjective · Translated: evil 29, wrong 6, harm 3, bad 3Full study and all 45 verses →
Acts 9:13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, many people have told me about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.
2 Timothy 4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.
- βλάπτω bláptōI hurt, injuretranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G984Verb · Translated: harm 1, harming 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Mark 16:18 they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.”
Luke 4:35 But Jesus rebuked the demon. “Be silent!” He said. “Come out of him!” At this, the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without harming him.
- κακόω kakóōI treat badlytranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G2559Verb · Translated: harm 2, mistreated 1, oppressed 1, poisoned 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Acts 12:1 About that time, King Herod reached out to harm some who belonged to the church.
1 Peter 3:13 Who can harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
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.