Word study
Harshly
6 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “harshly”. 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 “harshly” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- קָשֶׁה qâshehhard, severetranslated this way 5 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s H7186Adjective · Translated: stiff-necked 6, harshly 5, hard 3, stubborn 2Full study and all 35 verses →
Genesis 42:7 And when Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them as strangers and spoke harshly to them. “Where have you come from?” he asked. “From the land of Canaan,” they replied. “We are here to buy food.”
1 Samuel 20:10 Then David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
- פֶּרֶךְ perekharshness, severitytranslated this way 3 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H6531Noun · Translated: harshly 3, ruthlessly 1, harsh 1, cruelty 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Leviticus 25:43 You are not to rule over them harshly, but you shall fear your God.
Leviticus 25:46 You may leave them to your sons after you to inherit as property; you can make them slaves for life. But as for your brothers, the Israelites, no man may rule harshly over his brother.
- בָּרַח bârachgo through, fleetranslated this way 1 time of its 64 uses · Strong’s H1272Verb · Translated: fled 30, flee 9, ran away 3, running away 2Full study and all 63 verses →
Genesis 16:6 “Here,” said Abram, “your servant is in your hands. Do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she fled from her.
- חׇזְקָה chozqâhstrength, force, violencetranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s H2394Noun · Translated: harshly 1, force 1, violence 1, earnestly 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Judges 4:3 Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.
- קָשַׁח qâshachmake hardtranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H7188Verb · Translated: harshly 1, harden 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Job 39:16 She treats her young harshly, as if not her own, with no concern that her labor was in vain.
- עַז azstrong, mighty, fiercetranslated this way 1 time of its 22 uses · Strong’s H5794Adjective · Translated: strong 8, powerful 2Full study and all 22 verses →
Proverbs 18:23 The poor man pleads for mercy, but the rich man answers harshly.
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.