Word study

Hasten

4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: hasten, hastens, hastening. 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 “hasten” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • בָּהַל bâhalalarm, dismaytranslated this way 2 times of its 37 uses · Strong’s H926Verb  ·  Translated: terrified 8, dismayed 7, terror 3, rushed 2

    Proverbs 28:22 A stingy man hastens after wealth and does not know that poverty awaits him.

    Ecclesiastes 8:3 Do not hasten to leave his presence, and do not persist in a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.

    Full study and all 37 verses →
  • מַעֲשֶׂה maăsehdeed, worktranslated this way 1 time of its 223 uses · Strong’s H4639Noun  ·  Translated: work 71, works 38, deeds 8, made 7

    Isaiah 5:19 to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work so that we may see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come so that we may know it!”

    Full study and all 211 verses →
  • מָהַר mâharhastentranslated this way 1 time of its 66 uses · Strong’s H4116Verb  ·  Translated: quickly 20, hurried 9, Hurry 6, swift 4

    Isaiah 49:17 Your builders hasten back; your destroyers and wreckers depart from you.

    Full study and all 61 verses →
  • מָהִיר mâhîrquick, prompt, ready, skilledtranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s H4106Adjective  ·  Translated: skilled 2, skillful 1, hastening 1

    Isaiah 16:5 in loving devotion a throne will be established in the tent of David. A judge seeking justice and hastening righteousness will sit on it in faithfulness.

    Full study and all 4 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • σπεύδω speúdōI hasten, desire earnestlytranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s G4692Verb  ·  Translated: hurry 3, hurried 2, hasten 1

    2 Peter 3:12 as you anticipate and hasten the coming of the day of God, when the heavens will be destroyed by fire and the elements will melt in the heat.

    Full study and all 6 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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.