Word study
Hostile
3 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “hostile”. 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 “hostile” 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)
- צַר tsarnarrow, tighttranslated this way 1 time of its 110 uses · Strong’s H6862Noun · Translated: enemies 22, foes 22, distress 18, enemy 10Full study and all 106 verses →
Numbers 24:8 God brought him out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox, to devour hostile nations and crush their bones, to pierce them with arrows.
- צוּר tsûrconfine, bind, besiegetranslated this way 1 time of its 38 uses · Strong’s H6696Verb · Translated: besieged 10, besiege 7, besieging 4, lay siege 3Full study and all 38 verses →
Esther 8:11 By these letters the king permitted the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province hostile to them, including women and children, and to plunder their possessions.
- חָמָס châmâsviolence, wrongtranslated this way 1 time of its 60 uses · Strong’s H2555Noun · Translated: violence 49, violent 4Full study and all 59 verses →
Psalm 35:11 Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐχθρός echthróshated, hostile, an enemytranslated this way 2 times of its 32 uses · Strong’s G2190Adjective · Translated: enemies 19, enemy 11, hostile 2Full study and all 32 verses →
Luke 1:74 deliverance from hostile hands, that we may serve Him without fear,
Colossians 1:21 Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds.
- ἔχθρα échthraenmity, hostilitytranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s G2189Noun · Translated: hostility 3, enemies 1, hostile 1, hatred 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Romans 8:7 because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
- ἐναντίος enantíosopposite, opposed, contrary, the adversarytranslated this way 1 time of its 8 uses · Strong’s G1727Adjective · Translated: against 2Full study and all 8 verses →
1 Thessalonians 2:15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and drove us out as well. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men,
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.