Word study
Instant
6 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “instant”. 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 “instant” 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)
- רֶגַע regaa momenttranslated this way 4 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H7281Noun · Translated: moment 9, instant 4Full study and all 21 verses →
Numbers 16:21 “Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.”
Job 34:20 They die in an instant, in the middle of the night. The people convulse and pass away; the mighty are removed without human hand.
- פֶּתַע pethasuddennesstranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H6621Adverb · Translated: suddenly 3, instant 3, someone suddenly 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Proverbs 6:15 Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in an instant he will be shattered beyond recovery.
Isaiah 29:5 But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,
- מְעַט meaṭa little, fewness, a fewtranslated this way 2 times of its 92 uses · Strong’s H4592Adjective · Translated: little 35, few 18, enough 10, soon 3Full study and all 85 verses →
Job 32:22 For I do not know how to flatter, or my Maker would remove me in an instant.’’
Psalm 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in your rebellion, when His wrath ignites in an instant. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.
- רָגַע râgadisturbtranslated this way 2 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H7280Verb · Translated: stirs 2, instant 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Jeremiah 49:19 Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Edom from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”
Jeremiah 50:44 Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Babylon from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”
- פַּעַם paambeat, foot, anvil, occurrencetranslated this way 1 time of its 105 uses · Strong’s H6471Noun · Translated: times 42, time 15, feet 9, twice 6Full study and all 102 verses →
Isaiah 66:8 Who has heard of such as this? Who has seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.
- פִּתְאוֹם pithômsuddennesstranslated this way 1 time of its 24 uses · Strong’s H6597Adverb · Translated: suddenly 16, sudden 3Full study and all 24 verses →
Jeremiah 4:20 Disaster after disaster is proclaimed, for the whole land is laid waste. My tents are destroyed in an instant, my curtains in a moment.
Greek words (New Testament)
- στιγμή stigmḗa point of time, an instanttranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G4743Noun · Translated: instant 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Luke 4:5 Then the devil led Him up to a high place and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
- παραχρῆμα parachrēmainstantly, immediatelytranslated this way 1 time of its 17 uses · Strong’s G3916Adverb · Translated: immediately 9, once 4, quickly 1, imminently 1Full study and all 17 verses →
Acts 5:10 At that instant she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
- εὐθέως euthéōsimmediately, soontranslated this way 1 time of its 73 uses · Strong’s G2112Adverb · Translated: immediately 27, once 21, soon 9, quickly 4Full study and all 72 verses →
Acts 9:18 At that instant, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. He got up and was baptized,
- ἄτομος átomosan indivisible part of time, a momenttranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G823Adjective · Translated: instant 1Full study and its 1 verse →
1 Corinthians 15:52 in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
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.