Word study
Kill
10 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: killed, kill, kills, killing. 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 “kill” 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)
- הָרַג hâragkill, slaytranslated this way 105 times of its 159 uses · Strong’s H2026Verb · Translated: killed 50, kill 49, slain 12, slaughtered 6Full study and all 156 verses →
Genesis 4:8 Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
Exodus 2:14 But the man replied, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “This thing I have done has surely become known.”
- מוּת mûthdietranslated this way 95 times of its 771 uses · Strong’s H4191Verb · Translated: die 198, died 152, dead 89, put to death 47Full study and all 694 verses →
Genesis 18:25 Far be it from You to do such a thing — to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”
Exodus 1:16 “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them on the birthstools. If the child is a son, kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live.”
- נָכָה nâkâhsmitetranslated this way 59 times of its 496 uses · Strong’s H5221Verb · Translated: struck 145, strike 59, put 31, defeated 28Full study and all 460 verses →
Genesis 4:15 “Not so!” replied the LORD. “If anyone slays Cain, then Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him.
Leviticus 24:18 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution — life for life.
- חָלָל châlâlpiercedtranslated this way 9 times of its 93 uses · Strong’s H2491Noun · Translated: slain 53, dead 6, killed 6, wounded 5Full study and all 84 verses →
Numbers 19:16 Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
Judges 20:31 The Benjamites came out against them and were drawn away from the city. They began to attack the people as before, killing about thirty men of Israel in the fields and on the roads, one of which led up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah.
- שָׁחַט shâchaṭslaughter, beattranslated this way 3 times of its 80 uses · Strong’s H7819Verb · Translated: slaughtered 40, slaughter 26, killed 3, slaughters 2Full study and all 70 verses →
Judges 12:6 they told him, “Please say Shibboleth.” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce it correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. So at that time 42,000 Ephraimites were killed.
Jeremiah 39:6 There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the nobles of Judah.
- כָּרַת kârathcut off, cut downtranslated this way 2 times of its 284 uses · Strong’s H3772Verb · Translated: cut 144, made 47, make 28, fail 7Full study and all 276 verses →
1 Samuel 28:9 But the woman replied, “Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has killed the mediums and spiritists in the land. Why have you set a trap to get me killed?”
1 Kings 11:16 Joab and all Israel had stayed there six months, until he had killed every male in Edom.
- קְטַל qeṭalslaytranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H6992Verb · Translated: execute 2, killed 2, slain 2, executed 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Daniel 3:22 The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the fiery flames killed the men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Daniel 5:19 Because of the greatness that He bestowed on him, the people of every nation and language trembled in fear before him. He killed whom he wished and kept alive whom he wished; he exalted whom he wished and humbled whom he wished.
- פָּגַע pâgameet, encounter, reachtranslated this way 2 times of its 45 uses · Strong’s H6293Verb · Translated: strike 5, struck 4, reached 3, met 2Full study and all 43 verses →
Judges 8:21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up and kill us yourself, for as the man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments from the necks of their camels.
Judges 15:12 But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you and hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson replied, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.”
- חָרַב chârabbe dry, dried uptranslated this way 2 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s H2717Verb · Translated: dried 7, laid waste 6, dry 4, Kill 2Full study and all 36 verses →
Jeremiah 50:21 Go up against the land of Merathaim, and against the residents of Pekod. Kill them and devote them to destruction. Do all that I have commanded you,” declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 50:27 Kill all her young bulls; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them, for their day has come — the time of their punishment.
- רָצַח râtsachmurder, slaytranslated this way 2 times of its 45 uses · Strong’s H7523Verb · Translated: manslayer 14, murderer 12, murder 6, murdered 2Full study and all 39 verses →
Numbers 35:27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside of his city of refuge and kills him, then the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed,
Deuteronomy 4:42 to which a manslayer could flee after killing his neighbor unintentionally without prior malice. To save one’s own life, he could flee to one of these cities:
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀποκτείνω apokteínōI put to death, killtranslated this way 67 times of its 73 uses · Strong’s G615Verb · Translated: kill 33, killed 29, kills 4Full study and all 70 verses →
Matthew 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Mark 6:19 So Herodias held a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she had been unable,
- ἀναιρέω anairéōI take up, abolish, murdertranslated this way 12 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s G337Verb · Translated: kill 8, put 4, killed 4, put to death 2Full study and all 23 verses →
Acts 5:36 Some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.
Acts 7:28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
- ἀπόλλυμι apóllymiI destroy, lose, am perishingtranslated this way 11 times of its 90 uses · Strong’s G622Verb · Translated: lost 12, lose 11, perish 10, destroy 9Full study and all 84 verses →
Matthew 2:13 When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”
Mark 3:6 At this, the Pharisees went out and began plotting with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
- θύω thýōI sacrifice, killtranslated this way 7 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s G2380Verb · Translated: kill 5, sacrificed 3, killed 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Matthew 22:4 Again, he sent other servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
Luke 15:23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate.
- διαχειρίζομαι diacheirízomaiI lay my hands upon, slay, killtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1315Verb · Translated: killed 1, kill 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree.
Acts 26:21 For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me.
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.