Word study

Lame

3 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “lame”. 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 “lame” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • פִּסֵּחַ pissêachlametranslated this way 14 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H6455Adjective  ·  Translated: lame 13, Like lame 1

    Leviticus 21:18 No man who has any defect may approach — no man who is blind, lame, disfigured, or deformed;

    Deuteronomy 15:21 But if an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.

    Full study and all 13 verses →
  • צָלַע tsâlalimptranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H6760Verb  ·  Translated: lame 3, limping 1

    Micah 4:6 “On that day,” declares the LORD, “I will gather the lame; I will assemble the outcast, even those whom I have afflicted.

    Zephaniah 3:19 Behold, at that time, I will deal with all who afflict you. I will save the lame and gather the scattered; and I will appoint praise and fame for the disgraced throughout the earth.

    Full study and all 4 verses →
  • נָכֶה nâkehsmitten, strickentranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H5223Adjective  ·  Translated: lame 2, contrite 1

    2 Samuel 4:4 And Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she was hurrying to escape, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.

    2 Samuel 9:3 So the king asked, “Is there anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I can show the kindness of God?” Ziba answered, “There is still Jonathan’s son, who is lame in both feet.”

    Full study and all 3 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • χωλός chōlóslame, deprived of a foottranslated this way 14 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s G5560Adjective  ·  Translated: lame 14

    Matthew 11:5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.

    Mark 9:45 If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.

    Full study and all 14 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.