Word study
Leap
9 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: leap, leaping, leaped, leaps. 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 “leap” 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)
- דָּלַג dâlagleaptranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H1801Verb · Translated: scale 2, leap 2, leaping 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Song of Solomon 2:8 Listen! My beloved approaches. Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills.
Isaiah 35:6 Then the lame will leap like a deer and the mute tongue will shout for joy. For waters will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
- זָנַק zânaqleaptranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H2187Verb · Translated: leaping 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Deuteronomy 33:22 Concerning Dan he said: “Dan is a lion’s cub, leaping out of Bashan.”
- פָּזַז pâzazbe supple, agiletranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H6339Verb · Translated: tempered 1, leaping 1Full study and all 2 verses →
2 Samuel 6:16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart.
- פָּסַח pâsachpass or spring overtranslated this way 1 time of its 7 uses · Strong’s H6452Verb · Translated: pass 3, passed 1, became lame 1, waver 1Full study and all 7 verses →
1 Kings 18:26 And they took the bull that was given them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no sound, and no one answered as they leaped around the altar they had made.
- נָתַר nâtharspring or start uptranslated this way 1 time of its 8 uses · Strong’s H5425Verb · Translated: hopping 1, makes 1, unleash 1, leaps 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Job 37:1 “At this my heart also pounds and leaps from its place.
- דּוּץ dûtsspring, leap, dancetranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H1750Verb · Translated: leaps 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Job 41:22 Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him.
- רָעַשׁ râashquake, shaketranslated this way 1 time of its 30 uses · Strong’s H7493Verb · Translated: quake 6, shake 6, tremble 4, quaked 3Full study and all 30 verses →
Job 39:20 Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting?
- רָקַד râqadskip abouttranslated this way 1 time of its 9 uses · Strong’s H7540Verb · Translated: skip 2, skipped 2Full study and all 9 verses →
Isaiah 13:21 But desert creatures will lie down there, and howling creatures will fill her houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about.
- פּוּשׁ pûshspring abouttranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s H6335Verb · Translated: frolic 1, scattered 1, charge ahead 1, leap 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Malachi 4:2 “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall.
Greek words (New Testament)
- σκιρτάω skirtáōI leap for joytranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G4640Verb · Translated: leaped 2, leap for joy 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Luke 1:41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Luke 1:44 For as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
- ἅλλομαι hállomaiI leap, bubble uptranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s G242Verb · Translated: springing 1, leaping 1, jumped 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Acts 3:8 He sprang to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and leaping and praising God.
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.