Word study
Limp
6 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: limp, limping. 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 “limp” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- רָפָה râphâhsink, relaxtranslated this way 6 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s H7503Verb · Translated: leave 4, abandon 3, go 3, Withdraw 2Full study and all 43 verses →
Isaiah 13:7 Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every man’s heart will melt.
Jeremiah 6:24 We have heard the report; our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.
- צָלַע tsâlalimptranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s H6760Verb · Translated: lame 3, limping 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Genesis 32:31 The sun rose above him as he passed by Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip.
- דָּלַל dâlalhang, be low, languishtranslated this way 1 time of its 9 uses · Strong’s H1809Verb · Translated: brought 2Full study and all 9 verses →
Proverbs 26:7 Like lame legs hanging limp is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
- רָפֶה râphehslacktranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s H7504Adjective · Translated: weak 2, feeble 1, limp 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Isaiah 35:3 Strengthen the limp hands and steady the feeble knees!
- רִפְיוֹן riphyônsinkingtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H7510Noun · Translated: hang limp 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Jeremiah 47:3 at the sound of the galloping hooves of stallions, the rumbling of chariots, and the clatter of their wheels. The fathers will not turn back for their sons; their hands will hang limp.
- נָפַל nâphalfall, lietranslated this way 1 time of its 432 uses · Strong’s H5307Verb · Translated: fall 104, fell 77, fallen 54, falls 21Full study and all 403 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- παρίημι paríēmiI neglect, omit, slackentranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G3935Verb · Translated: neglecting 1, limp 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Hebrews 12:12 Therefore strengthen your limp hands and weak knees.
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.