Word study
Linger
7 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: linger, lingered, lingers. 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 “linger” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- אָרַךְ ârakbe longtranslated this way 2 times of its 33 uses · Strong’s H748Verb · Translated: prolong 6, live long 5, long 3, lingered 2Full study and all 33 verses →
Numbers 9:19 Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, the Israelites kept the LORD’s charge and did not set out.
Numbers 9:22 Whether the cloud lingered for two days, a month, or longer, the Israelites camped and did not set out as long as the cloud remained over the tabernacle; but when it was lifted, they would set out.
- אָחַר âcharto remain behind, delay, tarrytranslated this way 2 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H309Verb · Translated: delay 6, hesitate 2, delayed 2, linger 2Full study and all 17 verses →
Proverbs 23:30 Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks.
Isaiah 5:11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine.
- גּוּר gûrsojourntranslated this way 1 time of its 88 uses · Strong’s H1481Verb · Translated: residing 8, reside 6, living 6, dwell 6Full study and all 85 verses →
Judges 5:17 Gilead remained beyond the Jordan. Dan, why did you linger by the ships? Asher stayed at the coast and remained in his harbors.
- עָמַד âmadtake one's stand, standtranslated this way 1 time of its 508 uses · Strong’s H5975Verb · Translated: stood 99, stand 95, standing 50, stands 12Full study and all 485 verses →
Jeremiah 51:50 You who have escaped the sword, depart and do not linger! Remember the LORD from far away, and let Jerusalem come to mind.”
- יָחַל yâchalwaittranslated this way 1 time of its 40 uses · Strong’s H3176Verb · Translated: hope 8, wait 8, Put your hope 5, put my hope 3Full study and all 40 verses →
Micah 5:7 Then the remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass, which do not wait for man or linger for mankind.
- עוֹד ôda going round, continuancetranslated this way 1 time of its 390 uses · Strong’s H5750Adverb · Translated: longer 80, still 63, again 52, more 38Full study and all 372 verses →
2 Samuel 1:9 Then he begged me, ‘Stand over me and kill me, for agony has seized me, but my life still lingers.’
- מָהַהּ mâhahhlinger, tarrytranslated this way 1 time of its 9 uses · Strong’s H4102Verb · Translated: but when 1, delayed 1, delay 1, servants waited 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision awaits an appointed time; it testifies of the end and does not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it, since it will surely come and will not delay.
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.