Word study
Low
8 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: low, lowing. 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 “low” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- שָׁפֵל shâphêlbe or become low, be abasedtranslated this way 7 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H8213Verb · Translated: humbled 5, humbles 2, bring 2, bring him low 2Full study and all 28 verses →
Job 22:29 When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the lowly.
Proverbs 29:23 A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.
- שָׁחַח shâchachbow, be bowed down, crouchtranslated this way 5 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H7817Verb · Translated: brought low 5, downcast 3, humbled 2, bow 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Psalm 38:6 I am bent and brought low; all day long I go about mourning.
Isaiah 2:9 So mankind is brought low, and man is humbled — do not forgive them!
- שָׁחָה shâchâhbow downtranslated this way 3 times of its 171 uses · Strong’s H7812Verb · Translated: worship 38, bow 36, bowed 33, worshiped 23Full study and all 166 verses →
Genesis 18:2 And Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
Numbers 22:31 Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. And Balaam bowed low and fell facedown.
- שָׁפָל shâphâllowtranslated this way 3 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H8217Adjective · Translated: lowly 5, beneath 4, humble 3Full study and all 16 verses →
Ezekiel 17:6 It sprouted and became a spreading vine, low in height, with branches turned toward him; yet its roots remained where it stood. So it became a vine and yielded branches and sent out shoots.
Ezekiel 17:14 so that the kingdom would be brought low, unable to lift itself up, surviving only by keeping his covenant.
- גָּעָה gââhlowtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H1600Verb · Translated: lowing 1, low 1Full study and all 2 verses →
1 Samuel 6:12 And the cows headed straight up the road toward Beth-shemesh, staying on that one highway and lowing as they went, never straying to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed behind them to the border of Beth-shemesh.
Job 6:5 Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass, or an ox low over its fodder?
- מְאֹד meôdmuchness, force, abundance, exceedinglytranslated this way 2 times of its 195 uses · Strong’s H3966Adverb · Translated: greatly 28, very 12, was very 8, exceedingly 8Full study and all 186 verses →
Psalm 79:8 Do not hold past sins against us; let Your compassion come quickly, for we are brought low.
Psalm 142:6 Listen to my cry, for I am brought quite low. Rescue me from my pursuers, for they are too strong for me.
- עָמַק âmaqbe deeptranslated this way 2 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H6009Verb · Translated: deep 3, low 2, depths 1, dig deep 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Jeremiah 49:8 Turn and run! Lie low, O dwellers of Dedan, for I will bring disaster on Esau at the time I punish him.
Jeremiah 49:30 Run! Escape quickly! Lie low, O residents of Hazor,” declares the LORD, “for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has drawn up a plan against you; he has devised a strategy against you.
- קוֹל qôlsound, voicetranslated this way 2 times of its 425 uses · Strong’s H6963Noun · Translated: voice 197, sound 63, voices 22, thunder 11Full study and all 378 verses →
1 Samuel 15:14 But Samuel replied, “Then what is this bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle that I hear?”
Jeremiah 9:10 I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they have gone away.
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.