Word study
Madness
4 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “madness”. 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 “madness” 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)
- הוֹלֵלָה hôlêlâhmadnesstranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H1947Noun · Translated: madness 4Full study and all 4 verses →
Ecclesiastes 1:17 So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.
Ecclesiastes 2:12 Then I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what more can the king’s successor do than what has already been accomplished?
- שִׁגָּעוֹן shiggâônmadnesstranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H7697Noun · Translated: madness 2, like a madman 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Deuteronomy 28:28 The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind,
Zechariah 12:4 On that day, declares the LORD, I will strike every horse with panic, and every rider with madness. I will keep a watchful eye on the house of Judah, but I will strike with blindness all the horses of the nations.
- הָלַל hâlalshinetranslated this way 1 time of its 165 uses · Strong’s H1984Verb · Translated: praise 65, Hallelujah 24, praised 14, boast 9Full study and all 140 verses →
1 Samuel 21:13 So he changed his behavior before them and feigned madness in their hands; he scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down his beard.
- הוֹלֵלוּת hôlêlûthid.translated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H1948Noun · Translated: madness 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Ecclesiastes 10:13 The beginning of his talk is folly, and the end of his speech is evil madness.
Greek words (New Testament)
- μανία maníaraving madnesstranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G3130Noun · Translated: madness 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Acts 26:24 At this stage of Paul’s defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You are insane, Paul! Your great learning is driving you to madness!”
- παραφρονία paraphroníamadness, follytranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G3913Noun · Translated: madness 1Full study and its 1 verse →
2 Peter 2:16 But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, otherwise without speech, that spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
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.
What the Bible says about madness: passages by topic →
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.