Word study
Mock
7 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: mocked, mock, mocks, mocking. 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 “mock” 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)
- לָעַג lâagmock, deridetranslated this way 12 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H3932Verb · Translated: mocks 6, mock 3, mocked 2, scoff 2Full study and all 18 verses →
2 Kings 19:21 This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: ‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you.
2 Chronicles 30:10 And the couriers traveled from city to city through the land of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun, but the people scorned and mocked them.
- לוּץ lûtsscorntranslated this way 5 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s H3887Verb · Translated: mocker 11, mockers 4, mock 3, mocks 2Full study and all 27 verses →
Proverbs 3:34 He mocks the mockers, but gives grace to the humble.
Isaiah 28:22 So now, do not mock, or your shackles will become heavier. Indeed, I have heard from the Lord GOD of Hosts a decree of destruction against the whole land.
- חָרַף châraphreproachtranslated this way 3 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H2778Verb · Translated: taunted 9, defy 7, taunt 4, taunts 3Full study and all 40 verses →
2 Chronicles 32:17 He also wrote letters mocking the LORD, the God of Israel, and saying against Him: “Just as the gods of the nations did not deliver their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my hand.”
Psalm 74:18 Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.
- הָתַל hâthaldeceive, mocktranslated this way 3 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H2048Verb · Translated: mocked 3, deceive 2Full study and all 9 verses →
Judges 16:10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me! Now please tell me how you can be tied up.”
Judges 16:13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me all along! Tell me how you can be tied up.” He told her, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the web of a loom and tighten it with a pin, I will become as weak as any other man.”
- שָׂחַק sâchaqlaughtranslated this way 3 times of its 36 uses · Strong’s H7832Verb · Translated: laugh 5, laughs 5, celebrating 3, mock 3Full study and all 36 verses →
Job 30:1 “But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to put with my sheep dogs.
Psalm 52:6 The righteous will see and fear; they will mock the evildoer, saying,
- תַּעְתֻּעַ tatuafraudtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H8595Noun · Translated: mocked 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Jeremiah 10:15 They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.
Jeremiah 51:18 They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.
- נְגִינָה negînâhmusictranslated this way 2 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H5058Noun · Translated: stringed instruments 9, mock me in song 2, song 2, music 1Full study and all 14 verses →
Job 30:9 And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
Lamentations 3:14 I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐμπαίζω empaízōI mocktranslated this way 11 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s G1702Verb · Translated: mocked 9, outwitted 1, mock 1, ridicule 1Full study and all 13 verses →
Matthew 20:19 and will deliver Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. And on the third day He will be raised to life.”
Mark 10:34 who will mock Him and spit on Him and flog Him and kill Him. And after three days He will rise again.”
- χλευάζω chleuázōI mock, scofftranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G5512Verb · Translated: mocked 1, began to mock 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 2:13 But others mocked them and said, “They are drunk on new wine!”
Acts 17:32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock him, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this topic.”
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.