Word study
Offense
5 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: offense, offenses. 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 “offense” 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)
- פֶּשַׁע peshatransgressiontranslated this way 3 times of its 93 uses · Strong’s H6588Noun · Translated: transgressions 41, transgression 25, rebellion 9, rebellious acts 4Full study and all 90 verses →
1 Samuel 25:28 Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD will surely make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because he fights the LORD’s battles. May no evil be found in you as long as you live.
Proverbs 17:9 Whoever conceals an offense promotes love, but he who brings it up separates friends.
- חֵטְא chêṭesintranslated this way 2 times of its 32 uses · Strong’s H2399Noun · Translated: sin 9, sins 7, guilt 4, guilty of sin 4Full study and all 32 verses →
Deuteronomy 19:15 A lone witness is not sufficient to establish any wrongdoing or sin against a man, regardless of what offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Ecclesiastes 10:4 If the ruler’s temper flares against you, do not abandon your post, for calmness lays great offenses to rest.
- מִכְשׁוֹל mikshôla stumbling, means or occasion of stumbling, stumbling-blocktranslated this way 1 time of its 14 uses · Strong’s H4383Noun · Translated: stumbling block 6, stumbling blocks 2Full study and all 14 verses →
Isaiah 8:14 And He will be a sanctuary — but to both houses of Israel a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, to the dwellers of Jerusalem a trap and a snare.
- יְהֹוָה YehôvâhYahwehtranslated this way 1 time of its 6,473 uses · Strong’s H3068Noun · Translated: lord 6,171, LORD's 127, surely as the lord 39, god 10Full study and all 5,509 verses →
- רַע rabad, eviltranslated this way 1 time of its 651 uses · Strong’s H7451Adjective · Translated: evil 263, disaster 72, harm 38, wicked 31Full study and all 615 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- σκάνδαλον skándalona snare, stumbling-blocktranslated this way 3 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s G4625Noun · Translated: stumbling block 4, offense 3, stumbling blocks 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Romans 9:33 as it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”
Galatians 5:11 Now, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.
- σκανδαλίζω skandalízōI cause to stumbletranslated this way 2 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s G4624Verb · Translated: fall away 8, causes you to sin 7, causes 3, took offense 2Full study and all 27 verses →
Matthew 13:57 And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown and in his own household is a prophet without honor.”
Mark 6:3 Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t His sisters here with us as well?” And they took offense at Him.
- αἴτιος aítiosthe cause of, the originator oftranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s G159Adjective · Translated: basis for a charge 1, guilty 1, offense worthy 1, justification 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Luke 23:22 A third time he said to them, “What evil has this man done? I have found in Him no offense worthy of death. So after I punish Him, I will release Him.”
- ἁμαρτάνω hamartánōI sintranslated this way 1 time of its 43 uses · Strong’s G264Verb · Translated: sinned 12, sin 10, sins 5, sinning 4Full study and all 37 verses →
Acts 25:8 Then Paul made his defense: “I have committed no offense against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.”
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.