Word study
Oppress
9 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: oppressed, oppress, oppressing, oppresses. 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 “oppress” 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)
- עָשַׁק âshaqoppress, wrong, extorttranslated this way 19 times of its 36 uses · Strong’s H6231Verb · Translated: oppressed 8, oppress 6, oppressors 3, defraud 2Full study and all 35 verses →
Deuteronomy 24:14 Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.
1 Chronicles 16:21 He let no man oppress them; He rebuked kings on their behalf:
- לָחַץ lâchatssqueeze, presstranslated this way 10 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H3905Verb · Translated: oppressed 6, oppress 3, oppressors 3Full study and all 18 verses →
Exodus 3:9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them.
Judges 2:18 Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, He was with that judge and saved them from the hands of their enemies while the judge was still alive; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning under those who oppressed them and afflicted them.
- יָנָה yânâhsuppress (?), oppress, maltreattranslated this way 8 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H3238Verb · Translated: oppress 5, take advantage 2, oppressor 2, oppressed 2Full study and all 19 verses →
Leviticus 19:33 When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him.
Deuteronomy 23:16 Let him live among you wherever he chooses, in the town of his pleasing. Do not oppress him.
- עָנָה ânâhbe occupied, busied withtranslated this way 7 times of its 80 uses · Strong’s H6031Verb · Translated: afflicted 15, humble 12, oppress 5, afflict 4Full study and all 78 verses →
Exodus 1:11 So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
2 Samuel 7:10 And I will provide a place for My people Israel and will plant them so that they may dwell in a place of their own and be disturbed no more. No longer will the sons of wickedness oppress them as they did at the beginning
- עָנִי ânîpoor, afflicted, humble, meektranslated this way 7 times of its 76 uses · Strong’s H6041Adjective · Translated: poor 33, afflicted 22, oppressed 7, humble 4Full study and all 74 verses →
Psalm 10:9 He lies in wait like a lion in a thicket; he lurks to seize the oppressed; he catches the lowly in his net.
Proverbs 15:15 All the days of the oppressed are bad, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast.
- רָצַץ râtsatscrushtranslated this way 6 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H7533Verb · Translated: oppressed 6, crushed 4, splintered 3Full study and all 18 verses →
Judges 10:8 who that very year harassed and oppressed the Israelites, and they did so for eighteen years to all the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.
1 Samuel 12:3 Here I am. Bear witness against me before the LORD and before His anointed: Whose ox or donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated or oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe and closed my eyes? Tell me, and I will restore it to you.”
- נָגַשׂ nâgaspress, drive, oppress, exacttranslated this way 4 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s H5065Verb · Translated: taskmasters 4, oppressor 4, oppressors 2, collect 2Full study and all 23 verses →
Isaiah 3:5 The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor; the young will rise up against the old, and the base against the honorable.
Isaiah 3:12 Youths oppress My people, and women rule over them. O My people, your guides mislead you; they turn you from your paths.
- דַּךְ dakcrushed, oppressedtranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H1790Adjective · Translated: oppressed 3, crushes 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Psalm 9:9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
Psalm 10:18 to vindicate the fatherless and oppressed, that the men of the earth may strike terror no more.
- עָנָו ânâvpoor, afflicted, humble, meektranslated this way 2 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H6035Adjective · Translated: humble 7, poor 5, oppressed 2, lowly 2Full study and all 19 verses →
Psalm 9:18 For the needy will not always be forgotten; nor the hope of the oppressed forever dashed.
Psalm 34:2 My soul boasts in the LORD; let the oppressed hear and rejoice.
Greek words (New Testament)
- καταδυναστεύω katadynasteúōI overpower, quell, treat harshlytranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G2616Verb · Translated: oppressed 1, oppress 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him.
James 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?
- θλίβω thlíbōI make narrow, persecute, press hardtranslated this way 2 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G2346Verb · Translated: afflicted 2, oppressed 2Full study and all 10 verses →
2 Thessalonians 1:7 and to grant relief to you who are oppressed and to us as well. This will take place when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels
Hebrews 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated.
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.