Word study
Overthrow
6 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: overthrow, overthrows. 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 “overthrow” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- הָפַךְ hâphakturn, overturntranslated this way 3 times of its 93 uses · Strong’s H2015Verb · Translated: turned 27, turn 7, changed 4, overthrew 3Full study and all 91 verses →
2 Samuel 10:3 the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, “Just because David has sent you comforters, do you really believe he is showing respect for your father? Has not David instead sent his servants to explore the city, spy it out, and overthrow it?”
1 Chronicles 19:3 the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun, “Just because David has sent you comforters, do you really believe he is showing respect for your father? Have not his servants come to you to explore the land, spy it out, and overthrow it?”
- כָּשַׁל kâshalstumble, stagger, tottertranslated this way 1 time of its 63 uses · Strong’s H3782Verb · Translated: stumble 23, stumbled 7, fall 5, stumbles 4Full study and all 59 verses →
2 Chronicles 25:8 Even if you go and fight bravely in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has power to help and power to overthrow.”
- מְגַר megaroverthrowtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H4049Verb · Translated: overthrow 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Ezra 6:12 May God, who has caused His Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to alter this decree or to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued the decree. Let it be carried out with diligence.
- הָרַס hârasthrow down, break or tear downtranslated this way 1 time of its 42 uses · Strong’s H2040Verb · Translated: demolish 7, tear 6, torn 6, destroyed 5Full study and all 42 verses →
Jeremiah 1:10 See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and plant.”
- שָׁחַת shâchathgo to ruin (?)translated this way 1 time of its 145 uses · Strong’s H7843Verb · Translated: destroy 58, destroyed 13, corrupt 7, corrupted 5Full study and all 135 verses →
Daniel 11:17 He will resolve to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and will reach an agreement with the king of the South. He will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom, but his plan will not succeed or help him.
- סָלַף sâlaphtwist, pervert, overturntranslated this way 1 time of its 7 uses · Strong’s H5557Verb · Translated: twists 2, overthrows 1, undermines 1, subverts 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Job 12:19 He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows the established.
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.