Word study
Pain
8 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: pain, pains. 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 “pain” 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)
- מַכְאֹב makôbpaintranslated this way 6 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H4341Noun · Translated: pain 6, sorrows 3Full study and all 15 verses →
Job 33:19 A man is also chastened on his bed with pain and constant distress in his bones,
Psalm 38:17 For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever with me.
- חוּל chûlwhirl, dance, writhetranslated this way 4 times of its 58 uses · Strong’s H2342Verb · Translated: brought forth 6, tremble 5, labor 3, waited 2Full study and all 55 verses →
Job 15:20 A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.
Isaiah 26:18 We were with child; we writhed in pain; but we gave birth to wind. We have given no salvation to the earth, nor brought any life into the world.
- צִיר tsîrenvoy, messengertranslated this way 4 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s H6735Noun · Translated: envoy 3, pain 2Full study and all 11 verses →
1 Samuel 4:19 Now Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news of the capture of God’s ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she collapsed and gave birth, for her labor pains overtook her.
Isaiah 13:8 Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at one another, their faces flushed with fear.
- חֶבֶל chebelcord, territory, bandtranslated this way 4 times of its 60 uses · Strong’s H2256Noun · Translated: cords 10, ropes 9, region 4, pain 3Full study and all 58 verses →
Isaiah 26:17 As a woman with child about to give birth writhes and cries out in pain, so were we in Your presence, O LORD.
Jeremiah 49:24 Damascus has become feeble; she has turned to flee. Panic has gripped her; anguish and pain have seized her like a woman in labor.
- חִיל chîla writhing, anguishtranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H2427Noun · Translated: anguish 3, pain 3, agony 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Job 6:10 It still brings me comfort, and joy through unrelenting pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
Jeremiah 6:24 We have heard the report; our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.
- כְּאֵב keêbpaintranslated this way 3 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H3511Noun · Translated: pain 3, suffering 1, sorrow 1, heavy 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Job 16:6 Even if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I hold back, how will it go away?
Isaiah 17:11 though on the day you plant you make them grow, and on that morning you help your seed sprout — yet the harvest will vanish on the day of disease and incurable pain.
- כָּאַב kâabbe in paintranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H3510Verb · Translated: still in pain 1, ruin 1, wounds 1, pain 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Genesis 34:25 Three days later, while they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons (Dinah’s brothers Simeon and Levi) took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and slaughtered every male.
Job 14:22 He feels only the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.”
- עֹצֶב ôtsebpaintranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H6090Noun · Translated: pain 2, offensive 1, idol 1Full study and all 4 verses →
1 Chronicles 4:9 Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.”
Isaiah 14:3 On the day that the LORD gives you rest from your pain and torment, and from the hard labor into which you were forced,
Greek words (New Testament)
- πόνος pónoslabor, paintranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G4192Noun · Translated: pains 2, anguish 1, pain 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Colossians 4:13 For I testify about him that he goes to great pains for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.
Revelation 16:11 and curse the God of heaven for their pains and sores. Yet they did not repent of their deeds.
- ὠδίν ōdínthe pain of childbirth, severe agonytranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G5604Noun · Translated: birth pains 2, agony 1, labor pains 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Matthew 24:8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
Mark 13:8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, as well as famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
- λύπη lýpēpain, grieftranslated this way 2 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s G3077Noun · Translated: sorrow 9, pain 2, painful 2, grief 1Full study and all 14 verses →
John 16:21 A woman has pain in childbirth because her time has come; but when she brings forth her child, she forgets her anguish because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.
1 Peter 2:19 For if anyone endures the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God, this is to be commended.
- ὠδίνω ōdínōI am in travail, suffer birth-pangstranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G5605Verb · Translated: pains of childbirth 1, travailed 1, pain 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Galatians 4:19 My children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,
Revelation 12:2 She was pregnant and crying out in the pain and agony of giving birth.
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 pain: 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.