Word study
Panic
7 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “panic”. 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 “panic” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- חֲרָדָה chărâdâhtrembling, fear, anxietytranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H2731Noun · Translated: panic 3, terror 2, fear 1, horror 1Full study and all 6 verses →
1 Samuel 14:15 Then panic struck the Philistines in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. Even those in the outposts and raiding parties trembled. Indeed, the earth quaked, and panic spread from God.
Jeremiah 30:5 Yes, this is what the LORD says: “A cry of panic is heard — a cry of terror, not of peace.
- פַּחַד pachaddreadtranslated this way 3 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s H6343Noun · Translated: fear 15, terror 12, dread 10, panic 3Full study and all 48 verses →
Isaiah 24:18 Whoever flees the sound of panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.
Jeremiah 48:44 “Whoever flees the panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For I will bring upon Moab the year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.
- מְהוּמָה mehûmâhtumult, confusion, disquietde, discomfituretranslated this way 2 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s H4103Noun · Translated: confusion 4, turmoil 2, panic 2Full study and all 12 verses →
Ezekiel 7:7 Doom has come to you, O inhabitants of the land. The time has come; the day is near; there is panic on the mountains instead of shouts of joy.
Zechariah 14:13 On that day a great panic from the LORD will come upon them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of one will rise against the other.
- חָרַד châradtremble, be terrifiedtranslated this way 1 time of its 39 uses · Strong’s H2729Verb · Translated: trembled 5, tremble 5, frighten 4, fear 3Full study and all 39 verses →
2 Samuel 17:2 I will attack him while he is weak and weary; I will throw him into a panic, and all the people with him will flee; I will strike down only the king
- חָתַת châthathbe shattered, dismayedtranslated this way 1 time of its 52 uses · Strong’s H2865Verb · Translated: dismayed 11, discouraged 10, shattered 10, terrified 7Full study and all 46 verses →
Isaiah 31:9 Their rock will pass away for fear, and their princes will panic at the sight of the battle standard,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
- רֶטֶט reṭeṭtrembling, panictranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H7374Noun · Translated: Panic 1Full study and its 1 verse →
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.
- תִּמָּהוֹן timmâhônbewildermenttranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H8541Noun · Translated: confusion 1, panic 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Zechariah 12:4 On that day, declares the LORD, I will strike every horse with panic, and every rider with madness. I will keep a watchful eye on the house of Judah, but I will strike with blindness all the horses of the nations.
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 panic: 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.