Word study

Pierce

7 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: pierced, pierce, pierces, piercing. 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 “pierce” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • נָקַב nâqabpiercetranslated this way 6 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H5344Verb  ·  Translated: designated 6, pierce 4, pierced 2

    2 Kings 18:21 Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

    Job 40:24 Can anyone capture him as he looks on, or pierce his nose with a snare?’’

    Full study and all 18 verses →
  • דָּקַר dâqarpierce, pierce throughtranslated this way 4 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H1856Verb  ·  Translated: run 3, pierced 2

    Jeremiah 51:4 And they will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and pierced through in her streets.

    Lamentations 4:9 Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.

    Full study and all 10 verses →
  • חָלַל châlalbore, piercetranslated this way 3 times of its 138 uses · Strong’s H2490Verb  ·  Translated: began 24, profaned 24, profane 14, defile 10

    Job 26:13 By His breath the skies were cleared; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

    Isaiah 51:9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon?

    Full study and all 129 verses →
  • חָלַף châlaphpass on or away, pass throughtranslated this way 2 times of its 27 uses · Strong’s H2498Verb  ·  Translated: changed 4, change 2, replace 2, sweep 2

    Judges 5:26 She reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman’s hammer. She struck Sisera and crushed his skull; she shattered and pierced his temple.

    Job 20:24 Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him.

    Full study and all 26 verses →
  • בּוֹא bôcome in, come, go in, gotranslated this way 2 times of its 2,442 uses · Strong’s H935Verb  ·  Translated: come 358, came 298, bring 209, brought 201Full study and all 2,217 verses →
  • שָׁנַן shânanwhet, sharpentranslated this way 2 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H8150Verb  ·  Translated: sharpen 3, Sharp 2, teach them diligently 1, pierce 1

    Psalm 45:5 Your arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s foes; the nations fall beneath your feet.

    Psalm 73:21 When my heart was grieved and I was pierced within,

    Full study and all 9 verses →
  • פָּלַח pâlachcleavetranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H6398Verb  ·  Translated: pierces 2, cut 1, bring forth 1, plows 1

    Job 16:13 His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.

    Proverbs 7:23 until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare— not knowing it will cost him his life.

    Full study and all 5 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἐκκεντέω ekkentéōI pierce through, transfixtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1574Verb  ·  Translated: pierced 2

    John 19:37 And, as another Scripture says: “They will look on the One they have pierced.”

    Revelation 1:7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him — even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. So shall it be! Amen.

    Full study and all 2 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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.