Word study
Plunder
9 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: plunder, plundered. 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 “plunder” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- שָׁלָל shâlâlprey, spoil, plunder, bootytranslated this way 44 times of its 73 uses · Strong’s H7998Noun · Translated: plunder 42, spoil 13, spoils 5, like a spoil of war 3Full study and all 64 verses →
Genesis 49:27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.”
Numbers 31:11 and carried away all the plunder and spoils, both people and animals.
- בָּזַז bâzazspoil, plundertranslated this way 24 times of its 42 uses · Strong’s H962Verb · Translated: plunder 12, plundered 8, carried 3, carry 2Full study and all 38 verses →
Genesis 34:29 They carried off all their possessions and women and children, and they plundered everything in their houses.
Numbers 31:9 The Israelites captured the Midianite women and their children, and they plundered all their herds, flocks, and goods.
- בַּז bazspoiling, robbery; spoil, bootytranslated this way 13 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H957Noun · Translated: plunder 12, prey 4Full study and all 21 verses →
Numbers 14:3 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”
2 Kings 21:14 So I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hands of their enemies. And they will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies,
- בִּזָּה bizzâhspoil, bootytranslated this way 9 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H961Noun · Translated: plunder 8, pillage 1, plundered 1Full study and all 10 verses →
2 Chronicles 14:14 and attacked all the cities around Gerar, because the terror of the LORD had fallen upon them. They plundered all the cities, since there was much plunder there.
Nehemiah 4:4 Hear us, O God, for we are despised. Turn their scorn back upon their own heads, and let them be taken as plunder to a land of captivity.
- שָׁלַל shâlaldraw outtranslated this way 6 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H7997Verb · Translated: plunder 3, seize 2, plundered 2Full study and all 12 verses →
Psalm 76:5 The valiant lie plundered; they sleep their last sleep. No men of might could lift a hand.
Jeremiah 50:10 Chaldea will be plundered; all who plunder her will have their fill,” declares the LORD.
- שָׁסָה shâsâhspoil, plundertranslated this way 5 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H8154Verb · Translated: plundered 3, plunderers 2, plunder 2, looting 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Judges 2:16 Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them.
Psalm 44:10 You have made us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered us.
- שָׁסַס shâsasid.translated this way 4 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H8155Verb · Translated: plundered 3, looted 2, plunder 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Judges 2:14 Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of those who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.
1 Samuel 17:53 When the Israelites returned from their pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps.
- מַלְקוֹחַ malqôachbooty, preytranslated this way 3 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H4455Noun · Translated: plunder 3, spoils 2, captured 1, captives 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Numbers 31:32 and this plunder remained from the spoils the soldiers had taken: 675,000 sheep,
Isaiah 49:24 Can the plunder be snatched from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be delivered?
- נָצַל nâtsalstrip, plundertranslated this way 2 times of its 205 uses · Strong’s H5337Verb · Translated: deliver 75, delivered 34, rescue 30, rescued 9Full study and all 191 verses →
Exodus 3:22 Every woman shall ask her neighbor and any woman staying in her house for silver and gold jewelry and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.”
Exodus 12:36 And the LORD gave the people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that they granted their request. In this way they plundered the Egyptians.
Greek words (New Testament)
- διαρπάζω diarpázōI plunder, rob thoroughlytranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G1283Verb · Translated: plunder 2, steal 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 12:29 Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and steal his possessions, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.
Mark 3:27 Indeed, no one can enter a strong man’s house to steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.
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.