Word study
Pour
12 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: poured, pour, pours, pouring. 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 “pour” 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)
- שָׁפַךְ shâphakpour out, pourtranslated this way 59 times of its 112 uses · Strong’s H8210Verb · Translated: pour 35, shed 26, poured 19, build 6Full study and all 108 verses →
Exodus 4:9 But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”
Leviticus 4:7 The priest must then put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the LORD in the Tent of Meeting. And he is to pour out the rest of the bull’s blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
- יָצַק yâtsaqpour, cast, flowtranslated this way 24 times of its 50 uses · Strong’s H3332Verb · Translated: pour 12, cast 10, poured 8, anointed 2Full study and all 48 verses →
Genesis 28:18 Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it,
Exodus 29:7 Then take the anointing oil and anoint him by pouring it on his head.
- נָסַךְ nâsakpour outtranslated this way 19 times of its 27 uses · Strong’s H5258Verb · Translated: poured 9, pour 6, pouring drink offerings 2, instead 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Genesis 35:14 So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God had spoken with him— a stone marker— and he poured out a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil.
Exodus 25:29 You are also to make the plates and dishes, as well as the pitchers and bowls for pouring drink offerings. Make them out of pure gold.
- נָתַךְ nâthakpour forthtranslated this way 13 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H5413Verb · Translated: poured 11, melt 3, paid 2, pour 2Full study and all 19 verses →
Exodus 9:33 Then Moses departed from Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the LORD. The thunder and hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down on the land.
2 Samuel 21:10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on a rock. From the beginning of the harvest until the rain from heaven poured down on the bodies, she did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
- רוּק rûqmake empty, empty outtranslated this way 5 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H7324Verb · Translated: draw 6, empty 3, pour 2, poured 2Full study and all 19 verses →
Ecclesiastes 11:3 If the clouds are full, they will pour out rain upon the earth; whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
Song of Solomon 1:3 The fragrance of your perfume is pleasing; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens adore you.
- נָגַר nâgarpour, flow, runtranslated this way 4 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H5064Verb · Translated: pour 2Full study and all 9 verses →
2 Samuel 14:14 For we will surely die and be like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. Yet God does not take away a life, but He devises ways that the banished one may not be cast out from Him.
Psalm 75:8 For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours from His cup, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to the dregs.
- נָבַע nâbaflow, spring, bubble uptranslated this way 4 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H5042Verb · Translated: pour forth 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Psalm 19:2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
Proverbs 1:23 If you had repented at my rebuke, then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you; I would have made my words known to you.
- נָטַף nâṭaphdrop, driptranslated this way 3 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H5197Verb · Translated: preach 7, drip 4, poured 3Full study and all 14 verses →
Judges 5:4 O LORD, when You went out from Seir, when You marched from the land of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured out rain, and the clouds poured down water.
Psalm 68:8 the earth shook and the heavens poured down rain before God, the One on Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.
- צוּק tsûqpour out, melttranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H6694Verb · Translated: poured 2, smelted 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Job 29:6 when my steps were bathed in cream and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
Isaiah 26:16 O LORD, they sought You in their distress; when You disciplined them, they poured out a quiet prayer.
- עָרָה ârâhbe naked, baretranslated this way 2 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H6168Verb · Translated: poured 2, expose 2Full study and all 14 verses →
Isaiah 32:15 until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high. Then the desert will be an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest.
Isaiah 53:12 Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He has poured out His life unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
- נָזַל nâzalflow, trickle, drop, distiltranslated this way 2 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H5140Verb · Translated: flow 3, currents 2, pour 2, streams 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Job 36:28 which the clouds pour out and shower abundantly on mankind.
Isaiah 45:8 Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open up that salvation may sprout and righteousness spring up with it; I, the LORD, have created it.
- פּוּחַ pûachbreathe, blowtranslated this way 2 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H6315Verb · Translated: utters 2, breaks 2, Breathe 2Full study and all 14 verses →
Proverbs 14:5 An honest witness does not deceive, but a dishonest witness pours forth lies.
Proverbs 19:9 A false witness will not go unpunished, and one who pours out lies will perish.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐκχέω ekchéōI pour out, shedtranslated this way 18 times of its 27 uses · Strong’s G1632Verb · Translated: poured 15, shed 4, pour 3, spill 2Full study and all 27 verses →
Matthew 26:28 This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Mark 14:24 He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
- βάλλω bállōI cast, throw, rush, put, place, droptranslated this way 6 times of its 120 uses · Strong’s G906Verb · Translated: thrown 26, put 16, throw 11, cast 10Full study and all 106 verses →
Matthew 9:17 Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Mark 2:22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into new wineskins.”
- καταχέω katachéōI pour overtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G2708Verb · Translated: poured 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 26:7 a woman came to Him with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, which she poured on His head as He reclined at the table.
Mark 14:3 While Jesus was in Bethany reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke open the jar and poured it on Jesus’ head.
- σπένδω spéndōI pour out as a libationtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4689Verb · Translated: poured out like a drink offering 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Philippians 2:17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
2 Timothy 4:6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
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.