Word study

Proud

8 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “proud”. 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 “proud” 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)

  • גֵּאֶה gêehproudtranslated this way 7 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H1343Adjective  ·  Translated: proud 5, proud man 2, pride 1

    Job 40:11 Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low.

    Psalm 94:2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud.

    Full study and all 8 verses →
  • גָּבַהּ gâbahhbe high, exaltedtranslated this way 6 times of its 34 uses · Strong’s H1361Verb  ·  Translated: proud 4, high 4, soar 2, haughty 2

    2 Chronicles 32:25 But because his heart was proud, Hezekiah did not repay the favor shown to him. Therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

    Psalm 131:1 A song of ascents. Of David. My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty. I do not aspire to great things or matters too lofty for me.

    Full study and all 33 verses →
  • רוּם rûmbe high, exalted, risetranslated this way 4 times of its 185 uses · Strong’s H7311Verb  ·  Translated: exalted 23, exalt 18, lift 14, raised 10

    Deuteronomy 8:14 then your heart will become proud, and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

    Ezekiel 31:10 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Since it became great in height and set its top among the clouds, and it grew proud on account of its height,

    Full study and all 180 verses →
  • גָּאוֹן gâônexaltationtranslated this way 4 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s H1347Noun  ·  Translated: pride 21, majesty 6, proud 4, thickets 4

    Job 38:11 and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?

    Jeremiah 48:29 We have heard of Moab’s pomposity, his exceeding pride and conceit, his proud arrogance and haughtiness of heart.

    Full study and all 45 verses →
  • גָּבֹהַּ gâbôahhhigh, exaltedtranslated this way 3 times of its 40 uses · Strong’s H1364Adjective  ·  Translated: high 20, proud 3, haughty 2, longer 2

    Psalm 138:6 Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.

    Proverbs 16:5 Everyone who is proud in heart is detestable to the LORD; be assured that he will not go unpunished.

    Full study and all 36 verses →
  • נָשָׂא nâsâlift, take, carrytranslated this way 2 times of its 642 uses · Strong’s H5375Verb  ·  Translated: bear 49, lift 45, lifted 41, carried 38Full study and all 601 verses →
  • גַּאֲוָה gaăvâhmajesty, pridetranslated this way 2 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H1346Noun  ·  Translated: pride 8, majesty 2, proud 2

    Psalm 36:11 Let not the foot of the proud come against me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

    Proverbs 14:3 The proud speech of a fool brings a rod to his back, but the lips of the wise protect them.

    Full study and all 18 verses →
  • רָחָב râchâbwide, broadtranslated this way 2 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H7342Adjective  ·  Translated: spacious 5, wide 5, proud 2

    Psalm 101:5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; the one with haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not endure.

    Proverbs 21:4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart— the guides of the wicked— are sin.

    Full study and all 20 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ὑπερήφανος hyperḗphanosproud, arroganttranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G5244Adjective  ·  Translated: proud 3, arrogant 2

    Luke 1:51 He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

    James 4:6 But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

    Full study and all 5 verses →
  • φυσιόω physióōI inflate, puff uptranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G5448Verb  ·  Translated: proud 2, take pride 1, become arrogant 1, arrogant 1

    1 Corinthians 5:2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been stricken with grief and have removed from your fellowship the man who did this?

    1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

    Full study and all 7 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.

What the Bible says about proud: 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.