Word study
Push
5 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: pushed, push, pushes, pushing. 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 “push” 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)
- הָדַף hâdaphthrusttranslated this way 4 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H1920Verb · Translated: driven 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Numbers 35:20 Likewise, if anyone maliciously pushes another or intentionally throws an object at him and kills him,
Joshua 23:5 The LORD your God will push them out of your way and drive them out before you, so that you can take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you.
- נָטָה nâṭâhstretch out, spread out, extend, incline, bendtranslated this way 3 times of its 215 uses · Strong’s H5186Verb · Translated: incline 24, stretch 23, stretched 21, outstretched 19Full study and all 207 verses →
Judges 16:30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people in it. So in his death he killed more than he had killed in his life.
Job 24:4 They push the needy off the road and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
- דָּחָה dâchâhpush, thrusttranslated this way 1 time of its 7 uses · Strong’s H1760Verb · Translated: thrown 2, drives them away 1, tottering 1, pushed so hard 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Psalm 118:13 I was pushed so hard I was falling, but the LORD helped me.
- שָׁלַח shâlachsendtranslated this way 1 time of its 829 uses · Strong’s H7971Verb · Translated: sent 334, send 126, go 43, sending 19Full study and all 783 verses →
- שָׁלַךְ shâlakthrow, fling, casttranslated this way 1 time of its 126 uses · Strong’s H7993Verb · Translated: cast 27, threw 20, throw 16, thrown 10Full study and all 121 verses →
Zechariah 5:8 “This is Wickedness,” he said. And he shoved her down into the basket, pushing down the lead cover over its opening.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀπωθέομαι apōthéomaiI push or thrust away, rejecttranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s G683Verb · Translated: reject 3, rejected 2, pushed 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Acts 7:27 But the man who was abusing his neighbor pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?
- προβάλλω probállōI put forthtranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4261Verb · Translated: sprout leaves 1, pushed 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 19:33 The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander forward to explain himself, and he motioned for silence so he could make his defense to the people.
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.