Word study
Rage
10 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: rage, raging, raged, rages. 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 “rage” 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)
- חֵמָה chêmâhheat, ragetranslated this way 5 times of its 121 uses · Strong’s H2534Noun · Translated: wrath 69, fury 22, venom 5, rage 4Full study and all 114 verses →
Deuteronomy 29:28 The LORD uprooted them from their land in His anger, rage, and great wrath, and He cast them into another land, where they are today.’
2 Kings 5:12 Are not the Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not have washed in them and been cleansed?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
- רָגַז râgazbe agitated, quiver, quake, be excited, perturbedtranslated this way 4 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H7264Verb · Translated: tremble 10, trembled 5, disturbed 3, shaken 2Full study and all 40 verses →
2 Kings 19:27 But I know your sitting down, your going out and coming in, and your raging against Me.
Isaiah 37:28 But I know your sitting down, your going out and coming in, and your raging against Me.
- זַעַף zaaphstorming, raging, ragetranslated this way 4 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H2197Noun · Translated: rage 3, enraged 1, wrath 1, raging 1Full study and all 6 verses →
2 Chronicles 28:9 But a prophet of the LORD named Oded was there, and he went out to meet the army that returned to Samaria. “Look,” he said to them, “because of His wrath against Judah, the LORD, the God of your fathers, has delivered them into your hand. But you have slaughtered them in a rage that reaches up to heaven.
Proverbs 19:12 A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.
- הָמָה hâmâhmurmur, growl, roar, be boisteroustranslated this way 3 times of its 33 uses · Strong’s H1993Verb · Translated: roar 6, unease 3, rage 3, laments 3Full study and all 31 verses →
Psalm 46:6 Nations rage, kingdoms crumble; the earth melts when He lifts His voice.
Isaiah 17:12 Alas, the tumult of many peoples; they rage like the roaring seas and clamoring nations; they rumble like the crashing of mighty waters.
- עֶבְרָה ebrâhoverflow, arrogance, furytranslated this way 3 times of its 34 uses · Strong’s H5678Noun · Translated: wrath 15, fury 10, anger 2, rage 2Full study and all 34 verses →
Isaiah 10:6 I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.
Ezekiel 38:19 In My zeal and fiery rage I proclaim that on that day there will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.
- אַף aphnostril, nose, face, angertranslated this way 2 times of its 243 uses · Strong’s H639Noun · Translated: anger 165, facedown 14, nostrils 11, nose 10Full study and all 238 verses →
Genesis 27:45 until your brother’s rage against you wanes and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”
Isaiah 14:6 It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows; it subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution.
- חָרָה chârâhburn, be kindledtranslated this way 2 times of its 89 uses · Strong’s H2734Verb · Translated: burned 26, angry 15, kindled 11, furious 6Full study and all 87 verses →
Isaiah 41:11 Behold, all who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will be reduced to nothing and will perish.
Isaiah 45:24 Surely they will say of Me, ‘In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.’” All who rage against Him will come to Him and be put to shame.
- מָרַר mârarbe bittertranslated this way 2 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H4843Verb · Translated: bitter 2, rage 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Daniel 8:7 I saw him approach the ram in a rage against him, and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against him, and the goat threw him to the ground and trampled him, and no one could deliver the ram from his power.
Daniel 11:11 In a rage, the king of the South will march out to fight the king of the North, who will raise a large army, but it will be delivered into the hand of his enemy.
- עָלָה âlâhgo up, ascend, climbtranslated this way 2 times of its 873 uses · Strong’s H5927Verb · Translated: go 118, went 107, brought 56, come 42Full study and all 807 verses →
1 Kings 22:35 The battle raged throughout that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. And the blood from his wound ran out onto the floor of the chariot, and that evening he died.
2 Chronicles 18:34 The battle raged throughout that day, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Arameans until evening. And at sunset he died.
- זָעַף zâaphbe out of humour, vexed; be enragedtranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H2196Verb · Translated: distraught 1, enraged 1, raged 1, rages 1Full study and all 4 verses →
2 Chronicles 26:19 Uzziah, with a censer in his hand to offer incense, was enraged. But while he raged against the priests in their presence in the house of the LORD before the altar of incense, leprosy broke out on his forehead.
Proverbs 19:3 A man’s own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the LORD.
Greek words (New Testament)
- θυμός thymósan outburst of passion, wrathtranslated this way 4 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s G2372Noun · Translated: rage 4, wrath 4, anger 3, fury 3Full study and all 17 verses →
2 Corinthians 12:20 For I am afraid that when I come, I may not find you as I wish, and you may not find me as you wish. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, rage, rivalry, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.
Galatians 5:20 idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,
- ἔρχομαι érchomaiI come, gotranslated this way 2 times of its 619 uses · Strong’s G2064Verb · Translated: come 193, came 128, coming 65, comes 53Full study and all 584 verses →
Matthew 7:25 The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock.
Matthew 7:27 The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell— and great was its collapse!”
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.