Word study
Rain
6 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: rain, rains, rained, raining. 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 “rain” 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)
- מָטַר mâṭarraintranslated this way 36 times of its 37 uses · Strong’s H4306Noun · Translated: rain 34, like rain 2, downpour 1Full study and all 36 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.
Deuteronomy 11:11 But the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks in the rain from heaven.
- גֶּשֶׁם geshemrain, showertranslated this way 28 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s H1653Noun · Translated: rain 23, showers 4, rains 2, rainy 2Full study and all 33 verses →
Genesis 7:12 And the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.
Leviticus 26:4 I will give you rains in their season, and the land will yield its produce, and the trees of the field will bear their fruit.
- מָטַר mâṭarraintranslated this way 14 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H4305Verb · Translated: rained 4, rain 4, sent rain 2Full study and all 14 verses →
Genesis 2:5 Now no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth, nor had any plant of the field sprouted, for the LORD God had not yet sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.
Exodus 9:18 Behold, at this time tomorrow I will rain down the worst hail that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded until now.
- זֶרֶם zeremflood of rain, rain-storm, downpourtranslated this way 3 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H2230Noun · Translated: storm 4, rains 1, like rain 1, like a driving rain 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Job 24:8 Drenched by mountain rains, they huddle against the rocks for want of shelter.
Isaiah 25:4 For You have been a refuge for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like rain against a wall,
- מוֹרֶה môreh(early) raintranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H4175Noun · Translated: teacher 2, autumn rain 1, teachers 1, autumn rains 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Psalm 84:6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; even the autumn rain covers it with pools.
Joel 2:23 Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for He has given you the autumn rains for your vindication. He sends you showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.
- מַלְקוֹשׁ malqôshlatter-rain, spring-raintranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H4456Noun · Translated: spring 2, spring rains 2, like spring showers 1, like the spring showers 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Jeremiah 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.
Joel 2:23 Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for He has given you the autumn rains for your vindication. He sends you showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὑετός hyetósraintranslated this way 5 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G5205Noun · Translated: rain 4, raining 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Acts 14:17 Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”
Hebrews 6:7 For land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is tended receives the blessing of God.
- βρέχω bréchōI moisten, rain, send raintranslated this way 4 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G1026Verb · Translated: wet 2, rain 2, sends rain 1, rained 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Matthew 5:45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Luke 17:29 But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
- βροχή brochḗa heavy raintranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1028Noun · Translated: rain 2Full study and all 2 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.
What the Bible says about rain: 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.