Word study
Rebellion
4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: rebellion, rebellions. 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 “rebellion” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- פֶּשַׁע peshatransgressiontranslated this way 10 times of its 93 uses · Strong’s H6588Noun · Translated: transgressions 41, transgression 25, rebellion 9, rebellious acts 4Full study and all 90 verses →
Exodus 23:21 Pay attention to him and listen to his voice; do not defy him, for he will not forgive rebellion, since My Name is in him.
Joshua 24:19 But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your rebellion or your sins.
- פָּשַׁע pâsharebel, transgresstranslated this way 6 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H6586Verb · Translated: rebelled 16, rebellion 6, transgressors 5, committed 2Full study and all 37 verses →
1 Kings 12:19 So to this day Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David.
2 Kings 8:22 So to this day Edom has been in rebellion against the hand of Judah. Likewise, Libnah rebelled at the same time.
- סָרָה sârâha turning aside, defection, apostasy, withdrawaltranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H5627Noun · Translated: rebellion 3, accusing him of a crime 1, rebelling 1, rebelled 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Deuteronomy 13:5 Such a prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has advocated rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way in which the LORD your God has commanded you to walk. So you must purge the evil from among you.
Jeremiah 28:16 Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. You will die this year because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.’”
- מְרִי merîrebelliontranslated this way 2 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H4805Noun · Translated: rebellious 17, rebellion 2, bitter 1, like that rebellious 1Full study and all 19 verses →
1 Samuel 15:23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king.”
Proverbs 17:11 An evil man seeks only rebellion; a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
Greek words (New Testament)
- παραπικρασμός parapikrasmósa provocation, irritationtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G3894Noun · Translated: rebellion 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Hebrews 3:8 do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness,
Hebrews 3:15 As it has been said: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion.”
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 rebellion: 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.