Word study
Release
6 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: released, release, releases, releasing. 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 “release” 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)
- שָׁלַח shâlachsendtranslated this way 16 times of its 829 uses · Strong’s H7971Verb · Translated: sent 334, send 126, go 43, sending 19Full study and all 783 verses →
Genesis 43:14 May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”
Exodus 3:20 So I will stretch out My hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders I will perform among them. And after that, he will release you.
- יָצָא yâtsâgo or come outtranslated this way 9 times of its 1,035 uses · Strong’s H3318Verb · Translated: brought 108, went 103, go 82, came 78Full study and all 975 verses →
- פָּתַח pâthachopentranslated this way 3 times of its 141 uses · Strong’s H6605Verb · Translated: open 50, opened 40, engrave 4, opens 3Full study and all 133 verses →
Job 12:14 What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released.
Psalm 102:20 to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death,
- נָקִי nâqîclean, free from, exempttranslated this way 2 times of its 43 uses · Strong’s H5355Adjective · Translated: innocent 28, released 2, free 2, guilt of shedding innocent 2Full study and all 42 verses →
Genesis 24:41 And when you go to my kindred, if they refuse to give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.’
Joshua 2:20 And if you report our mission, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.”
- פָּטַר pâṭarseparate, remove, set freetranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H6362Verb · Translated: open 4, eluded 1, released 1, sneer 1Full study and all 8 verses →
2 Chronicles 23:8 So the Levites and all Judah did everything that Jehoiada the priest had ordered. Each of them took his men— those coming on duty on the Sabbath and those going off duty— for Jehoiada the priest had not released any of the divisions.
Proverbs 17:14 To start a quarrel is to release a flood; so abandon the dispute before it breaks out.
- שְׁמִטָּה shemiṭṭâha letting drop of exactionstranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H8059Noun · Translated: remission 2, cancel debts 1, time of release 1, release 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Deuteronomy 15:2 This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD’s time of release has been proclaimed.
Deuteronomy 15:9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀπολύω apolýōI release, let go, send away, divorcetranslated this way 28 times of its 66 uses · Strong’s G630Verb · Translated: release 20, released 8, dismissed 7, divorces 6Full study and all 61 verses →
Matthew 18:27 His master had compassion on him, forgave his debt, and released him.
Mark 15:6 Now it was Pilate’s custom at the feast to release to the people a prisoner of their choosing.
- λύω lýōI loose, untie, release, destroytranslated this way 9 times of its 42 uses · Strong’s G3089Verb · Translated: untie 8, released 7, untying 4, broken 3Full study and all 39 verses →
Mark 7:35 Immediately the man’s ears were opened and his tongue was released, and he began to speak plainly.
Luke 13:16 Then should not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be released from her bondage on the Sabbath day?”
- καταργέω katargéōI bring to naught, sever, abolishtranslated this way 2 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s G2673Verb · Translated: nullify 4, released 2, destroy 2, destroyed 2Full study and all 26 verses →
Romans 7:2 For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.
Romans 7:6 But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
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 release: 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.