Word study

Relieve

9 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: relieve, relieved, relieving. 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 “relieve” 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)

  • רְעָבוֹן reâbônhunger, lack of food, faminetranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H7459Noun  ·  Translated: relieve the hunger 1, food to relieve the hunger 1, famine 1

    Genesis 42:19 If you are honest, leave one of your brothers in custody while the rest of you go and take back grain to relieve the hunger of your households.

    Genesis 42:33 Then the man who is lord of the land said to us, ‘This is how I will know whether you are honest: Leave one brother with me, take food to relieve the hunger of your households, and go.

    Full study and all 3 verses →
  • סָכַךְ sâkakovershadow, screen, covertranslated this way 2 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s H5526Verb  ·  Translated: overshadowing 2, cover 2, overshadowed 2, knit me together 2

    Judges 3:24 After Ehud was gone, Eglon’s servants came in and found the doors of the upper room locked. “He must be relieving himself in the cool room,” they said.

    1 Samuel 24:3 Soon Saul came to the sheepfolds along the road, where there was a cave, and he went in to relieve himself. And David and his men were hiding in the recesses of the cave.

    Full study and all 24 verses →
  • שָׁם shâmthere, thithertranslated this way 1 time of its 551 uses · Strong’s H8033Adverb  ·  Translated: there 309, from there 42, and there 38, where 29

    Deuteronomy 23:12 You must have a place outside the camp to go and relieve yourself.

    Full study and all 502 verses →
  • יָשַׁב yâshabsit, remain, dwelltranslated this way 1 time of its 1,049 uses · Strong’s H3427Verb  ·  Translated: lived 103, dwell 89, live 84, sit 70

    Deuteronomy 23:13 And you must have a digging tool in your equipment so that when you relieve yourself you can dig a hole and cover up your excrement.

    Full study and all 960 verses →
  • מָלַט mâlaṭslip awaytranslated this way 1 time of its 93 uses · Strong’s H4422Verb  ·  Translated: escaped 22, escape 20, deliver 6, delivered 5

    Isaiah 46:2 The gods cower; they crouch together, unable to relieve the burden; but they themselves go into captivity.

    Full study and all 85 verses →
  • חָשַׂךְ châsakwithhold, refraintranslated this way 1 time of its 27 uses · Strong’s H2820Verb  ·  Translated: withheld 3, restrained 3, restrain 2, restrains 2

    Job 16:6 Even if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I hold back, how will it go away?

    Full study and all 27 verses →
  • רָחַב râchabbe, or grow, wide, largetranslated this way 1 time of its 23 uses · Strong’s H7337Verb  ·  Translated: enlarges 4, enlarge 4, broaden 2

    Psalm 4:1 For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Psalm of David. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved my distress; show me grace and hear my prayer.

    Full study and all 23 verses →
  • סוּר sûrturn asidetranslated this way 1 time of its 294 uses · Strong’s H5493Verb  ·  Translated: removed 46, remove 38, turn away 23, turn aside 16Full study and all 277 verses →
  • נָחַם nâchambe sorry, consoletranslated this way 1 time of its 106 uses · Strong’s H5162Verb  ·  Translated: comfort 24, relent 13, comforted 12, relented 7

    Isaiah 1:24 Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: “Ah, I will be relieved of My foes and avenge Myself on My enemies.

    Full study and all 98 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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.