Word study

Retreat

9 Hebrew words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: retreat, retreated, retreating, retreats. 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 “retreat” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • שׁוּב shûbturn back, returntranslated this way 6 times of its 1,007 uses · Strong’s H7725Verb  ·  Translated: return 218, returned 105, restore 62, turn 56Full study and all 920 verses →
  • נוּס nûsflee, escapetranslated this way 2 times of its 157 uses · Strong’s H5127Verb  ·  Translated: fled 65, flee 47, ran 5, run 5

    Exodus 14:27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state. As the Egyptians were retreating, the LORD swept them into the sea.

    Judges 20:32 “We are defeating them as before,” said the Benjamites. But the Israelites said, “Let us retreat and draw them away from the city onto the roads.”

    Full study and all 141 verses →
  • עֹרֶף ôrephback of neck, necktranslated this way 2 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s H6203Noun  ·  Translated: necks 9, neck 4, backs 4, back 3

    2 Samuel 22:41 You have made my enemies retreat before me; I destroyed those who hated me.

    Psalm 18:40 You have made my enemies retreat before me; I destroyed those who hated me.

    Full study and all 23 verses →
  • סוּג sûgmove away, backslidetranslated this way 1 time of its 14 uses · Strong’s H5472Verb  ·  Translated: turned 3, repelled 2, turned back 2

    Jeremiah 46:5 Why am I seeing this? They are terrified, they are retreating; their warriors are defeated, they flee in haste without looking back; terror is on every side!” declares the LORD.

    Full study and all 14 verses →
  • בּוֹא bôcome in, come, go in, gotranslated this way 1 time of its 2,442 uses · Strong’s H935Verb  ·  Translated: come 358, came 298, bring 209, brought 201Full study and all 2,217 verses →
  • נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 1 time of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb  ·  Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
  • עָלָה âlâhgo up, ascend, climbtranslated this way 1 time of its 873 uses · Strong’s H5927Verb  ·  Translated: go 118, went 107, brought 56, come 42Full study and all 807 verses →
  • שׂוּג sûgretreattranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H7734Verb  ·  Translated: retreat 1

    2 Samuel 1:22 From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not retreat, and the sword of Saul did not return empty.

    Full study and its 1 verse →
  • אָסַף âsaphgather, removetranslated this way 1 time of its 193 uses · Strong’s H622Verb  ·  Translated: gathered 56, gather 27, assembled 13, assemble 8

    2 Samuel 17:13 If he retreats to a city, all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it down to the valley until not even a pebble can be found there.”

    Full study and all 183 verses →
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.