Word study

Reverence

4 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “reverence”. 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 “reverence” 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)

  • שָׁחָה shâchâhbow downtranslated this way 4 times of its 171 uses · Strong’s H7812Verb  ·  Translated: worship 38, bow 36, bowed 33, worshiped 23

    Joshua 5:14 “Neither,” He replied. “I have now come as Commander of the LORD’s army.” Then Joshua fell facedown in reverence and asked Him, “What does my Lord have to say to His servant?”

    1 Samuel 24:8 After that, David got up, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed facedown in reverence

    Full study and all 166 verses →
  • יִרְאָה yirâhfeartranslated this way 4 times of its 43 uses · Strong’s H3374Noun  ·  Translated: fear 34, reverence 4

    Job 4:6 Is your reverence not your confidence, and the uprightness of your ways your hope?

    Psalm 5:7 But I will enter Your house by the abundance of Your loving devotion; in reverence I will bow down toward Your holy temple.

    Full study and all 43 verses →
  • יָרֵא yârêfeartranslated this way 3 times of its 312 uses · Strong’s H3372Verb  ·  Translated: afraid 109, fear 98, feared 23, awesome 21

    Leviticus 19:30 You must keep My Sabbaths and have reverence for My sanctuary. I am the LORD.

    Leviticus 26:2 You must keep My Sabbaths and have reverence for My sanctuary. I am the LORD.

    Full study and all 303 verses →
  • מוֹרָא môrâfeartranslated this way 1 time of its 12 uses · Strong’s H4172Noun  ·  Translated: fear 3, terror 3, feared 2

    Malachi 2:5 “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, which I gave to him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.

    Full study and all 12 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • εὐλάβεια eulábeiareverence, pietytranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G2124Noun  ·  Translated: reverence 2

    Hebrews 5:7 During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.

    Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.

    Full study and all 2 verses →
  • φόβος phóbosfear, terror, reverencetranslated this way 1 time of its 45 uses · Strong’s G5401Noun  ·  Translated: fear 29, respect 5, awe 2, sense of awe 2

    Ephesians 5:21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

    Full study and all 42 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.

What the Bible says about reverence: 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.