Word study
Roar
9 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: roar, roaring, roars, roared. 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 “roar” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- שָׁאַג shâagroartranslated this way 18 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H7580Verb · Translated: roar 8, roared 3, roars 2Full study and all 17 verses →
Judges 14:5 Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him,
Job 37:4 Then there comes a roaring sound; He thunders with His majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightning when His voice resounds.
- הָמָה hâmâhmurmur, growl, roar, be boisteroustranslated this way 9 times of its 33 uses · Strong’s H1993Verb · Translated: roar 6, unease 3, rage 3, laments 3Full study and all 31 verses →
Psalm 46:3 though their waters roar and foam and the mountains quake in the surge. Selah
Isaiah 17:12 Alas, the tumult of many peoples; they rage like the roaring seas and clamoring nations; they rumble like the crashing of mighty waters.
- קוֹל qôlsound, voicetranslated this way 6 times of its 425 uses · Strong’s H6963Noun · Translated: voice 197, sound 63, voices 22, thunder 11Full study and all 378 verses →
Psalm 42:7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.
Jeremiah 11:16 The LORD once called you a flourishing olive tree, beautiful with well-formed fruit. But with a mighty roar He will set it on fire, and its branches will be consumed.
- שְׁאָגָה sheâgâhroaringtranslated this way 4 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H7581Noun · Translated: groaning 2, roaring 2, groans 1, roar 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Job 4:10 The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.
Isaiah 5:29 Their roaring is like that of a lion; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they carry it away, and no one can rescue it.
- שָׁאוֹן shâônroartranslated this way 2 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H7588Noun · Translated: uproar 4, tumult 4, noise 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Psalm 65:7 You stilled the roaring of the seas, the pounding of their waves, and the tumult of the nations.
Hosea 10:14 the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be demolished as Shalman devastated Beth-arbel in the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to pieces along with their children.
- נָהַם nâhamgrowl, groantranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H5098Verb · Translated: groan 2, Like a roaring 1, growl 1, roar 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Proverbs 28:15 Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a helpless people.
Isaiah 5:30 In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds.
- נַהַם nahamgrowlingtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H5099Noun · Translated: like the roar 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Proverbs 19:12 A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.
Proverbs 20:2 The terror of a king is like the roar of a lion; whoever provokes him forfeits his own life.
- הָמוֹן hâmônsound, murmur, roar, crowd, abundancetranslated this way 2 times of its 81 uses · Strong’s H1995Noun · Translated: multitude 12, army 10, multitudes 8, many 6Full study and all 77 verses →
Jeremiah 10:13 When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
Jeremiah 51:16 When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
- נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 2 times of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb · Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- φωνή phōnḗa sound, noise, voicetranslated this way 4 times of its 136 uses · Strong’s G5456Noun · Translated: voice 83, loud voice 13, sound 8, voices 8Full study and all 125 verses →
Revelation 1:15 His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters.
Revelation 9:9 They also had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the roar of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.
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.
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.