Word study
Rot
5 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: rot, rots, rotted. 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 “rot” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- מָקַק mâqaqdecay, rot, festertranslated this way 3 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H4743Verb · Translated: rot 3, waste away 2, wasting away 2, decay 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Zechariah 14:12 And this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
- רָקַב râqabrottranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H7537Verb · Translated: rot 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Proverbs 10:7 The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.
Isaiah 40:20 One lacking such an offering chooses wood that will not rot. He seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.
- פְּחֶתֶת pechethetha boring or eating outtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H6356Noun · Translated: rot 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Leviticus 13:55 After it has been washed, the priest is to reexamine it, and if the mildewed article has not changed in appearance, it is unclean. Even though the mildew has not spread, you must burn it, whether the rot is on the front or back.
- בָּאַשׁ bâashbe evil, badtranslated this way 1 time of its 17 uses · Strong’s H887Verb · Translated: become a stench 4Full study and all 17 verses →
Isaiah 50:2 Why was no one there when I arrived? Why did no one answer when I called? Is My hand too short to redeem you? Or do I lack the strength to deliver you? Behold, My rebuke dries up the sea; I turn the rivers into a desert; the fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.
- רָקָב râqâbrottenness, decaytranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s H7538Noun · Translated: like decay 2, like something rotten 1, rots 1, Decay 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Proverbs 14:30 A tranquil heart is life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
Greek words (New Testament)
- σήπω sḗpōI cause to rottranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G4595Verb · Translated: rotted 1Full study and its 1 verse →
James 5:2 Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes.
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.