Word study
Shake
6 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: shake, shakes, shaking. 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 “shake” 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)
- נוּעַ nûaquiver, wave, waver, tremble, tottertranslated this way 8 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s H5128Verb · Translated: shake 5, sway 3, shakes 3, fugitive 2Full study and all 36 verses →
2 Kings 19:21 This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: ‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you.
Job 16:4 I could also speak like you if you were in my place; I could heap up words against you and shake my head at you.
- רָעַשׁ râashquake, shaketranslated this way 6 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H7493Verb · Translated: quake 6, shake 6, tremble 4, quaked 3Full study and all 30 verses →
Ezekiel 26:10 His multitude of horses will cover you in their dust. When he enters your gates as an army entering a breached city, your walls will shake from the noise of cavalry, wagons, and chariots.
Amos 9:1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said: “Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Topple them on the heads of all the people, and I will kill the rest with the sword. None of those who flee will get away; none of the fugitives will escape.
- נָעַר nâarshake, shake out or offtranslated this way 5 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H5287Verb · Translated: shake 3, swept 2, shaken 2Full study and all 9 verses →
Judges 16:20 Then she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.
Nehemiah 5:13 I also shook out the folds of my robe and said, “May God likewise shake out of his house and possessions every man who does not keep this promise. May such a man be shaken out and have nothing!” The whole assembly said, “Amen,” and they praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised.
- עָרַץ âratscause to tremble, trembletranslated this way 2 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H6206Verb · Translated: terrified 4, feared 2, shake 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Isaiah 2:19 Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
Isaiah 2:21 They will flee to caverns in the rocks and crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
- נוּד nûdmove to and fro, wander, flutter, shew grieftranslated this way 2 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s H5110Verb · Translated: Flee 3, wanderer 2, grieve 2, mourn 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Jeremiah 18:16 They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
Jeremiah 48:27 Was not Israel your object of ridicule? Was he ever found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him you shake your head.
- חוּל chûlwhirl, dance, writhetranslated this way 2 times of its 58 uses · Strong’s H2342Verb · Translated: brought forth 6, tremble 5, labor 3, waited 2Full study and all 55 verses →
Psalm 29:8 The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐκτινάσσω ektinássōI shake offtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G1621Verb · Translated: shake 2, shook 2Full study and all 4 verses →
Matthew 10:14 And if anyone will not welcome you or heed your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.
Mark 6:11 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that place, as a testimony against them.”
- κινέω kinéōI move, stir, excitetranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G2795Verb · Translated: move 2, shaking 2, stirred 1, stirring 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Matthew 27:39 And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads
Mark 15:29 And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,
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.