Word study

Sharpen

4 Hebrew words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: sharpen, sharpened, sharpens. 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 “sharpen” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • חָדַד châdadbe sharp, keentranslated this way 5 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H2300Verb  ·  Translated: sharpened 3, sharpens 2, fiercer 1

    Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

    Ezekiel 21:9 “Son of man, prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord says: ‘A sword, a sword, sharpened and polished —

    Full study and all 5 verses →
  • שָׁנַן shânanwhet, sharpentranslated this way 4 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H8150Verb  ·  Translated: sharpen 3, Sharp 2, teach them diligently 1, pierce 1

    Deuteronomy 32:41 when I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me.

    Psalm 64:3 who sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their bitter words like arrows,

    Full study and all 9 verses →
  • לָטַשׁ lâṭashhammer, sharpen, whettranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H3913Verb  ·  Translated: forger 1, sharpen 1, pierces 1, God will sharpen 1

    1 Samuel 13:20 Instead, all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, and sickles.

    Psalm 7:12 If one does not repent, God will sharpen His sword; He has bent and strung His bow.

    Full study and all 5 verses →
  • בָּרַר bârarpurify, selecttranslated this way 1 time of its 18 uses · Strong’s H1305Verb  ·  Translated: pure 3, show yourself pure 2, choice 2, chosen 2

    Jeremiah 51:11 Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His plan is aimed at Babylon to destroy her, for it is the vengeance of the LORD — vengeance for His temple.

    Full study and all 16 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.