Word study
Sink
6 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: sink, sinks, sinking. 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 “sink” 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)
- שָׁקַע shâqasink, sink downtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H8257Verb · Translated: died 1, sink 1, settle 1, sinks 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Jeremiah 51:64 Then you are to say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again, because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will grow weary.’” Here end the words of Jeremiah.
Amos 9:5 The Lord GOD of Hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, and all its dwellers mourn — all the land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt —
- יָרַד yâradcome or go down, descendtranslated this way 1 time of its 372 uses · Strong’s H3381Verb · Translated: went 56, go 55, come 35, came 26Full study and all 341 verses →
Deuteronomy 28:43 The foreigner living among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink down lower and lower.
- טָבַע ṭâbasink, sink downtranslated this way 1 time of its 10 uses · Strong’s H2883Verb · Translated: sank 3, sunk 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Psalm 69:14 Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink; deliver me from my foes and out of the deep waters.
- שָׁפֵל shâphêlbe or become low, be abasedtranslated this way 1 time of its 30 uses · Strong’s H8213Verb · Translated: humbled 5, humbles 2, bring 2, bring him low 2Full study and all 28 verses →
Isaiah 32:19 But hail will level the forest, and the city will sink to the depths.
- נָפַל nâphalfall, lietranslated this way 1 time of its 432 uses · Strong’s H5307Verb · Translated: fall 104, fell 77, fallen 54, falls 21Full study and all 403 verses →
- שׁוּחַ shûachsink downtranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H7743Verb · Translated: sunk 1, sinks 1, humbled 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Proverbs 2:18 For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits.
Greek words (New Testament)
- καταποντίζω katapontízōI sink in the sea, am drownedtranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G2670Verb · Translated: sink 1, drowned 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 14:30 But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
- βυθίζω bythízōI cause to sink, sinktranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1036Verb · Translated: began to sink 1, plunge 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Luke 5:7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
- τίθημι títhēmiI put, placetranslated this way 1 time of its 98 uses · Strong’s G5087Verb · Translated: put 18, placed 12, lay 12, laid 10Full study and all 94 verses →
Luke 9:44 “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”
- καταφέρω kataphérōI bring down, oppresstranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s G2702Verb · Translated: sinking 1, sound 1, bringing 1, cast my vote 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Acts 20:9 And a certain young man named Eutychus, seated in the window, was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell from the third story and was picked up dead.
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.