Word study
Slay
6 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: slain, slay, slays, slew, slayed. 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 “slay” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- חָלָל châlâlpiercedtranslated this way 57 times of its 93 uses · Strong’s H2491Noun · Translated: slain 53, dead 6, killed 6, wounded 5Full study and all 84 verses →
Numbers 19:18 Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the furnishings, and the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle the one who touched a bone, a grave, or a person who has died or been slain.
Deuteronomy 21:1 If one is found slain, lying in a field in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him,
- הָרַג hâragkill, slaytranslated this way 21 times of its 159 uses · Strong’s H2026Verb · Translated: killed 50, kill 49, slain 12, slaughtered 6Full study and all 156 verses →
Genesis 4:15 “Not so!” replied the LORD. “If anyone slays Cain, then Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him.
Exodus 32:27 He told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each of you men is to fasten his sword to his side, go back and forth through the camp from gate to gate, and slay his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’”
- מוּת mûthdietranslated this way 6 times of its 771 uses · Strong’s H4191Verb · Translated: die 198, died 152, dead 89, put to death 47Full study and all 694 verses →
Job 5:2 For resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
Psalm 34:21 Evil will slay the wicked, and the haters of the righteous will be condemned.
- נָכָה nâkâhsmitetranslated this way 6 times of its 496 uses · Strong’s H5221Verb · Translated: struck 145, strike 59, put 31, defeated 28Full study and all 460 verses →
Numbers 25:14 The name of the Israelite who was slain with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family.
Judges 15:16 Then Samson said: “With the jawbone of a donkey I have piled them into heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men.”
- קְטַל qeṭalslaytranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H6992Verb · Translated: execute 2, killed 2, slain 2, executed 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Daniel 5:30 That very night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slain,
Daniel 7:11 Then I kept watching because of the arrogant words the horn was speaking. As I continued to watch, the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire.
- קָטַל qâṭalslaytranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H6991Verb · Translated: slay 2, kill 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Job 13:15 Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. I will still defend my ways to His face.
Psalm 139:19 O God, that You would slay the wicked— away from me, you bloodthirsty men—
Greek words (New Testament)
- σφάζω spházōI slaytranslated this way 6 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G4969Verb · Translated: slain 6, murdered 1, did 1, make 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Revelation 5:6 Then I saw a Lamb who appeared to have been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
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.