Word study
Slip
9 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: slipped, slip, slipping, slips. 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 “slip” 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)
- מוֹט môṭtotter, shake, sliptranslated this way 4 times of its 36 uses · Strong’s H4131Verb · Translated: shaken 11, moved 7, fall 2, toppled 2Full study and all 35 verses →
Deuteronomy 32:35 Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”
Psalm 17:5 My steps have held to Your paths; my feet have not slipped.
- מָלַט mâlaṭslip awaytranslated this way 3 times of its 93 uses · Strong’s H4422Verb · Translated: escaped 22, escape 20, deliver 6, delivered 5Full study and all 85 verses →
1 Samuel 27:1 David, however, said to himself, “One of these days now I will be swept away by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will stop searching for me all over Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”
2 Samuel 4:6 They entered the interior of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped away.
- מוֹט môṭshaking, pole, bar (of yoke)translated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H4132Noun · Translated: carrying frame 2, pole 1, slipping 1, slip 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Psalm 66:9 He preserves our lives and keeps our feet from slipping.
Psalm 121:3 He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.
- סוּר sûrturn asidetranslated this way 1 time of its 294 uses · Strong’s H5493Verb · Translated: removed 46, remove 38, turn away 23, turn aside 16Full study and all 277 verses →
Deuteronomy 4:9 Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.
- שָׁלַח shâlachsendtranslated this way 1 time of its 829 uses · Strong’s H7971Verb · Translated: sent 334, send 126, go 43, sending 19Full study and all 783 verses →
1 Kings 20:42 And the prophet said to the king, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Because you have let slip from your hand the man I had devoted to destruction, your life will be exchanged for his life, and your people for his people.’”
- נוּחַ nûachresttranslated this way 1 time of its 140 uses · Strong’s H5117Verb · Translated: rest 20, leave 10, placed 9, set 7Full study and all 139 verses →
Ecclesiastes 7:18 It is good to grasp the one and not let the other slip from your hand. For he who fears God will follow both warnings.
- 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 →
2 Samuel 20:8 And while they were at the great stone in Gibeon, Amasa joined them. Now Joab was dressed in military attire, with a dagger strapped to his belt. And as he stepped forward, he slipped the dagger from its sheath.
- שָׁפַךְ shâphakpour out, pourtranslated this way 1 time of its 112 uses · Strong’s H8210Verb · Translated: pour 35, shed 26, poured 19, build 6Full study and all 108 verses →
Psalm 73:2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped.
- מָעַד mâadslip, slide, totter, shaketranslated this way 1 time of its 7 uses · Strong’s H4571Verb · Translated: give way 2, slipping 1, wavering 1, falter 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Job 12:5 The one at ease scorns misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀπέρχομαι apérchomaiI come or go away from, depart, returntranslated this way 1 time of its 114 uses · Strong’s G565Verb · Translated: went 30, go 21, went away 19, left 5Full study and all 113 verses →
Matthew 13:25 But while everyone was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and slipped away.
- ἐκνεύω ekneúōI retire, withdrawtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G1593Verb · Translated: slipped away 1Full study and its 1 verse →
John 5:13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while the crowd was there.
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.