Word study
Stir
6 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: stirred, stirs, stir, stirring. 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 “stir” 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)
- עוּר ûrrouse oneself, awaketranslated this way 18 times of its 80 uses · Strong’s H5782Verb · Translated: Awake 19, stirred 9, awaken 6, rouse 5Full study and all 65 verses →
Deuteronomy 32:11 As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.
1 Chronicles 5:26 So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria (that is, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria) to take the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh into exile. And he brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river of Gozan, where they remain to this day.
- גָּרָה gârâhengage in strifetranslated this way 6 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H1624Verb · Translated: provoke 3, stirs 3, stir 2Full study and all 13 verses →
2 Kings 14:10 You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has become proud. Glory in that and stay at home. Why should you stir up trouble so that you fall— you and Judah with you?”
2 Chronicles 25:19 You have said, ‘Look, I have defeated Edom,’ and your heart has become proud and boastful. Now stay at home. Why should you stir up trouble so that you fall — you and Judah with you?”
- נָשָׂא nâsâlift, take, carrytranslated this way 3 times of its 642 uses · Strong’s H5375Verb · Translated: bear 49, lift 45, lifted 41, carried 38Full study and all 601 verses →
Exodus 35:21 And everyone whose heart stirred him and whose spirit prompted him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its services, and for the holy garments.
Exodus 35:26 And all the skilled women whose hearts were stirred spun the goat hair.
- עָלָה âlâhgo up, ascend, climbtranslated this way 3 times of its 873 uses · Strong’s H5927Verb · Translated: go 118, went 107, brought 56, come 42Full study and all 807 verses →
- רָגַע râgadisturbtranslated this way 3 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H7280Verb · Translated: stirs 2, instant 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Job 26:12 By His power He stirred the sea; by His understanding He shattered Rahab.
Isaiah 51:15 For I am the LORD your God who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD of Hosts is His name.
- סוּת sûthincite, allure, instigatetranslated this way 2 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H5496Verb · Translated: urged 3, stirred 2, incited 2, mislead 2Full study and all 18 verses →
1 Samuel 26:19 Now please, may my lord the king hear the words of his servant: If the LORD has stirred you up against me, then may He accept an offering. But if men have done it, may they be cursed in the presence of the LORD! For today they have driven me away from sharing in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’
2 Samuel 24:1 Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He stirred up David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀνασείω anaseíōI shake up, stir up, excitetranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G383Verb · Translated: stirred 1, stirs 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Mark 15:11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them instead.
Luke 23:5 But they kept insisting, “He stirs up the people all over Judea with His teaching. He began in Galilee and has come all the way here.”
- ἐπεγείρω epegeírōI arouse, stimulate, excite againsttranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1892Verb · Translated: stirred 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 13:50 The Jews, however, incited the religious women of prominence and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.
Acts 14:2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
- 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 →
Acts 21:30 The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.
Acts 24:5 We have found this man to be a pestilence, stirring up dissension among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes,
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.