Word study
Strength
12 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “strength”. 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 “strength” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- כֹּחַ kôachstrength, powertranslated this way 58 times of its 118 uses · Strong’s H3581Noun · Translated: strength 54, power 35, produce 2, powerless 2Full study and all 114 verses →
Genesis 31:6 You know that I have served your father with all my strength.
Leviticus 26:20 and your strength will be spent in vain. For your land will not yield its produce, and the trees of the land will not bear their fruit.
- עֹז ôzstrength, mighttranslated this way 46 times of its 91 uses · Strong’s H5797Noun · Translated: strength 45, power 10, strong 9, mighty 9Full study and all 90 verses →
Exodus 15:2 The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
Judges 5:21 The River Kishon swept them away, the ancient river, the River Kishon. March on, O my soul, in strength!
- גְּבוּרָה gebûrâhstrength, mighttranslated this way 15 times of its 60 uses · Strong’s H1369Noun · Translated: strength 15, power 8, mighty acts 5, his might 5Full study and all 60 verses →
Judges 8:21 Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up and kill us yourself, for as the man is, so is his strength.” So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments from the necks of their camels.
2 Kings 18:20 You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. In whom are you now trusting, that you have rebelled against me?
- חַיִל chayilstrength, efficiency, wealth, armytranslated this way 10 times of its 233 uses · Strong’s H2428Noun · Translated: army 73, valor 49, wealth 26, strength 9Full study and all 219 verses →
1 Samuel 2:4 The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble are equipped with strength.
2 Samuel 22:40 You have armed me with strength for battle; You have subdued my foes beneath me.
- זְרוֹעַ zerôaarm, shoulder, strengthtranslated this way 7 times of its 90 uses · Strong’s H2220Noun · Translated: arm 49, arms 18, strength 7, power 3Full study and all 84 verses →
1 Samuel 2:31 Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that no one in it will reach old age.
Job 22:9 You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.
- חָזַק châzaqbe or grow firm, strong, strengthentranslated this way 6 times of its 290 uses · Strong’s H2388Verb · Translated: strong 37, made repairs 22, strengthened 16, repaired 15Full study and all 264 verses →
Genesis 48:2 When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up in bed.
Deuteronomy 11:8 You shall therefore keep every commandment I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and possess the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess,
- אוֹן ônvigour, wealthtranslated this way 3 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s H202Noun · Translated: strength 3, wealth 2, power 2, vigor 2Full study and all 12 verses →
Genesis 49:3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.
Job 18:12 His strength is depleted, and calamity is ready at his side.
- יָד yâdhandtranslated this way 3 times of its 1,403 uses · Strong’s H3027Noun · Translated: hand 664, hands 349, through 64, power 22Full study and all 1,290 verses →
Deuteronomy 32:36 For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.
Judges 1:35 And the Amorites were determined to dwell in Mount Heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim. But when the house of Joseph grew in strength, they pressed the Amorites into forced labor.
- חֹזֶק chôzeqstrengthtranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H2392Noun · Translated: strength 2, mighty 2, power 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Exodus 13:3 So Moses told the people, “Remember this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; for the LORD brought you out of it by the strength of His hand. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.
Amos 6:13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar and say, ‘Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?’
- תּוֹעָפָה tôâphâheminencetranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H8443Noun · Translated: strength 2, finest 1, peaks 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Numbers 23:22 God brought them out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox.
Numbers 24:8 God brought him out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox, to devour hostile nations and crush their bones, to pierce them with arrows.
- מְאֹד meôdmuchness, force, abundance, exceedinglytranslated this way 2 times of its 195 uses · Strong’s H3966Adverb · Translated: greatly 28, very 12, was very 8, exceedingly 8Full study and all 186 verses →
Deuteronomy 6:5 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
2 Kings 23:25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there any king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, according to all the Law of Moses.
- עׇצְמָה otsmâhmighttranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H6109Noun · Translated: strength 2, potency 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Isaiah 40:29 He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.
Nahum 3:9 Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were her allies.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἰσχύς ischýsstrength, powertranslated this way 7 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G2479Noun · Translated: strength 7, mighty 1, power 1, might 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Mark 12:30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Luke 10:27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
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.
What the Bible says about strength: passages by topic →
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.