Word study
Stumble
6 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: stumble, stumbling, stumbled, stumbles. 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 “stumble” 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)
- כָּשַׁל kâshalstumble, stagger, tottertranslated this way 39 times of its 63 uses · Strong’s H3782Verb · Translated: stumble 23, stumbled 7, fall 5, stumbles 4Full study and all 59 verses →
Leviticus 26:37 They will stumble over one another as before the sword, though no one is behind them. So you will not be able to stand against your enemies.
Job 4:4 Your words have steadied those who stumbled; you have braced the knees that were buckling.
- מִכְשׁוֹל mikshôla stumbling, means or occasion of stumbling, stumbling-blocktranslated this way 10 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H4383Noun · Translated: stumbling block 6, stumbling blocks 2Full study and all 14 verses →
Leviticus 19:14 You must not curse the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.
Psalm 119:165 Abundant peace belongs to those who love Your law; nothing can make them stumble.
- דְּחִי dechîstumblingtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H1762Noun · Translated: stumbling 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Psalm 56:13 For You have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.
Psalm 116:8 For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
- נָגַף nâgaphstrike, smitetranslated this way 2 times of its 48 uses · Strong’s H5062Verb · Translated: defeated 17, strike 9, struck 6, routed 3Full study and all 46 verses →
Proverbs 3:23 Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble.
Jeremiah 13:16 Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. You wait for light, but He turns it into deep gloom and thick darkness.
- תָּעָה tââherrtranslated this way 2 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s H8582Verb · Translated: astray 5, go astray 4, wandered 3, stray 3Full study and all 45 verses →
Isaiah 28:7 These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.
- שָׁמַט shâmaṭlet droptranslated this way 2 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H8058Verb · Translated: stumbled 2Full study and all 8 verses →
2 Samuel 6:6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen had stumbled.
1 Chronicles 13:9 When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark, because the oxen had stumbled.
Greek words (New Testament)
- σκάνδαλον skándalona snare, stumbling-blocktranslated this way 7 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s G4625Noun · Translated: stumbling block 4, offense 3, stumbling blocks 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Matthew 16:23 But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
Luke 17:1 Jesus said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks will come, but woe to the one through whom they come!
- πρόσκομμα próskommaa stumbling-blocktranslated this way 6 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G4348Noun · Translated: stumbling 3, stumbling block 3Full study and all 6 verses →
Romans 9:32 Why not? Because their pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,
1 Corinthians 8:9 Be careful, however, that your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
- προσκόπτω proskóptōI stumbletranslated this way 5 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G4350Verb · Translated: stumble 4, strike 2, beat 1, stumbled 1Full study and all 8 verses →
John 11:9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? If anyone walks in the daytime, he will not stumble, because he sees by the light of this world.
Romans 9:32 Why not? Because their pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,
- πταίω ptaíōI stumble, fall, sintranslated this way 4 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G4417Verb · Translated: stumble 3, stumbles 1, fault 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Romans 11:11 I ask then, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Certainly not! However, because of their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous.
James 2:10 Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
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.