Word study
Surge
7 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: surge, surging, surges. 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 “surge” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- גָּבַר gâbarbe strong, mightytranslated this way 1 time of its 25 uses · Strong’s H1396Verb · Translated: prevailed 6, prevail 4, great 2, strengthen 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Genesis 7:18 So the waters continued to surge and rise greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.
- גַּאֲוָה gaăvâhmajesty, pridetranslated this way 1 time of its 18 uses · Strong’s H1346Noun · Translated: pride 8, majesty 2, proud 2Full study and all 18 verses →
Psalm 46:3 though their waters roar and foam and the mountains quake in the surge. Selah
- שֶׁצֶף shetsephan outbursttranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H8241Noun · Translated: surge 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Isaiah 54:8 In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.
- גָּעַשׁ gâashshake, quaketranslated this way 1 time of its 9 uses · Strong’s H1607Verb · Translated: shook 2, shaken 2, churn 2, convulse 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Jeremiah 5:22 Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.
- גָּרַשׁ gârashdrive out, cast outtranslated this way 1 time of its 46 uses · Strong’s H1644Verb · Translated: drive 14, drove 7, banished 4, driven 3Full study and all 45 verses →
Amos 8:8 Will not the land quake for this, and all its dwellers mourn? All of it will swell like the Nile; it will surge and then subside like the Nile in Egypt.
- גִּיחַ gîachburst forthtranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s H1518Verb · Translated: charged 1, burst forth 1, surges 1, brought me forth 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Job 40:23 Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid; he remains secure, though the Jordan surges to his mouth.
- עַז azstrong, mighty, fiercetranslated this way 1 time of its 22 uses · Strong’s H5794Adjective · Translated: strong 8, powerful 2Full study and all 22 verses →
Isaiah 43:16 Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea and a path through the surging waters,
Greek words (New Testament)
- σάλος sálosthe tossing of the sea in a tempesttranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G4535Noun · Translated: surging of the waves 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Luke 21:25 There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among the nations, bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the surging of the waves.
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.