Word study

Sword

2 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: sword, swords. 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 “sword” 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)

  • חֶרֶב cherebswordtranslated this way 392 times of its 405 uses · Strong’s H2719Noun  ·  Translated: sword 357, swords 27, knives 3, war 2

    Genesis 3:24 So He drove out the man and stationed cherubim on the east side of the Garden of Eden, along with a whirling sword of flame to guard the way to the tree of life.

    Exodus 5:3 “The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they answered. “Please let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”

    Full study and all 368 verses →
  • שֶׁלַח shelachmissile, weapon, sprouttranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H7973Noun  ·  Translated: weapons 2, sword 2, weapon 1, carried his weapon 1

    Job 33:18 to preserve his soul from the Pit and his life from perishing by the sword.

    Job 36:12 But if they do not obey, then they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.

    Full study and all 8 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • μάχαιρα máchairaa swordtranslated this way 27 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s G3162Noun  ·  Translated: sword 20, swords 7, of 2

    Matthew 10:34 Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

    Mark 14:43 While Jesus was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, accompanied by a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, scribes, and elders.

    Full study and all 26 verses →
  • ῥομφαία rhomphaíaa sword, piercing grieftranslated this way 7 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G4501Noun  ·  Translated: sword 7

    Luke 2:35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed — and a sword will pierce your soul as well.”

    Revelation 1:16 He held in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.

    Full study and all 7 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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 sword: 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.