Word study
Tear
12 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: tear, tears, tearing. 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 “tear” 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)
- דִּמְעָה dimâhtearstranslated this way 20 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s H1832Noun · Translated: tears 20, weeping 2, of 1Full study and all 22 verses →
2 Kings 20:5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. I will surely heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the house of the LORD.
Psalm 6:6 I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
- נָתַץ nâthatspull down, break downtranslated this way 12 times of its 42 uses · Strong’s H5422Verb · Translated: tear 11, torn 10, tore 8, broke 4Full study and all 41 verses →
Exodus 34:13 Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles.
Deuteronomy 7:5 Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire.
- קָרַע qârateartranslated this way 11 times of its 63 uses · Strong’s H7167Verb · Translated: tore 25, torn 15, tear 11, away 3Full study and all 60 verses →
Exodus 28:32 with an opening at its top in the center. Around the opening shall be a woven collar with an opening like that of a garment, so that it will not tear.
2 Samuel 3:31 Then David ordered Joab and all the people with him, “Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner.” And King David himself walked behind the funeral bier.
- טָרַף ṭâraphtear, rend, plucktranslated this way 9 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H2963Verb · Translated: torn to pieces 3, tear 3, tears 2, tearing 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Deuteronomy 33:20 Concerning Gad he said: “Blessed is he who enlarges the domain of Gad! He lies down like a lion and tears off an arm or a head.
Job 18:4 You who tear yourself in anger— should the earth be forsaken on your account, or the rocks be moved from their place?
- הָרַס hârasthrow down, break or tear downtranslated this way 8 times of its 42 uses · Strong’s H2040Verb · Translated: demolish 7, tear 6, torn 6, destroyed 5Full study and all 42 verses →
Judges 6:25 On that very night the LORD said to Gideon, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old, tear down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
Job 12:14 What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released.
- נָתַק nâthaqpull, draw, tear away, apart, offtranslated this way 4 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s H5423Verb · Translated: broken 4, torn 3, snapped 3, tear 3Full study and all 25 verses →
Isaiah 58:6 Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke?
Jeremiah 30:8 On that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will break the yoke off their necks and tear off their bonds, and no longer will strangers enslave them.
- פָּרַק pâraqtear apart, awaytranslated this way 3 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H6561Verb · Translated: tear 2, Take 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Genesis 27:40 You shall live by the sword and serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will tear his yoke from your neck.”
Psalm 7:2 or they will shred my soul like a lion and tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
- מַיִם mayimwater, juice, urinetranslated this way 3 times of its 533 uses · Strong’s H4325Noun · Translated: water 298, waters 176, like water 15, flood 3Full study and all 497 verses →
- שָׁסַע shâsadivide, cleavetranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H8156Verb · Translated: tear it open 1, completely divided 1, divided 1, tore the lion apart 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Leviticus 1:17 He shall tear it open by its wings, without dividing the bird completely. And the priest is to burn it on the altar atop the burning wood. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.’’
Judges 14:6 and the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.
- פָּרַם pâramtear, rend garmenttranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H6533Verb · Translated: tear 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Leviticus 10:6 Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair become disheveled and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the LORD will be angry with the whole congregation. But your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may mourn on account of the fire that the LORD has ignited.
Leviticus 21:10 The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair hang loose or tear his garments.
- נָסַח nâsachpull or tear awaytranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H5255Verb · Translated: uprooted 2, tear you away 1, tears 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Psalm 52:5 Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
Proverbs 15:25 The LORD tears down the house of the proud, but He protects the boundaries of the widow.
- בָּקַע bâqacleave, break open or throughtranslated this way 2 times of its 51 uses · Strong’s H1234Verb · Translated: split 7, breached 4, divided 3, burst forth 2Full study and all 50 verses →
Ezekiel 29:7 When Israel took hold of you with their hands, you splintered, tearing all their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke, and their backs were wrenched.
Hosea 13:8 Like a bear robbed of her cubs I will attack them, and I will tear open their chests. There I will devour them like a lion, like a wild beast tearing them apart.
Greek words (New Testament)
- δάκρυ dákrya teartranslated this way 10 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G1144Noun · Translated: tears 8, tear 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Luke 7:38 As she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair. Then she kissed His feet and anointed them with the perfume.
Acts 20:19 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, especially in the trials that came upon me through the plots of the Jews.
- σχίζω schízōI rend, divide asundertranslated this way 3 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G4977Verb · Translated: torn 4, tear 2, divided 2, split 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Luke 5:36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will tear the new garment as well, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
John 19:24 So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it. Instead, let us cast lots to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill the Scripture: “They divided My garments among them, and cast lots for My clothing.” So that is what the soldiers did.
- σχίσμα schísmaa rent, divisiontranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G4978Noun · Translated: division 4, tear 2, divisions 2Full study and all 8 verses →
Matthew 9:16 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. For the patch will pull away from the garment, and a worse tear will result.
Mark 2:21 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, and a worse tear will result.
- καθαίρεσις kathaíresistaking down, destroyingtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G2506Noun · Translated: tearing 2, demolish 1Full study and all 3 verses →
2 Corinthians 10:8 For even if I boast somewhat excessively about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed.
2 Corinthians 13:10 This is why I write these things while absent, so that when I am present I will not need to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.
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.