Word study
Threat
3 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: threats, threat. 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 “threat” 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)
- גְּעָרָה geârâhrebuketranslated this way 3 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H1606Noun · Translated: rebuke 12, threat 3Full study and all 14 verses →
Proverbs 13:8 Riches may ransom a man’s life, but a poor man hears no threat.
Isaiah 30:17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee, until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.
- חֲבַל chăbalhurt, injurytranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H2257Noun · Translated: allow this threat 1, unharmed 1, wounds whatsoever 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Ezra 4:22 See that you do not neglect this matter. Why allow this threat to increase and the royal interests to suffer?
- דָּבָר dâbârspeech, wordtranslated this way 1 time of its 1,244 uses · Strong’s H1697Noun · Translated: word 342, words 299, acts 51, Chronicles 42Full study and all 1,120 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀπειλή apeilḗa threatening, threattranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G547Noun · Translated: threats 2, use of threats 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Acts 4:29 And now, Lord, consider their threats, and enable Your servants to speak Your word with complete boldness,
Ephesians 6:9 And masters, do the same for your slaves. Give up your use of threats, because you know that He who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him.
- προσαπειλέω prosapeiléōI utter additional threatstranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G4324Verb · Translated: further threats 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Acts 4:21 After further threats they let them go. They could not find a way to punish them, because all the people were glorifying God for what had happened.
- ἀπειλέω apeiléōI threaten, forbid by threateningtranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G546Verb · Translated: warn 1, made no threats 1Full study and all 2 verses →
1 Peter 2:23 When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.
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.