Word study
Toss
5 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: toss, tossed, tossing. 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 “toss” 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)
- זָרַק zâraqto toss or throwtranslated this way 2 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s H2236Verb · Translated: splattered 12, splatter 10, sprinkled 2Full study and all 33 verses →
Exodus 9:8 Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the furnace; in the sight of Pharaoh, Moses is to toss it into the air.
Exodus 9:10 So they took soot from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on man and beast.
- שָׁלַךְ shâlakthrow, fling, casttranslated this way 2 times of its 126 uses · Strong’s H7993Verb · Translated: cast 27, threw 20, throw 16, thrown 10Full study and all 121 verses →
Psalm 60:8 Moab is My washbasin; upon Edom I toss My sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
Psalm 108:9 Moab is My washbasin; upon Edom I toss My sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
- שָׂבַע sâbabe sated, satisfied, surfeitedtranslated this way 1 time of its 97 uses · Strong’s H7646Verb · Translated: satisfied 39, filled 11, satisfy 10, fill 7Full study and all 93 verses →
Job 7:4 When I lie down I think: ‘When will I get up?’ But the night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.
- מוּג mûgmelttranslated this way 1 time of its 17 uses · Strong’s H4127Verb · Translated: melt away 3, melting in fear 2, melts 2Full study and all 17 verses →
Job 30:22 You snatch me up into the wind and drive me before it; You toss me about in the storm.
- מָגַר mâgarcast, throw, tosstranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H4048Verb · Translated: cast 1, tossed 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Ezekiel 21:12 Cry out and wail, O son of man, for the sword is wielded against My people; it is against all the princes of Israel! They are tossed to the sword with My people; therefore strike your thigh.
Greek words (New Testament)
- βάλλω bállōI cast, throw, rush, put, place, droptranslated this way 4 times of its 120 uses · Strong’s G906Verb · Translated: thrown 26, put 16, throw 11, cast 10Full study and all 106 verses →
Matthew 15:26 But Jesus replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
Mark 7:27 “First let the children have their fill,” He said. “For it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
- χειμάζω cheimázōI am storm-tossedtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G5492Verb · Translated: tossed 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Acts 27:18 We were tossed so violently that the next day the men began to jettison the cargo.
- κλυδωνίζομαι klydōnízomaiI am tossed by wavestranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G2831Verb · Translated: tossed about by the waves 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Ephesians 4:14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
- ῥιπίζω rhipízōI toss to and frotranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G4494Verb · Translated: tossed by the wind 1Full study and its 1 verse →
James 1:6 But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
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.