Word study
Touch
7 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: touched, touches, touch, touching. 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 “touch” 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)
- נָגַע nâgatouch, reach, striketranslated this way 84 times of its 144 uses · Strong’s H5060Verb · Translated: touches 35, touched 20, touch 19, Whoever touches 6Full study and all 136 verses →
Genesis 3:3 but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’”
Exodus 4:25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched it to Moses’ feet. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.
- בּוֹא bôcome in, come, go in, gotranslated this way 3 times of its 2,442 uses · Strong’s H935Verb · Translated: come 358, came 298, bring 209, brought 201Full study and all 2,217 verses →
- פָּגַע pâgameet, encounter, reachtranslated this way 3 times of its 45 uses · Strong’s H6293Verb · Translated: strike 5, struck 4, reached 3, met 2Full study and all 43 verses →
Joshua 19:26 Allammelech, Amad, and Mishal. On the west the border touched Carmel and Shihor-libnath,
Joshua 19:27 then turned eastward toward Beth-dagon, touched Zebulun and the Valley of Iphtah-el, and went north to Beth-emek and Neiel, passing Cabul on the left.
- עָלָה âlâhgo up, ascend, climbtranslated this way 2 times of its 873 uses · Strong’s H5927Verb · Translated: go 118, went 107, brought 56, come 42Full study and all 807 verses →
Judges 13:5 For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And no razor shall touch his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
- הָיָה hâyâhfall out, come to pass, become, betranslated this way 2 times of its 2,848 uses · Strong’s H1961Verb · Translated: will be 206, become 178, came 169, was 151Full study and all 2,573 verses →
- מָשַׁשׁ mâshashfeel, gropetranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H4959Verb · Translated: grope 3, searched 2, touches 1, touched 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Genesis 27:12 What if my father touches me? Then I would be revealed to him as a deceiver, and I would bring upon myself a curse rather than a blessing.”
Genesis 27:22 So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”
- חָבַר châbarunitetranslated this way 2 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s H2266Verb · Translated: joined 6, join 4, attached 2, fastened 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Ezekiel 1:9 and their wings were touching one another. They did not turn as they moved; each one went straight ahead.
Ezekiel 1:11 Such were their faces. Their wings were spread upward; each had two wings touching the wings of the creature on either side, and two wings covering its body.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἅπτομαι háptomaiI touch or handletranslated this way 30 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s G680Verb · Translated: touched 20, touch 8, place his hands 2Full study and all 33 verses →
Matthew 8:3 Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Mark 1:41 Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!”
- ψηλαφάω psēlapháōI feel, touch, handle, grope fortranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G5584Verb · Translated: touched 2, Touch 1, reach 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Luke 24:39 Look at My hands and My feet. It is I Myself. Touch Me and see — for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
Hebrews 12:18 For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom, and storm;
- θιγγάνω thingánōI touch, handletranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G2345Verb · Translated: touch 2, touches 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Colossians 2:21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”?
Hebrews 11:28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch Israel’s own firstborn .
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.