Word study
Waste
12 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: waste, wasting, wasted, wastes. 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 “waste” 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)
- חָרַב chârabbe dry, dried uptranslated this way 7 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s H2717Verb · Translated: dried 7, laid waste 6, dry 4, Kill 2Full study and all 36 verses →
2 Kings 19:17 Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste these nations and their lands.
Isaiah 37:18 Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all these countries and their lands.
- שַׁמָּה shammâhwaste, appalmenttranslated this way 6 times of its 39 uses · Strong’s H8047Noun · Translated: desolation 12, horror 7, object of horror 6, laid waste 3Full study and all 39 verses →
Psalm 73:19 How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!
Jeremiah 2:15 The young lions have roared at him; they have sounded their voices. They have laid waste his land; his cities lie in ruins, without inhabitant.
- שָׁמֵם shâmêmbe desoleted, appalledtranslated this way 5 times of its 85 uses · Strong’s H8074Verb · Translated: appalled 17, desolate 10, deserted 5, desolation 4Full study and all 81 verses →
Leviticus 26:31 I will reduce your cities to rubble and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will refuse to smell the pleasing aroma of your sacrifices.
Jeremiah 12:11 They have made it a desolation; desolate before Me, it mourns. All the land is laid waste, but no man takes it to heart.
- מָקַק mâqaqdecay, rot, festertranslated this way 4 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H4743Verb · Translated: rot 3, waste away 2, wasting away 2, decay 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Leviticus 26:39 Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers.
Ezekiel 4:17 So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.’’
- מְשַׁמָּה meshammâhwaste, amazementtranslated this way 4 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H4923Noun · Translated: waste 4, dried 2, horror 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Ezekiel 6:14 I will stretch out My hand against them, and wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the wilderness to Diblah. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”
Ezekiel 33:28 I will make the land a desolate waste, and the pride of her strength will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will become desolate, so that no one will pass through.
- בָּקַק bâqaqbe luxurianttranslated this way 3 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H1238Verb · Translated: emptied 1, lays waste 1, utterly 1, laid waste 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Isaiah 24:1 Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants—
Nahum 2:2 For the LORD will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and ruined the branches of their vine.
- אָמַל âmalbe weak, languishtranslated this way 3 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H535Verb · Translated: waste away 3, withered 2, languishes 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Isaiah 24:4 The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and fades; the exalted of the earth waste away.
Lamentations 2:8 The LORD determined to destroy the wall of the Daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withdraw His hand from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls lament; together they waste away.
- שַׁחֶפֶת shachephethconsumptiontranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H7829Noun · Translated: wasting disease 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Leviticus 26:16 then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.
Deuteronomy 28:22 The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; these will pursue you until you perish.
- רָזוֹן râzônleanness, wasting, scantnesstranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H7332Noun · Translated: wasting disease 2, short 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Psalm 106:15 So He granted their request, but sent a wasting disease upon them.
Isaiah 10:16 Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts will send a wasting disease among Assyria’s stout warriors, and under his pomp will be kindled a fire like a burning flame.
- רָזִי râzîleanness, wastingtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H7334Noun · Translated: wasting away 2Full study and its 1 verse →
Isaiah 24:16 From the ends of the earth we hear singing: “Glory to the Righteous One.” But I said, “I am wasting away! I am wasting away! Woe is me.” The treacherous betray; the treacherous deal in treachery.
- שָׁדַד shâdaddeal violently with, despoil, devastate, ruintranslated this way 2 times of its 56 uses · Strong’s H7703Verb · Translated: destroyed 11, destroyer 10, destroy 5, devastated 5Full study and all 47 verses →
Isaiah 23:1 This is the burden against Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.
Jeremiah 4:20 Disaster after disaster is proclaimed, for the whole land is laid waste. My tents are destroyed in an instant, my curtains in a moment.
- שְׁמָמָה shemâmâha devastation, wastetranslated this way 2 times of its 56 uses · Strong’s H8077Noun · Translated: desolate 26, desolation 19, wasteland 4Full study and all 52 verses →
Ezekiel 35:7 I will make Mount Seir a desolate waste and will cut off from it those who come and go.
Zephaniah 1:13 Their wealth will be plundered and their houses laid waste. They will build houses but not inhabit them, and plant vineyards but never drink their wine.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐρημόω erēmóōI destroy, strip, robtranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G2049Verb · Translated: laid waste 2, destroyed 2, desolate 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Matthew 12:25 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.
Luke 11:17 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and a house divided against a house will fall.
- ἀπώλεια apṓleiadestruction, ruin, losstranslated this way 2 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s G684Noun · Translated: destruction 13, waste 2, destroyed 1, destructive 1Full study and all 16 verses →
Matthew 26:8 When the disciples saw this, they were indignant and asked, “Why this waste?
Mark 14:4 Some of those present, however, expressed their indignation to one another: “Why this waste of perfume?
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.