Word study
Weak
6 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “weak”. 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 “weak” 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)
- חָלָה châlâhbe weak, sicktranslated this way 8 times of its 75 uses · Strong’s H2470Verb · Translated: ill 8, sick 8, grievous 5, sought 4Full study and all 73 verses →
Judges 16:7 Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become as weak as any other man.”
Isaiah 14:10 They will all respond to you, saying, “You too have become weak, as we are; you have become like us!”
- כָּהָה kâhâhbe or grow dim, fainttranslated this way 3 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H3543Verb · Translated: weak 2, faded 2Full study and all 9 verses →
Genesis 27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” Esau replied.
Deuteronomy 34:7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak, and his vitality had not diminished.
- רַךְ raktender, delicate, softtranslated this way 2 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H7390Adjective · Translated: tender 3, gentle 3, inexperienced 3, weak 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Genesis 29:17 Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful.
2 Samuel 3:39 And I am weak this day, though anointed as king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too fierce for me. May the LORD repay the evildoer according to his evil!”
- עָטַף âṭaphturn asidetranslated this way 2 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H5848Verb · Translated: faint 3, grows faint 3Full study and all 15 verses →
Genesis 30:42 But if the animals were weak, he did not set out the branches. So the weaker animals went to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob.
Isaiah 57:16 For I will not accuse you forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me— the breath of life I have made.
- רָפֶה râphehslacktranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H7504Adjective · Translated: weak 2, feeble 1, limp 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Numbers 13:18 See what the land is like and whether its people are strong or weak, few or many.
2 Samuel 17:2 I will attack him while he is weak and weary; I will throw him into a panic, and all the people with him will flee; I will strike down only the king
- דַּל dallow, weak, poor, thintranslated this way 2 times of its 47 uses · Strong’s H1800Adjective · Translated: poor 37, poor man 3, weak 2Full study and all 46 verses →
Psalm 82:3 Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.
Psalm 82:4 Rescue the weak and needy; save them from the hand of the wicked.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀσθενής asthenḗsweak, infirm, sicktranslated this way 14 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s G772Adjective · Translated: weak 13, sick 6Full study and all 24 verses →
Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
Mark 14:38 Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
- ἀσθενέω asthenéōI am weak, sicktranslated this way 12 times of its 33 uses · Strong’s G770Verb · Translated: sick 14, weak 12, ill 2Full study and all 32 verses →
Acts 20:35 In everything, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Romans 14:1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on his opinions.
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.