Word study
Wild
9 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “wild”. 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 “wild” 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)
- שָׂדֶה sâdehid.translated this way 15 times of its 317 uses · Strong’s H7704Noun · Translated: field 185, fields 55, land 19, wild 13Full study and all 299 verses →
Exodus 23:29 I will not drive them out before you in a single year; otherwise the land would become desolate and wild animals would multiply against you.
Leviticus 26:22 I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate.
- פֶּרֶא perewild asstranslated this way 10 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H6501Noun · Translated: wild donkey 5, wild donkeys 4, like a wild donkey 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Genesis 16:12 He will be a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”
Job 6:5 Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass, or an ox low over its fodder?
- חַי chayalive, livingtranslated this way 8 times of its 485 uses · Strong’s H2416Noun · Translated: life 112, lives 62, living 59, live 53Full study and all 441 verses →
Genesis 7:14 they and every kind of wild animal, livestock, crawling creature, bird, and winged creature.
Exodus 23:11 but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.
- רְאֵם reêmwild oxtranslated this way 8 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H7214Noun · Translated: wild ox 3, like a wild ox 2, wild oxen 2, like that of a wild ox 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Numbers 23:22 God brought them out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox.
Deuteronomy 33:17 His majesty is like a firstborn bull, and his horns are like those of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations, even to the ends of the earth. Such are the myriads of Ephraim, and such are the thousands of Manasseh.”
- טְרֵפָה ṭerêphâhanimal torntranslated this way 5 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H2966Noun · Translated: mauled by wild beasts 3Full study and all 9 verses →
Genesis 31:39 I did not bring you anything torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or night.
Leviticus 7:24 The fat of an animal found dead or mauled by wild beasts may be used for any other purpose, but you must not eat it.
- רַע rabad, eviltranslated this way 4 times of its 651 uses · Strong’s H7451Adjective · Translated: evil 263, disaster 72, harm 38, wicked 31Full study and all 615 verses →
- בְּהֵמָה behêmâhbeast, animal, cattletranslated this way 2 times of its 186 uses · Strong’s H929Noun · Translated: livestock 45, beast 43, animal 32, animals 21Full study and all 171 verses →
Deuteronomy 32:24 They will be wasted from hunger and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them, with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.
Isaiah 18:6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey, and to the beasts of the land. The birds will feed on them in summer, and all the wild animals in winter.
- יָעֵל yâêlmountain-goattranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H3277Noun · Translated: Wild Goats 2, goats 1Full study and all 3 verses →
1 Samuel 24:2 So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to look for David and his men in the region of the Rocks of the Wild Goats.
Psalm 104:18 The high mountains are for the wild goats, the cliffs a refuge for the rock badgers.
- שָׂעִיר sâîrhe-goat, bucktranslated this way 2 times of its 58 uses · Strong’s H8163Noun · Translated: male goat 32, goat 10, goats 3, hairy 2Full study and all 57 verses →
Isaiah 13:21 But desert creatures will lie down there, and howling creatures will fill her houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about.
Isaiah 34:14 The desert creatures will meet with hyenas, and one wild goat will call to another. There the night creature will settle and find her place of repose.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἄγριος ágrioswild, fiercetranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G66Adjective · Translated: wild 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 3:4 John wore a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
Mark 1:6 John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
- θηρίον thēríona wild beast, animaltranslated this way 2 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s G2342Noun · Translated: beast 36, creature 2, beasts 2Full study and all 38 verses →
Mark 1:13 and He was there for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels ministered to Him.
Acts 11:6 I looked at it closely and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air.
- ἀγριέλαιος agriélaiosa wild olive treetranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G65Noun · Translated: wild olive shoot 1, wild olive tree 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Romans 11:17 Now if some branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others to share in the nourishment of the olive root,
Romans 11:24 For if you were cut from a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into one that is cultivated, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
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.