Word study

Withdrew

5 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “withdrew”. 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 “withdrew” 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)

  • שׁוּב shûbturn back, returntranslated this way 4 times of its 1,007 uses · Strong’s H7725Verb  ·  Translated: return 218, returned 105, restore 62, turn 56Full study and all 920 verses →
  • נָסַע nâsapull out or up, set out, journeytranslated this way 2 times of its 146 uses · Strong’s H5265Verb  ·  Translated: set 91, journeyed 4, moved 4, pulled 4

    Exodus 14:19 And the angel of God, who had gone before the camp of Israel, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them,

    2 Kings 3:27 So he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him, and offered him as a burnt offering on the city wall. And there was great fury against the Israelites, so they withdrew and returned to their own land.

    Full study and all 139 verses →
  • יָצָא yâtsâgo or come outtranslated this way 2 times of its 1,035 uses · Strong’s H3318Verb  ·  Translated: brought 108, went 103, go 82, came 78

    Exodus 35:20 Then the whole congregation of Israel withdrew from the presence of Moses.

    Full study and all 975 verses →
  • הָלַךְ hâlakgo, come, walktranslated this way 2 times of its 1,461 uses · Strong’s H1980Verb  ·  Translated: go 338, went 173, walk 116, Come 84Full study and all 1,299 verses →
  • 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 →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἀναχωρέω anachōréōI return, retire, depart, withdrawtranslated this way 9 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s G402Verb  ·  Translated: withdrew 9, gone 1, Go away 1, left 1

    Matthew 2:12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they withdrew to their country by another route.

    Mark 3:7 So Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea, accompanied by a large crowd from Galilee, Judea,

    Full study and all 14 verses →
  • ὑποχωρέω hypochōréōI withdraw, retiretranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G5298Verb  ·  Translated: withdrew 2

    Luke 5:16 Yet He frequently withdrew to the wilderness to pray.

    Luke 9:10 Then the apostles returned and reported to Jesus all that they had done. Taking them away privately, He withdrew to a town called Bethsaida.

    Full study and all 2 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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.