Word study
Wrath
7 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “wrath”. 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 “wrath” 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)
- חֵמָה chêmâhheat, ragetranslated this way 71 times of its 121 uses · Strong’s H2534Noun · Translated: wrath 69, fury 22, venom 5, rage 4Full study and all 114 verses →
Numbers 25:11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned My wrath away from the Israelites; for he was zealous for My sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in My zeal.
Deuteronomy 9:19 For I was afraid of the anger and wrath that the LORD had directed against you, enough to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me this time as well.
- קֶצֶף qetsephwrathtranslated this way 19 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H7110Noun · Translated: wrath 17, anger 5Full study and all 29 verses →
Numbers 1:53 But the Levites are to camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony and watch over it, so that no wrath will fall on the congregation of Israel. So the Levites are responsible for the tabernacle of the Testimony.”
Deuteronomy 29:28 The LORD uprooted them from their land in His anger, rage, and great wrath, and He cast them into another land, where they are today.’
- עֶבְרָה ebrâhoverflow, arrogance, furytranslated this way 15 times of its 34 uses · Strong’s H5678Noun · Translated: wrath 15, fury 10, anger 2, rage 2Full study and all 34 verses →
Genesis 49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
Job 21:30 Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.
- אַף aphnostril, nose, face, angertranslated this way 12 times of its 243 uses · Strong’s H639Noun · Translated: anger 165, facedown 14, nostrils 11, nose 10Full study and all 238 verses →
Job 20:28 The possessions of his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s wrath.
Psalm 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in your rebellion, when His wrath ignites in an instant. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.
- זַעַם zaamindignationtranslated this way 7 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s H2195Noun · Translated: indignation 8, wrath 6, fury 3, anger 2Full study and all 22 verses →
Psalm 69:24 Pour out Your wrath upon them, and let Your burning anger overtake them.
Isaiah 10:5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.
- חָרוֹן chârôn(burning of) angertranslated this way 5 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H2740Noun · Translated: fierce 10, burning anger 8, fierce anger 7, fury 4Full study and all 40 verses →
Exodus 15:7 You overthrew Your adversaries by Your great majesty. You unleashed Your burning wrath; it consumed them like stubble.
Nehemiah 13:18 Did not your forefathers do the same things, so that our God brought all this disaster on us and on this city? And now you are rekindling His wrath against Israel by profaning the Sabbath!”
- זָעַם zâambe indignanttranslated this way 2 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s H2194Verb · Translated: denounce 3, angry 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Proverbs 22:14 The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the wrath of the LORD will fall into it.
Isaiah 66:14 When you see, you will rejoice, and you will flourish like grass; then the hand of the LORD will be revealed to His servants, but His wrath will be shown to His enemies.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὀργή orgḗanger, wrath, passiontranslated this way 25 times of its 36 uses · Strong’s G3709Noun · Translated: wrath 25, anger 8, for 1, retribution 1Full study and all 34 verses →
Matthew 3:7 But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Luke 3:7 Then John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
- θυμός thymósan outburst of passion, wrathtranslated this way 4 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s G2372Noun · Translated: rage 4, wrath 4, anger 3, fury 3Full study and all 17 verses →
Revelation 14:19 So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes of the earth, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.
Revelation 15:1 Then I saw another great and marvelous sign in heaven: seven angels with the seven final plagues, with which the wrath of God is completed.
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.
What the Bible says about wrath: passages by topic →
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.