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פַּ֫חַד

terror

‘terror’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓

H6343 Strong's Hebrew
pachad Transliteration
/pakh'-ad/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 49 appearances

Compare with another word →

About this entry

At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.

פחד (pachad) is a Hebrew noun most often rendered “terror.” Debuting at Genesis 31:42, it then recurs through the corpus. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 48 verses — moderately common. It is not a single-sense word — see its full sense range. Related forms include פחד, פחד and פחדה. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
dread
Modern gloss
terror
Strong's 1890 sometimes compressed multiple senses — or homonymous roots — under one number, and used 19th-century English phrasing that no longer carries the same connotation. The modern gloss reflects current BDB scholarship; open the Lexicon Entry tab for the full sense breakdown. Download share card

About this word

Strong's H6343 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.

These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →

48
distinct verses
The word appears in 48 distinct verses.
14 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 14 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 31:42
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 31:42.
Lamentations 3:47
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Lamentations 3:47.
#752
by frequency
Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 752 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 48 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 6 · 13%
  • Historical 9 · 19%
  • Wisdom 23 · 48%
  • Prophets 10 · 21%

By traditional corpus

Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 48 distinct verses.

  • Writings (Ketuvim) 32 verses · 67%
  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 10 verses · 21%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 6 verses · 13%

How translations render this word

Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).

BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.

  • King James Version: Fear 37×, Dread 3×, Were they in great 2×
  • American Standard Version: Fear 30×, Dread 4×, Terror 4×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Fear 12×, Terror 12×, Dread 9×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Fear 10×, Dread of 8×, Dread 5×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H6343 across 49 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Fear” 37×
  • “Dread” 3×
  • “Were they in great” 2×

Plus 7 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.

American Standard Version Public Domain

Renders H6343 across 49 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Fear” 30×
  • “Dread” 4×
  • “Terror” 4×
  • “Were they in great” 2×

Plus 9 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.

Berean Standard Bible Public Domain

Renders H6343 across 49 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Fear” 12×
  • “Terror” 12×
  • “Dread” 9×
  • “Panic” 3×

Plus 13 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H6343 across 46 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Fear” 10×
  • “Dread of” 8×
  • “Dread” 5×
  • “Fear of” 4×
  • “Terror of” 4×
  • “Terror” 3×
  • “Fear of you” 2×

Plus 10 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.


Senses in the full BDB

What do BDB’s symbols mean?

BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:

Symbol Meaning
𝔊 the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX)
𝔙 the Vulgate (the Latin translation)
𝔖 the Syriac version (the Peshitta)
𝔗 the Targum (the Aramaic translation)
ψ the Psalms
√ root (the underlying root or stem)
‖ parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel)
† the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited

The 3 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.

  • 1. dread, פ׳ י׳, i.e. before י׳, often (not always) terrifying, unfitting for action, †Is 2:10, 19, 21; 1 S 11:7; 2 Ch 14:13; 17:10, so פ׳ אֱלֹהִים †20:29, c. sf. Jb 13:11 ψ 119:120 trembleth for dread of thee; c. genit. obj. Isr., †Dt 2:25 (‖ יִרְאָה), 11:25 (‖ מוֹרָא), ψ 105:38 Est 8:17; 9:2, פ׳ אוֹיֵב †ψ 64:2, of individual †1 Ch 14:17; Est 9:3; c. genit. obj. rei Pr 1:33; abs., in gen., Ex 15:16 (song; ‖ אֵימָ֫תָה), Jb 4:14 (‖ רְעָדָה), Je 30:5 (‖ קוֹל חֲרָדָה) +; as acc. cogn. c. פָּחַד ψ 14:5 + (v. פָּחַד); c. genit. subj. †Pr 1:26, 27 (both ‖ אֵיד) Dt 28:67. e.g. Isaiah 2:10
  • 2. = object of dread †ψ 31:12; 36:2, פ׳ אֵלַי Jb 31:23; פַּחַד פָּחַדְתִּי †Jb 3:25; מִקּוֹל הַפַּחַד †Is 24:18 sound of the disaster, for מִפְּנֵי הַפּ׳ of orig. Je 48:44, but קוֹל פְּחָדִים †Jb 15:21 = a sound of terrors; פ׳ פִּתְאֹם 22:10; Pr 3:25. e.g. Psalms 31:12
  • 3. as design. dei †פ׳ יִצְחָק Gn 31:42 (‖ אֱלֹהֵי אַבְרָהָם), so v 53 (‖ id.; both E). e.g. Genesis 31:42

Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.


Word origin

I. n.m. 1 S 11:7 dread;—פ׳ abs. Gn 31:42 +, cstr. 1 S 11:7 +, sf. פַּחְדְּךָ Dt 2:25 ψ 119:120, פַּחְדּוֹ Jb 13:11 1 Ch 14:17, etc.; pl. פְּחָדִים Jb 15:21:—

II. n.[m.] thigh (prob. loan-word (through Aramaic, otherwise ذ = ז) from Arabic فَخِذٌ thigh and (cf. WeGGN, 1893, 479) sub-tribe, Palm. פחד tribe);—גִּידֵי פַחְדּוֹ Jb 40:17 Kt the sinews of his thigh (Qr du. פַחֲדָיו), of hippopotamus.

— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.

Derived from פחד (pâchad) (H6342) — to fear.

Part of speech: Noun Masculine TWOT: 1756a


Jastrow Dictionary

A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.

פָּחַד

  • (b. h.) [to breathe, pant,] to fear; to be anxious. Esth. R. to V, 1 למה תִפְחְדִי why art thou afraid? Midr. Till. to Ps. XIV שלא פָחֲדוּ מן וכ׳ that they were not afraid of the Lord; a. e.
    • to be frightened, excited. Esth. R. to IV, 15 היתה אסתר נִפְחֶדֶת מאוד וכ׳ Esther was greatly excited on account of the evil &c. Cant. R. to III, 8 מתיראין ומזדעזעין ונִפְחָדִין afraid, trembling, and excited; a. e.
    • to frighten. Num. R. s. 16 כשמבקשין להַפְחִידוֹ when they want to frighten the child, v. רְצוּעָה; a. e.
    • same. Part. pass. מְפוּחָד; pl. מְפוּחָדִים. Sifra B’har, Par. 3, ch. IV (ref. to Lev. XXV, 19) לא מפוזרים ולא מפ׳ neither scattered, nor frightened. e.g. Leviticus 25:19
    • to be afraid; to be joyously excited; to await with anxiety. Pesik. R. s. 15 ולא היו מתיראים ולא מִתְפַּחֲדִים and they were neither afraid, nor excited; Yalk. Ps. 795. Deut. R. s. 1, end מתייראין ומִתְפַּחֲדִין מכם trembled and were afraid of you. Ab. d’R. N. ch. IX שיהא לבו של־אדם מִתְפַּחֵד וכ׳ that a man’s heart should be afraid (of an evil occurrence) every day. Gen. R. s. 48 זה מִתְפַּחֵד לומר איזו פרוקופי וכ׳ the one is excited thinking what the distinction will be which the king is to confer upon me; וזה מתפ׳ ואומר איזה דין וכ׳ and the other is excited thinking what the judgment will be &c.; Yalk. Is. 304. Tanḥ. Lekh 15 אתם מתפחדין על הטוב וכ׳ you will be excited with joy over the good which is reserved for you (ref. to ופחדו, Hos. III, 5). Cant. R. l. c.; a. fr. e.g. Hosea 3:5

פְּחַד

  • Part. pass. פָּחִיד. Targ. O. Deut. XXVIII, 66 (ed. Berl. a. oth. תוה).
    • same. Ber. 60ᵃ חזייה דקא מְפַחֵיד (Ms. F. פָּחִיד) he saw that he was in fear; ib. מ"ט קא מְפַחְדַּת Ms. M. (differ. in ed.) why art thou afraid?; Yalk. Job 897; Yalk. Is. l. c. מְפַחַד (Part. pass.). Pes. 111ᵇ, sq. מפחיד will be in fear (without knowing why); a. e.

פַּחַד

  • preced.) fear. Esth. R. to IV, 6 פ׳ ורעד fear and trembling. Yalk. Ex. 181 נפל פַּחְדָּם עליהם the dread of them fell upon them. Gitt. 70ᵃ שלשה דברים … פ׳ דרך ועון three things break a man’s energies, they are, fear, travel, and sin. B. Bath. 10ᵃ גוף קשה פ׳ שוברו a body is strong, fear breaks it; פ׳ קשה יין מפיגו fear is strong, wine drives it out; a. e.

פַּחַד ²

  • Targ. Esth. VIII, 17; a. fr.—[Targ. Y. Lev. XIV, 50 דפחד ed. Amst., v. פְּחַר.]—Sot. 20ᵇ, v. בִּיעֲתוּתָא. Snh. 95ᵇ bot. ההוא גברא בההוא פ׳ נמי יתיב this man, too, lives in that fear, i.e. that is the very thing that troubles me. B. Mets. 66ᵇ דילמא לפכוחי פַחְדֵּיה קא שתי perhaps he drinks to break his fear (to get courage)?; Taan. 13ᵇ פחודיה some ed. (corr. acc.).—[V. פַּחְדִּין.]

A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.


Forms in the corpus

The 35 distinct written forms H6343 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.

Form Parsing Example Uses
פַּ֣חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct 2 Chronicles 17:10 5
פַּ֥חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Isaiah 24:17 3
פַּֽחַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Esther 8:17 3
מִ/פַּ֣חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Proverbs 3:25 2
הַ/פַּ֨חַד֙ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Isaiah 24:18 2
מִ/פַּ֥חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Proverbs 1:33 2
פַ֣חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Job 3:25 2
פַֽחַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct 2 Chronicles 14:14 2
פַּ֤חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Isaiah 2:19 2
בְּ/פַ֖חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Genesis 31:53 1
וָ/פַ֔חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Exodus 15:16 1
וָ/פַ֣חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Job 25:2 1
וּ/פַ֤חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Genesis 31:42 1
וּ/פַ֪חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Psalms 31:11 1
וּ֝/פַחְדּ֗/וֹ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Job 13:11 1
לְ֭/פַחַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Job 39:22 1
מִ/פַּ֖חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Song of Solomon 3:8 1
מִ/פַּ֤חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Deuteronomy 28:67 1
מִ/פַּחְדְּ/ךָ֣ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Psalms 119:120 1
מִ/פָּ֑חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Job 21:9 1
פַחְדְּ/כֶֽם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Proverbs 1:26 1
פַחַד֮ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Psalms 53:5 1
פָ֑חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Psalms 14:5 1
פָ֥חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Psalms 53:5 1
פָֽחַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Job 39:16 1
פְּחָדִ֥ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Job 15:21 1
פַּ֖חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Jeremiah 30:5 1
פַּ֗חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Jeremiah 49:5 1
פַּ֧חַד Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Lamentations 3:47 1
פַּחְדּ֖/וֹ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct 1 Chronicles 14:17 1
פַּחְדְּ/ךָ֙ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Deuteronomy 2:25 1
פַּחְדְּ/כֶ֗ם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Proverbs 1:27 1
פַּחְדְּ/כֶ֨ם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Deuteronomy 11:25 1
פַּחְדָּ֖/ם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Esther 9:2 1
פַּחְדָּ֣/ם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Psalms 105:38 1

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H6343, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.

Derives from

Derived from this word

Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.


Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 45 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 48 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.

Read these verses in the Septuagint

This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.

Reading settings

Reading text

Shown beneath each verse's original-language words.

Old Testament
Old Testament edition

Read the OT as the Masoretic Hebrew (MT) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX).

English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

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