בָּטַח
to trust
‘to trust’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Qal verb in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘with cogn. acc.’
- Hiphil
- The causative active stem (“he caused / brought about”).
Form
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Jussive
- A third- or second-person volitional form expressing wish or command (“let him write”).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Participle Passive
- A verbal adjective expressing action received (“written”).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Infinitive Absolute
- An unbound verbal noun, often intensifying or standing in for a finite verb.
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Person
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
2 verses where H982 appears in the Hiphil stem in the Book of Jeremiah. Filtered view — show all forms. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Jeremiah
- Jeremiah 28:15 הִבְטַ֛חְתָּ Hiphil pf 2ms Then said the prophet Jeremiah to Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah: Yahweh has not sent you; but you make this people to trust in a lie.
- Jeremiah 29:31 וַ/יַּבְטַ֥ח conj + Hiphil wimpf 3ms Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus says Yahweh concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I didn't send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie;
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.
The Hebrew verb בטח centers on the idea of “to trust.” Debuting at Deuteronomy 28:52, it then recurs through the corpus. Spanning 117 verses in 16 books, it ranks among the common words of the Hebrew Bible. Psalms dominates its distribution — 45 of 117 verses. Different stems carry different senses — BDB groups them under 2 stems, among them Qal and Hiphil. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H982 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 →
- 117
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 117 distinct verses.
- 16 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 16 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #360
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 360 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 117 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
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 117 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 61 verses · 52%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 55 verses · 47%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 1 verse · 1%
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).
- King James Version: Trust 17×, Trusted 6×, Trusteth 6×
- American Standard Version: Trust 14×, Trusteth 5×, Me 4×
- Berean Standard Bible: Trust 34×, Trusts 10×, I trust 6×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Trust 22×, You trust 7×, Do 6×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H982 across 120 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 48 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 H982 across 118 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 51 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 H982 across 120 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 38 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 H982 across 130 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 25 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
17 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each.
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 17 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.
Qal
- Pf. בָּטַח ψ 28:7 + 35 times; Impf. יִבְטַח Jb 40:23 + 27 times; Imv. בְּטַח ψ 37:3 + 8 times; Inf. abs. בָּטוֹחַ Is 59:4, cstr. בְּטֹחַ ψ 118:8 + 2 times; Pt. בֹּטֵחַ ψ 21:8 + 35 times; pass. בָּטוּחַ ψ 112:7 Is 26:3. i. trust. e.g. Psalms 28:7
- 1. abs. Is 12:2. e.g. Isaiah 12:2
- 2. with cogn. acc. מה הבטחון הזה אשׁר בטחת what is this trust that thou dost trust? 2 K 18:19 = Is 36:4. e.g. 2 Kings 18:19
- 3. with בְּ trust in—
- a. God 2 K 18:5; 19:10 1 Ch 5:20 ψ 9:11; 21:8; 22:5, 6; 25:2; 26:1; 28:7; 32:10; 37:3; 40:4; 55:24; 56:5, 12; 62:9; 84:13; 91:2; 112:7; 115:9, 10, 11; 125:1; 143:8 Pr 16:20; 29:25 Is 26:3, 4; 37:10 Je 17:7; 39:18 Zp 3:2. e.g. 2 Kings 18:5
- b. persons Ju 9:26 ψ 41:10; 118:8, 9; 146:3 Pr 31:11 Je 17:5; 46:25 Mi 7:5. e.g. Judges 9:26
- c. things Dt 28:52 Jb 39:11 ψ 27:3; 44:7; 52:9; 62:11; 115:8; 135:18 Pr 11:28; 28:26 Is 30:12; 42:17; 47:10 Je 5:17; 7:14; 12:5; 13:25; 48:7; 49:4 Ez 16:15 Ho 10:13 Am 6:1. e.g. Deuteronomy 28:52
- d. in the name of God ψ 33:21 Is 50:10; mercy of God ψ 13:6; 52:10; word of God ψ 119:42; salvation of God ψ 78:22. e.g. Psalms 33:21
- 4. with עַל, trust or rely upon—
- a. God ψ 31:15; 37:5 Pr 28:25 Je 49:11. e.g. Psalms 31:15
- b. persons 2 K 18:20, 21, 24 = Is 36:5, 6, 9, Je 9:3. e.g. 2 Kings 18:20
- c. things 2 K 18:21 = Is 36:6 2 Ch 32:10, ψ 49:7 Is 31:1; 59:4 Ez 33:13 Hb 2:18. e.g. 2 Kings 18:21
- 5. with אֶל trust to—
- a. God 2 K 18:22 (= Is 36:7) ψ 4:6; 31:7; 56:4; 86:2 Pr 3:5. e.g. 2 Kings 18:22
- b. persons Ju 20:36. e.g. Judges 20:36
- c. things Je 7:4 (= על דבר 7:8). ii. be confident Jb 6:20; 40:23 Pr 14:16; צַדִּיקִים כִּכְפִיר יִבְטַח the righteous are bold as a lion Pr 28:1; secure Jb 11:18 Pr 11:15; עַם בֹּטֵחַ a people secure Ju 18:7, 10, 27; בָּנוֹת בֹּטְחוֹת careless daughters, (women) Is 32:9 cf. v 10, 11. e.g. Jeremiah 7:4
Hiphil
- Pf. הִבְטַחְתָּ Je 28:15; Impf. יַבְטַח Is 36:15 + 2 times; Pt. מַבְטִיחִי ψ 22:10; cause to trust, make secure, abs. ψ 22:10; with עַל Je 28:15; 29:31; with אֶל 2 K 18:30 = Is 36:15. e.g. Jeremiah 28:15
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
vb. trust (cf. Arabic بَطَحَ to throw one down upon his face Thes, اِنْبَطَحَ lie extended on the ground, ‘se reposer sur quelqu’un’ Fl MV)—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive root
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.
בָּטַח
- , v. בטי; cmp. רָוַח) to be at ease, without trouble, whence to trust. Ber. 6ᵇ הו"ל לבְטוֹחַ וכ׳ he ought to have trusted in the name of the Lord, but did not trust.—Part. pass. בָּטוּחַ assured. Y. Naz. IV, end, 53ᶜ.—Lev. R. s. 31 ב׳ שגוזר he may rest assured that &c.; a. fr.
- to assure, promise. Ber. 17ᵃ הבטחה שה׳ the assurance which the Lord has given. Pesik. R. s. 1, beg. אע"פ שמתו המַבְטִיחִין וכ׳ though those who gave the assurances, the prophets, are dead, but the Lord who promised (through them) is ever-living; a. fr.—Part. Hof. מוּבְטָח (= בָּטוּחַ) confident, sure. Ber. 4ᵃ מ׳ אני בך וכ׳ I am sure that thou rewardest &c. Ib.ᵇ מ׳ לו may rest assured. Gitt. 58ᵃ מוּבְטַחְנִי = מ׳ אני; a. fr.
בְּטַח I
- Taan. 22ᵇ הואיל וקא ב׳ בע"א since he trusts in idols.
- = preced. Hif. Targ. Ruth II, 13.
- to feel safe. Targ. Jer. XII, 5.
בְּטַח II
- (בטח, בטי, v. Ges. H. Dict. s. v. בטח; cmp. מִקְוֶה) a hollow column-like receptacle of rain water near the house. [Maim., a projection in front of the window to stand upon in climbing.] Ohol. XII, 3 הבטח (Ar. Var. אבטח). Tosef. ib. XIII, 3 אבטי (ed. Zuck. אבטו, corr. acc.). [Cmp. פותי for פותח, טְפֵי IV for טפח.] V. בִּטְוַיָּא.
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 91 distinct written forms H982 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 31 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H982, 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.
Derived from this word
- בטח beṭach H983 security
- בטחון biṭṭâchôwn H986 trust
- בטחות baṭṭuchôwth H987 safety
- מבטח mibṭâch H4009 trust
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 108 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 117 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
- Deuteronomy 28:52
- Judges 9:26
- 2 Kings 18:5
- 1 Chronicles 5:20
- 2 Chronicles 32:10
- Job 6:20
- Psalms 4:5
- Proverbs 3:5
- Isaiah 12:2
- Jeremiah 5:17
- Ezekiel 16:15
- Hosea 10:13
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.
