Severe
קָשֶׁהStrong’s H7186qasheh (qa-sheh)
Appears in 36 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Qasheh is the Hebrew word usually translated “hard”, “stiff of” and “severe”. It appears in 36 verses of the Old Testament.
“And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.”
Meaning
- Hard, cruel, severe, obstinatehard, difficult · severe · fierce, intense, vehement · stubborn, stiff of neck, stiff-necked · rigorous (of battle)
How it's translated
- hard 12
- stiff of 6
- severe 3
- harsh 2
- stubborn 2
- fierce 2
- difficult 1
- stiff 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Exodus 7
- Isaiah 6
- Deuteronomy 4
- 1 Samuel 3
- 1 Kings 3
- Genesis 2
13 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Genesis 42:30The man, who is the lord of the land, spake roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country.
- Exodus 1:14And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
- Exodus 6:9And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.
- Exodus 18:26And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.
- Exodus 32:9And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
- Exodus 33:3Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.
Hebrew dictionary
קָשֶׁה qasheh · severe
1) hard, cruel, severe, obstinate 1a) hard, difficult 1b) severe 1c) fierce, intense, vehement 1d) stubborn, stiff of neck, stiff-necked 1e) rigorous (of battle)
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “severe” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
SEVE'RE, adjective
[Latin severus.]
- Rigid; harsh; not mild or indulgent; as severe words; severe treatment; severe wrath.
- Sharp; hard rigorous.
- Very strict; or sometimes perhaps, unreasonably strict or exact; giving no indulgence to faults or errors; as severe government; severe criticism.
- Rigorous, perhaps cruel; as severe punishment; severe justice.
All definitions
- Grave; sober; sedate to an extreme; opposed to cheerful, gay, light, lively.
- Rigidly exact; strictly methodical; not lax or airy.
- Sharp; afflictive; distressing; violent; as severe pain, anguish, torture, etc.
- Sharp; biting; extreme; as severe cold.
- Close; concise; not luxuriant.
- Exact; critical; nice; as a sever test.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.