בָּגַד

bagad · act treacherously

Hebrew word · Strong’s number H898 · appears 49 times in the Bible

What is the Strong number?

Strong’s number identifies this word: use it to find the same word in other study tools.

What it means

bagad (בָּגַד) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “act treacherously”.

Be unfaithful: break one's word or someone's trust.

How to say it

ba·gad

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

To fail someone who trusted you, break one's word.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To be unfaithful, to betray: to fail the trust or the commitment owed to someone, whether a covenant, a marriage or a friendship.

Betraying one’s spouse Malachi 2:14 Jeremiah 3:20
Israel betrays YHWH Jeremiah 3:8 Hosea 6:7 1 Samuel 14:33
Betraying a brother or an ally Malachi 2:10 Judges 9:23 Job 6:15
“The treacherous” in the Psalms and Proverbs Psalms 25:3 Proverbs 11:3
Dealing treacherously with a female slave Exodus 21:8

Historical and cultural background

Exodus 21:8 protects the purchased female slave: if her master does not take her, he must let her be ransomed, and he cannot sell her to a foreign people, “since he has dealt treacherously with her”.

How we translate it

“Betray” in its forms (“betrayed” 8 times, “betray” 7, “betrays” 3), kept throughout Malachi 2; the participle is “treacherous” (11) or “traitors” (5), “traitor” (2). In Hosea, “acted treacherously”, and in Exodus 21:8, of a master with his female slave, “he has dealt treacherously with her”. Isaiah plays with the repetition: “Traitors betray, and with betrayal traitors betray” (24:16).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

treacherous ×11
betrayed ×8
betray ×7
traitors ×5
betrays ×3
have acted treacherously ×3
dealt treacherously ×2
have utterly betrayed ×2
traitor ×2
who act treacherously ×2
others ×4

Related words

Words that come from it

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

Exodus 21:8
If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master, who had designated her for himself, he shall let her be ransomed; he shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt treacherously with her.
Judges 9:23
Elohim sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the lords of Shechem, and the lords of Shechem betrayed Abimelech,
1 Samuel 14:33
They told Saul, saying, “Look, the people are sinning against YHWH by eating with the blood.” He said, “You have acted treacherously. Roll to me today a large stone.”
Job 6:15
My brothers have acted treacherously like a stream, like the channel of streams that pass away,
Psalms 25:3
Also all who wait for you will not be ashamed; they will be ashamed who act treacherously without cause.
Psalms 59:5
And you, YHWH Elohim Tsevaot, Elohim of Israel, rouse yourself to call to account all the nations; do not show favor to any who act treacherously with wickedness. Selah.
Psalms 73:15
If I had said, “I will speak thus,” look, the generation of your sons I would have betrayed.
Psalms 78:57
And they turned back and dealt treacherously like their fathers; they were twisted like a bow of deceit.
Psalms 119:158
I saw traitors and loathed them, because your saying they have not kept.
Proverbs 2:22
but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be torn away from it.
Proverbs 11:3
The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.
Proverbs 11:6
The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but by the craving of the treacherous they will be caught.
Proverbs 13:2
From the fruit of the mouth of a man he will eat good, but the soul of the treacherous, violence.
Proverbs 13:15
Good prudence gives favor, but the way of the treacherous is hard.
Proverbs 21:18
A ransom for the righteous is the wicked, and in place of the upright, the treacherous.
Proverbs 22:12
The eyes of YHWH watch over knowledge, but he overturns the words of the treacherous.
Proverbs 23:28
She also lies in wait like a robber, and increases the treacherous among men.
Proverbs 25:19
A broken tooth and a slipping foot is confidence in a treacherous man in the day of distress.
Isaiah 21:2
A harsh vision has been told to me: the traitor betrays, and the devastator devastates. Go up, Elam! Lay siege, Media! All its sighing I have brought to an end.
Isaiah 24:16
From the end of the earth we have heard songs: “Ornament for the righteous!” But I said, “Leanness to me, leanness to me! Woe to me! Traitors betray, and with betrayal traitors betray.”
Isaiah 33:1
Woe, devastator, and you have not been devastated; and traitor, and they have not betrayed you! When you finish devastating, you will be devastated; when you stop betraying, they will betray you.
Isaiah 48:8
Neither did you hear, nor did you know, nor from long ago was your ear opened; for I knew that you would certainly deal treacherously, and ‘a transgressor from the womb’ you were called.
Jeremiah 3:8
And I saw that for all the reasons that apostate Israel had committed adultery, I had sent her away and given her her certificate of divorce; yet treacherous Judah, her sister, did not fear, but she went and prostituted herself too, she herself.
Jeremiah 3:11
And YHWH said to me, “Apostate Israel has shown herself righteous more than treacherous Judah.
Jeremiah 3:20
Surely, as a woman betrays her companion, so you have betrayed me, house of Israel, declares YHWH.
Jeremiah 5:11
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have utterly betrayed me, declares YHWH.
Jeremiah 9:2
Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of traitors.
Jeremiah 12:1
Righteous are you, YHWH, when I contend with you; yet judgments I will speak with you: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are at ease all who betray with betrayal?
Jeremiah 12:6
For even your brothers and the house of your father, even they have betrayed you; even they have shouted after you in full voice; do not trust them, though they speak to you good things.
Lamentations 1:2
She weeps and weeps in the night, and her tears are on her cheek; she has no one to comfort her among all her lovers; all her friends have betrayed her; they have become enemies.
Hosea 5:7
Against YHWH they have acted treacherously, for they have fathered strange children; now the new moon will devour them with their portions.
Hosea 6:7
But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they acted treacherously against me.
Habakkuk 1:13
You are too pure of eyes to see evil, and to look on trouble you are not able. Why do you look on traitors, and keep silent when the wicked swallows one more righteous than he?
Habakkuk 2:5
And moreover, wine betrays; the arrogant man does not remain, who widens his throat like Sheol, and he is like death and is not satisfied, and he gathers to himself all the nations and assembles to himself all the peoples.
Malachi 2:10
Is there not one father for all of us? Has not one El created us? Why do we betray, each his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Malachi 2:11
Judah has betrayed, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned what is holy to YHWH, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
Malachi 2:14
And you say, “Why?” Because YHWH has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, whom you have betrayed, though she is your companion and the wife of your covenant.
Malachi 2:15
And did he not make one, and a remnant of spirit is his? And what of the one? He was seeking offspring of Elohim. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not let anyone betray the wife of your youth.
Malachi 2:16
For he hates divorce, says YHWH, Elohim of Israel, and the one who covers his garment with violence, says YHWH Tsevaot. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not betray.

And 10 more times.