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Strong's Concordance
Greek Word Study

Strong's G685 ἀρά (ara)

Ara means “curse” — full meaning, definition, and every linked Bible usage across the indexed canon.

Same number, other testament: Strong's H685 — etsadah (“bracelet”) in the Hebrew Bible.

Strong's Number G685
Language Greek
Linked Usages 30
Books 15

Strong's G685 Quick Answer

Strong's G685 ἀρά (ara) is a Greek Strong's word-study entry. ara (ar-ah') n. 1. (properly) a prayer (as lifted to Heaven) 2. (commonly, by implication) a curse It has 30 linked Bible usages across 15 books. Visible English usage signals include curse, lord, thee, oath, and god. Indexed coverage on this page includes New Testament, Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, and Deuterocanonical / Apocrypha.

Meaning
ara (ar-ah') n. 1. (properly) a prayer (as lifted to Heaven) 2. (commonly, by implication) a curse
Usage
30 linked usages
Books
15 indexed books
Corpus
New Testament, Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, and Deuterocanonical / Apocrypha
Usage Words
curse, lord, thee, oath, and god

Meaning and Definition

ara (ar-ah') n. 1. (properly) a prayer (as lifted to Heaven) 2. (commonly, by implication) a curse [probably from G142] KJV: curse Root(s): G142 Compare: G4335

Original Word
ἀρά
Transliteration
ara
Derivation
Root: αἴρω R1: 142
Morphology
noun

Across Lexicons

How independent scholarly lexicons define Strong's G685. Each definition is shown with its source so you can compare and cite the original reference works.

Extended Strong's Greek Lexicon (Abbott-Smith based)

curse

Usage: ἀρά, -ᾶς, ἡ [in LXX chiefly for אָלָה ]; __1. a prayer (MM, see word). __2. (as in Homer) a curse, malediction: Rom.3:14 (LXX),† (AS)

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English Usage Signals

Frequent English words from the visible usage excerpts. These are not a replacement for the original-language definition, but they make the usage pattern easier to scan.

curse lord thee oath god upon our land under out come said

How Strong's G685 Usage Compares

Indexed coverage includes Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Deuterocanonical / Apocrypha, and New Testament. Each section below keeps corpus counts and sample passages visible so readers can compare the word across contexts instead of reading one flat concordance list.

  • The largest indexed corpus on this page is Septuagint / Greek Old Testament with 27 linked usages.
  • This page lets readers compare New Testament usage with Septuagint / Greek Old Testament usage, which is a key THF advantage over narrower Strong's pages.
  • Deuterocanonical / Apocrypha rows are counted separately so readers can decide how those texts relate to the main word study.

In the Septuagint (LXX)

Strong's G685 (ἀρά) appears 30 times in the Greek Septuagint — the Old Testament the New Testament authors quoted.

Sample Septuagint occurrences:

Read the full Greek Septuagint interlinear with Strong's →

Strong's G685 by Corpus

Indexed usage grouped by testament and extended corpus so readers can compare this word across the Bible, Septuagint, deuterocanonical books, and 1 Enoch where present.

Strong's G685 in the New Testament

1 indexed usage in New Testament.

Romans 3:14 KJV

Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

Strong's G685 in the Septuagint / Greek Old Testament

27 indexed usages in Septuagint / Greek Old Testament.

Genesis 24:41 Septuagint / Brenton

Then shalt thou be clear from my curse, for whensoever thou shalt have come to my tribe, and they shall not give her to thee, then shalt thou be clear from my oath.

Genesis 26:28 Septuagint / Brenton

And they said, We have surely seen that the Lord was with thee, and we said, Let there be an oath between us and thee, and we will make a covenant with thee,

Numbers 5:21 Septuagint / Brenton

then the priest shall adjure the woman by the oaths of this curse, and the priest shall say to the woman, The Lord bring thee into a curse and under an oath in the midst of thy people, in that the Lord should cause thy thigh to rot and thy belly to swell;

Strong's G685 in the deuterocanonical books / Apocrypha

2 indexed usages in Deuterocanonical / Apocrypha.

Baruch 1:20 Septuagint / Brenton

Wherefore the evils clove unto us, and the curse, which the Lord appointed by Moses his servant at the time that he brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, to give us a land that floweth with milk and honey, like as it is to see this day.

Baruch 3:8 Septuagint / Brenton

Behold, we are yet this day in our captivity, where thou hast scattered us, for a reproach and a curse, and to be subject to payments, according to all the iniquities of our fathers, which departed from the Lord our God.

Usage Excerpts

First 30 linked usage excerpts for Strong's G685.

Genesis 24:41 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
Then shalt thou be clear from my curse, for whensoever thou shalt have come to my tribe, and they shall not give her to thee, then shalt thou be clear from my oath.
Genesis 26:28 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
And they said, We have surely seen that the Lord was with thee, and we said, Let there be an oath between us and thee, and we will make a covenant with thee,
Numbers 5:21 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
then the priest shall adjure the woman by the oaths of this curse, and the priest shall say to the woman, The Lord bring thee into a curse and under an oath in the midst of thy people, in that the Lord should cause thy thigh to rot and thy belly to swell;
Numbers 5:23 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and shall blot them out with the water of the conviction that brings the curse.
Numbers 5:27 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
And it shall come to pass, if she be defiled, and have altogether escaped the notice of her husband, then the water of the conviction that brings the curse shall enter into her; and she shall swell in her belly, and her thigh shall rot, and the woman shall be for a curse in the midst of her people.
Deuteronomy 29:11 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
your wives, and your children, and the stranger who is in the midst of your camp, from your hewer of wood even to your drawer of water,
Deuteronomy 29:13 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
that he may appoint thee to himself for a people, and he shall be thy God, as he said to thee, and as he swore to thy fathers, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.
Deuteronomy 29:18 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
Lest there be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart has turned aside from the Lord your God, having gone to serve the gods of these nations; lest there be in you a root springing up with gall and bitterness.
Deuteronomy 29:19 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
And it shall be if one shall hear the words of this curse, and shall flatter himself in his heart, saying, Let good happen to me, for I will walk in the error of my heart, lest the sinner destroy the guiltless with him:
Deuteronomy 29:20 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
God shall by no means be willing to pardon him, but then the wrath of the Lord and his jealousy shall flame out against that man; and all the curses of this covenant shall attach themselves to him, which are written in this book, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.
Deuteronomy 30:7 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
And the Lord thy God will put these curses upon thine enemies, and upon those that hate thee, who have persecuted thee.
3 Kingdoms 8:31 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
Whatsoever trespasses anyone shall commit against his neighbor—and if he shall take upon him an oath so that he should swear, and he shall come and make confession before thine altar in this house,
2 Chronicles 6:22 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
If a man sin against his neighbor, and he bring an oath upon him so as to make him swear, and he come and swear before the altar in this house;
Nehemiah 10:30 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
And that we would not give our daughters unto the people of the land, not take their daughters for our sons:
Psalms 9:28 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
Whose mouth is full of cursing, and bitterness, and fraud: Under his tongue are trouble and pain.
Psalms 13:3 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become good for nothing, There is none that does good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher; With their tongues they have used deceit; The poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Psalms 58:13 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
For the sin of their mouth, and the word of their lips, Let them be even taken in their pride.
Proverbs 12:23 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
But the heart of fools shall meet with curses.
Proverbs 33:2 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
Isaiah 24:6 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
Therefore a curse shall consume the earth, because the inhabitants thereof have sinned: therefore the dwellers in the earth shall be poor, and few men shall be left.
Isaiah 28:8 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
A curse shall devour this counsel, for this is their counsel for the sake of covetousness.
Jeremiah 49:18 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
For thus saith the Lord; As my wrath has dropped upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my wrath drop upon you, when ye have entered into Egypt: and ye shall be a desolation, and under the power of others, and a curse and a reproach: and ye shall no more see this place.
Jeremiah 51:22 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
And the Lord could no longer bear you, because of the wickedness of your doings, and because of your abominations which ye wrought; and so your land became a desolation and a waste, and a curse, as at this day;
Ezekiel 17:13 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
And he shall take of the seed royal, and shall make a covenant with him, and shall bind him with an oath: and he shall take the princes of the land:
Ezekiel 17:16 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
As I live, saith the Lord, verily in the same place where the king is that made him king, who dishonored my oath, and who broke my covenant, shall he die with him in the midst of Babylon.
Hosea 4:2 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
Cursing, and lying, and murder, and theft, and adultery abound in the land, and they mingle blood with blood.
Zechariah 5:3 Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, Septuagint / Brenton
And he said to me, This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth: for every thief shall be punished with death on this side, and every false swearer shall be punished on that side.
Romans 3:14 New Testament, KJV
Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
Baruch 1:20 Deuterocanonical / Apocrypha, Septuagint / Brenton
Wherefore the evils clove unto us, and the curse, which the Lord appointed by Moses his servant at the time that he brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, to give us a land that floweth with milk and honey, like as it is to see this day.
Baruch 3:8 Deuterocanonical / Apocrypha, Septuagint / Brenton
Behold, we are yet this day in our captivity, where thou hast scattered us, for a reproach and a curse, and to be subject to payments, according to all the iniquities of our fathers, which departed from the Lord our God.

All Indexed Usage Links

Every indexed verse link for Strong's G685, grouped by book.

Genesis 2 usages, Septuagint / Greek Old Testament
Numbers 3 usages, Septuagint / Greek Old Testament
Deuteronomy 6 usages, Septuagint / Greek Old Testament
3 Kingdoms 1 usage, Septuagint / Greek Old Testament
2 Chronicles 1 usage, Septuagint / Greek Old Testament
Nehemiah 1 usage, Septuagint / Greek Old Testament
Psalms 3 usages, Septuagint / Greek Old Testament
Proverbs 2 usages, Septuagint / Greek Old Testament
Isaiah 2 usages, Septuagint / Greek Old Testament
Jeremiah 2 usages, Septuagint / Greek Old Testament
Ezekiel 2 usages, Septuagint / Greek Old Testament
Hosea 1 usage, Septuagint / Greek Old Testament
Zechariah 1 usage, Septuagint / Greek Old Testament
Romans 1 usage, New Testament
Baruch 2 usages, Deuterocanonical / Apocrypha

Strong's G685 FAQ

What does ara (ἀρά) mean?

Ara (Strong's G685) is a Greek word most simply glossed "curse". ara (ar-ah') n. 1. (properly) a prayer (as lifted to Heaven) 2. (commonly, by implication) a curse

How many times is ara (ἀρά) used in the Bible?

This page currently indexes 30 linked usages for Strong's G685 across 15 books.

Where can I study ara (ἀρά) in context?

Use the linked verse references on this page to study Strong's G685 in context. The indexed coverage includes New Testament, Septuagint / Greek Old Testament, and Deuterocanonical / Apocrypha.

What English words translate ara (ἀρά)?

The visible usage excerpts most often surface English words such as curse, lord, thee, oath, god, and upon. These are scanning signals from the displayed verses, not replacements for the original-language definition.

Does Strong's G685 appear in the Septuagint or deuterocanonical books?

Yes. The current local index includes 27 in Septuagint / Greek Old Testament and 2 in Deuterocanonical / Apocrypha for Strong's G685, with linked reader references where each row is available.