Word study
Abundance
6 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “abundance”. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “abundance” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- רֹב rôbmultitude, abundance, greatnesstranslated this way 24 times of its 142 uses · Strong’s H7230Noun · Translated: many 28, abundance 22, great 18, abundant 10Full study and all 138 verses →
Genesis 27:28 May God give to you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth — an abundance of grain and new wine.
Deuteronomy 28:47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance,
- שָׂבָע sâbâplenty, satietytranslated this way 7 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H7647Noun · Translated: abundance 7, plenty 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Genesis 41:29 Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt,
Ecclesiastes 5:12 The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich man permits him no sleep.
- רָבָה râbâhbe, or become, much, many, greattranslated this way 5 times of its 219 uses · Strong’s H7235Verb · Translated: multiply 39, multiplied 23, many 15, much 10Full study and all 207 verses →
Genesis 41:49 So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance, like the sand of the sea, that he stopped keeping track of it; for it was beyond measure.
Nehemiah 5:18 Each day one ox, six choice sheep, and some fowl were prepared for me, and once every ten days an abundance of all kinds of wine was provided. But I did not demand the food allotted to the governor, because the burden on the people was so heavy.
- רַב rabmuch, many, greattranslated this way 3 times of its 445 uses · Strong’s H7227Adjective · Translated: many 171, great 65, captain 24, long 14Full study and all 426 verses →
1 Kings 10:2 She arrived in Jerusalem with a very large caravan— with camels bearing spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones. And she came to Solomon and spoke to him all that was on her mind.
Psalm 65:9 You attend to the earth and water it; with abundance You enrich it. The streams of God are full of water, for You prepare our grain by providing for the earth.
- הָמוֹן hâmônsound, murmur, roar, crowd, abundancetranslated this way 3 times of its 81 uses · Strong’s H1995Noun · Translated: multitude 12, army 10, multitudes 8, many 6Full study and all 77 verses →
1 Chronicles 29:16 O LORD our God, from Your hand comes all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy Name, and all of it belongs to You.
2 Chronicles 31:10 and Azariah, the chief priest of the household of Zadok, answered him, “Since the people began to bring their contributions into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat, and there is plenty left over, because the LORD has blessed His people; this great abundance is what is left over.”
- כָּבוֹד kâbôdabundance, honour, glorytranslated this way 2 times of its 198 uses · Strong’s H3519Noun · Translated: glory 124, honor 30, glorious 14, splendor 5Full study and all 188 verses →
Psalm 49:17 For when he dies, he will carry nothing away; his abundance will not follow him down.
Nahum 2:9 “Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!” There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing.
Greek words (New Testament)
- περισσεύω perisseúōI exceed, am left overtranslated this way 3 times of its 37 uses · Strong’s G4052Verb · Translated: left 5, abound 5, excel 5, abundance 3Full study and all 33 verses →
Matthew 13:12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
Luke 12:15 And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.