Word study
Acceptable
5 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “acceptable”. 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 “acceptable” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- רָצוֹן râtsôngoodwill, favour, acceptance, willtranslated this way 4 times of its 54 uses · Strong’s H7522Noun · Translated: favor 15, delight 5, acceptable 3, acceptance 3Full study and all 54 verses →
Exodus 28:38 And it will be worn on Aaron’s forehead, so that he may bear the iniquity of the holy things that the sons of Israel consecrate with regard to all their holy gifts. It shall always be on his forehead, so that they may be acceptable before the LORD.
Leviticus 22:21 When a man presents a peace offering to the LORD from the herd or flock to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without blemish or defect to be acceptable.
- רָצָה râtsâhbe pleased with, accept favourablytranslated this way 2 times of its 57 uses · Strong’s H7521Verb · Translated: accept 12, delight 6, pleased 5, accepted 4Full study and all 55 verses →
Leviticus 22:23 You may present as a freewill offering an ox or sheep that has a deformed or stunted limb, but it is not acceptable in fulfillment of a vow.
Leviticus 22:27 “When an ox, a sheep, or a goat is born, it must remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as a food offering presented to the LORD.
- יָטַב yâṭabbe good, well, glad, pleasingtranslated this way 1 time of its 110 uses · Strong’s H3190Verb · Translated: good 14, well 8, pleased 8, go well 6Full study and all 106 verses →
Leviticus 10:19 But Aaron replied to Moses, “Behold, this very day they presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD. Since these things have happened to me, if I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been acceptable in the sight of the LORD?”
- לֹא lônottranslated this way 1 time of its 4,657 uses · Strong’s H3808Adverb · Translated: no 309, not 269, never 218, will not 156Full study and all 3,775 verses →
- זָכָר zâkârmaletranslated this way 1 time of its 80 uses · Strong’s H2145Noun · Translated: male 44, men 13, males 9, man 8Full study and all 78 verses →
Malachi 1:14 “But cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and My name is to be feared among the nations.’’
Greek words (New Testament)
- εὐπρόσδεκτος euprósdektoswell-received, acceptabletranslated this way 4 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G2144Adjective · Translated: acceptable 4, favor 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Romans 15:16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 8:12 For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
- δεκτός dektósacceptable, acceptedtranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s G1184Adjective · Translated: favor 2, accepted 1, welcomes 1, acceptable 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Philippians 4:18 I have all I need and more, now that I have received your gifts from Epaphroditus. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.
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.