Word study
Advice
3 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “advice”. 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 “advice” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- עֵצָה êtsâhcounsel, advicetranslated this way 11 times of its 88 uses · Strong’s H6098Noun · Translated: counsel 33, advice 11, plans 11, plan 6Full study and all 84 verses →
2 Samuel 16:23 Now in those days the advice of Ahithophel was like the consultation of the word of God. Such was the regard that both David and Absalom had for Ahithophel’s advice.
1 Kings 12:8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders; instead, he consulted the young men who had grown up with him and served him.
- יָעַץ yâatsadvise, counseltranslated this way 4 times of its 75 uses · Strong’s H3289Verb · Translated: counselor 11, counselors 9, advise 6, consulted 5Full study and all 69 verses →
Exodus 18:19 Now listen to me; I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their causes to Him.
2 Samuel 17:21 After the men had gone, Ahimaaz and Jonathan climbed up out of the well and went to inform King David, saying, “Get up and cross over the river at once, for Ahithophel has given this advice against you.”
- דָּבָר dâbârspeech, wordtranslated this way 3 times of its 1,244 uses · Strong’s H1697Noun · Translated: word 342, words 299, acts 51, Chronicles 42Full study and all 1,120 verses →
Exodus 18:23 If you follow this advice and God so directs you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people can go home in peace.”
Judges 20:7 Behold, all you Israelites, give your advice and verdict here and now.”
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.
What the Bible says about advice: passages by topic →
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.