Word study
Adviser
7 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: advisers, adviser. 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 “adviser” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- הַדָּבָר haddâbârcounsellor, ministertranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H1907Noun · Translated: advisers 4Full study and all 4 verses →
Daniel 3:24 Suddenly King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and asked his advisers, “Did we not throw three men, firmly bound, into the fire?” “Certainly, O king,” they replied.
Daniel 3:27 and when the satraps, prefects, governors, and royal advisers had gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men. Not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them.
- אֲדַרְגָּזֵר ădargâzêrcounsellortranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H148Noun · Translated: advisers 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Daniel 3:2 Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to assemble the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other officials of the provinces to attend the dedication of the statue he had set up.
Daniel 3:3 So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the rulers of the provinces assembled for the dedication of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before it.
- מֵרֵעַ mêrêafriend, companiontranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s H4828Noun · Translated: friends 2, adviser 1, men to accompany 1, men who accompanied 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Genesis 26:26 Later, Abimelech came to Isaac from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army.
- רֵעֶה rêehfriendtranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s H7463Noun · Translated: friend 3, adviser 1Full study and all 4 verses →
1 Kings 4:5 Azariah son of Nathan was in charge of the governors; Zabud son of Nathan was a priest and adviser to the king;
- חָכָם châkâmwisetranslated this way 1 time of its 136 uses · Strong’s H2450Adjective · Translated: wise 86, wise men 8, wise man 6, skilled 5Full study and all 133 verses →
Esther 6:13 Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is Jewish, you will not prevail against him — for surely you will fall before him.”
- יָעַץ yâatsadvise, counseltranslated this way 1 time of its 75 uses · Strong’s H3289Verb · Translated: counselor 11, counselors 9, advise 6, consulted 5Full study and all 69 verses →
Proverbs 15:22 Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
- רָאָה rââhseetranslated this way 1 time of its 1,266 uses · Strong’s H7200Verb · Translated: see 354, saw 285, seen 124, look 45Full study and all 1,181 verses →
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.