Word study

Allow

2 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: allow, allowed, allows, allowing. 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 “allow” 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)

  • נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 11 times of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb  ·  Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135

    Genesis 31:7 And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me.

    Exodus 3:19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless a mighty hand compels him.

    Full study and all 1,785 verses →
  • שָׁלַח shâlachsendtranslated this way 2 times of its 829 uses · Strong’s H7971Verb  ·  Translated: sent 334, send 126, go 43, sending 19

    Exodus 9:17 Still, you lord it over My people and do not allow them to go.

    Exodus 11:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will bring upon Pharaoh and Egypt one more plague. After that, he will allow you to leave this place. And when he lets you go, he will drive you out completely.

    Full study and all 783 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἀφίημι aphíēmiI send away, release, remit, forgive, permittranslated this way 5 times of its 142 uses · Strong’s G863Verb  ·  Translated: left 36, forgive 22, forgiven 22, let 12

    Mark 1:34 And He healed many who were ill with various diseases and drove out many demons. But He would not allow the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.

    Luke 8:51 When He entered the house, He did not allow anyone to go in with Him except Peter, John, James, and the child’s father and mother.

    Full study and all 130 verses →
  • ἐάω eáōI allow, permit, leavetranslated this way 3 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G1439Verb  ·  Translated: allow 2, let 2

    Luke 4:41 Demons also came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But He rebuked the demons and would not allow them to speak, because they knew He was the Christ.

    Acts 19:30 Paul wanted to go before the assembly, but the disciples would not allow him.

    Full study and all 11 verses →
  • ἐπιτρέπω epitrépōI allow, permittranslated this way 2 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s G2010Verb  ·  Translated: let 4, permitted 4, gave them permission 2, permits 2

    Acts 21:39 But Paul answered, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Now I beg you to allow me to speak to the people.”

    Acts 27:3 The next day we landed at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul with consideration, allowing him to visit his friends and receive their care.

    Full study and all 17 verses →
  • ἔχω échōI have, hold, possesstranslated this way 2 times of its 624 uses · Strong’s G2192Verb  ·  Translated: has 63, have 52, with 35, you have 29

    Acts 24:23 He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard, but to allow him some freedom and permit his friends to minister to his needs.

    Full study and all 560 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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.