Word study
Alone
10 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “alone”. 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 “alone” 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)
- בַּד badseparationtranslated this way 43 times of its 163 uses · Strong’s H905Noun · Translated: alone 43, poles 34, addition 26, only 12Full study and all 156 verses →
Genesis 2:18 The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”
Exodus 18:14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he asked, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone as judge, with all the people standing around you from morning till evening?”
- בָּדָד bâdâdisolation, separationtranslated this way 6 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H910Noun · Translated: alone 6, apart 1, lives untroubled 1, lies deserted 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Deuteronomy 32:12 The LORD alone led him, and no foreign god was with him.
Psalm 4:8 I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
- אַךְ aksurelytranslated this way 4 times of its 138 uses · Strong’s H389Adverb · Translated: but 31, Surely 29, only 11, Nevertheless 7Full study and all 135 verses →
Psalm 62:1 For the choirmaster. According to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. In God alone my soul finds rest; my salvation comes from Him.
Psalm 62:2 He alone is my rock and my salvation. He is my fortress; I will never be shaken.
- נוּחַ nûachresttranslated this way 3 times of its 140 uses · Strong’s H5117Verb · Translated: rest 20, leave 10, placed 9, set 7Full study and all 139 verses →
Exodus 32:10 Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
2 Samuel 16:11 Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my own son, my own flesh and blood, seeks my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone and let him curse me, for the LORD has told him so.
- רָפָה râphâhsink, relaxtranslated this way 3 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s H7503Verb · Translated: leave 4, abandon 3, go 3, Withdraw 2Full study and all 43 verses →
Deuteronomy 9:14 Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they are.”
2 Kings 4:27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is in deep distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.”
- חָדַל châdalceasetranslated this way 2 times of its 57 uses · Strong’s H2308Verb · Translated: stopped 9, stop 6, refrain 5, cease 4Full study and all 55 verses →
Exodus 14:12 Did we not say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
Job 7:16 I loathe my life! I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
- רוּץ rûtsruntranslated this way 2 times of its 103 uses · Strong’s H7323Verb · Translated: ran 22, run 21, guards 11, couriers 6Full study and all 92 verses →
2 Samuel 18:24 Now David was sitting between the two gates when the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall, looked out, and saw a man running alone.
2 Samuel 18:26 the watchman saw another man running, and he called out to the gatekeeper, “Look! Another man is running alone!” “This one also brings good news,” said the king.
- יַחַד yachadunitednesstranslated this way 2 times of its 120 uses · Strong’s H3162Adverb · Translated: together 76, both 6, alike 4, all 3Full study and all 119 verses →
1 Kings 3:18 On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone, with no one in the house but the two of us.
Ezra 4:3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other heads of the families of Israel replied, “You have no part with us in building a house for our God, since we alone must build it for the LORD, the God of Israel, as Cyrus king of Persia has commanded us.”
- שָׁאַר shâarremain, be left overtranslated this way 2 times of its 126 uses · Strong’s H7604Verb · Translated: left 24, remained 19, remain 15, survive 8Full study and all 118 verses →
Ezekiel 9:8 While they were killing, I was left alone. And I fell facedown and cried out, “Oh, Lord GOD, when You pour out Your wrath on Jerusalem, will You destroy the entire remnant of Israel?”
Daniel 10:8 So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision. No strength remained in me; my face grew deathly pale, and I was powerless.
- אֶחָד echâdonetranslated this way 2 times of its 855 uses · Strong’s H259Number · Translated: one 278, first 43, and one 43, a 36Full study and all 688 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- μόνος mónosonly, solitary, desolatetranslated this way 16 times of its 43 uses · Strong’s G3441Adjective · Translated: only 19, alone 16, the only 3Full study and all 42 verses →
Matthew 4:4 But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Mark 4:10 As soon as Jesus was alone with the Twelve and those around Him, they asked Him about the parable.
- μόνον mónonalone, but, onlytranslated this way 4 times of its 60 uses · Strong’s G3440Adverb · Translated: only 46, just 5, alone 4, but 2Full study and all 60 verses →
John 17:20 I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message,
1 Corinthians 15:19 If our hope in Christ is for this life alone, we are to be pitied more than all men.
- εἷς heîsonetranslated this way 3 times of its 312 uses · Strong’s G1520Adjective · Translated: one 223, a 16, single 13, first 9Full study and all 267 verses →
Mark 2:7 “Why does this man speak like this? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Luke 18:19 “Why do you call Me good?” Jesus replied. “No one is good except God alone.
- ἀφίημι aphíēmiI send away, release, remit, forgive, permittranslated this way 3 times of its 142 uses · Strong’s G863Verb · Translated: left 36, forgive 22, forgiven 22, let 12Full study and all 130 verses →
Mark 14:6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone; why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful deed to Me.
Luke 13:8 ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone again this year, until I dig around it and fertilize it.
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.