Word study
Anything
14 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “anything”. 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 “anything” 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)
- כֹּל kôlthe whole, alltranslated this way 42 times of its 5,107 uses · Strong’s H3605Noun · Translated: all 1,589, and all 471, whole 223, every 196Full study and all 4,112 verses →
Genesis 14:23 that I will not accept even a thread, or a strap of a sandal, or anything that belongs to you, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’
Exodus 12:20 You are not to eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”
- מְאוּמָה meûmâhanythingtranslated this way 10 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H3972Noun · Translated: anything 10, nothing 3, bare 1, fault 1Full study and all 17 verses →
Genesis 22:12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”
Numbers 22:38 “See, I have come to you,” Balaam replied, “but can I say just anything? I must speak only the word that God puts in my mouth.”
- דָּבָר dâbârspeech, wordtranslated this way 9 times of its 1,244 uses · Strong’s H1697Noun · Translated: word 342, words 299, acts 51, Chronicles 42Full study and all 1,120 verses →
Genesis 18:14 Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you — in about a year — and Sarah will have a son.”
Deuteronomy 19:20 Then the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything so evil among you.
- מָה mâhwhat? how? aughttranslated this way 3 times of its 708 uses · Strong’s H4100Interrogative · Translated: what 313, why 183, how 80, many 5Full study and all 618 verses →
Genesis 31:32 If you find your gods with anyone here, he shall not live! In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself if anything is yours, and take it back.” For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.
1 Samuel 19:3 I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, so I can ask about you. And if I find out anything, I will tell you.”
- חָמֵץ châmêtsthat which is leavenedtranslated this way 3 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H2557Noun · Translated: leavened 4, anything leavened 3, leaven 3, leavened bread 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Exodus 12:15 For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.
Exodus 23:18 You must not offer the blood of My sacrifices with anything leavened, nor may the fat of My feast remain until morning.
- נְבֵלָה nebêlâhcarcass, corpsetranslated this way 3 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s H5038Noun · Translated: body 11, carcass 10, carcasses 8, corpses 7Full study and all 41 verses →
Leviticus 17:15 And any person, whether native or foreigner, who eats anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening; then he will be clean.
Ezekiel 4:14 “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”
- אֲשֶׁר ăsherparticle of relationtranslated this way 3 times of its 3,225 uses · Strong’s H834Pronoun · Translated: that 886, who 451, as 247, which 160Full study and all 2,844 verses →
- עִם imwithtranslated this way 2 times of its 940 uses · Strong’s H5973Preposition · Translated: with 246, with you 84, with him 61, against 39Full study and all 838 verses →
Genesis 31:24 But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
Genesis 31:29 I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’
- מָצָא mâtsâattain to, findtranslated this way 2 times of its 436 uses · Strong’s H4672Verb · Translated: found 197, find 87, finds 13, present 7Full study and all 411 verses →
Exodus 16:25 “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a Sabbath to the LORD. Today you will not find anything in the field.
Exodus 16:27 Yet on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they did not find anything.
- מְלָאכָה melâkâhoccupation, worktranslated this way 2 times of its 142 uses · Strong’s H4399Noun · Translated: work 86, regular work 10, craft 3, service 3Full study and all 131 verses →
Exodus 36:6 After Moses had given an order, they sent a proclamation throughout the camp: “No man or woman should make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing more,
Ezekiel 15:4 No, it is cast into the fire for fuel. The fire devours both ends, and the middle is charred. Can it be useful for anything?
- עָשָׂה âsâhdo, maketranslated this way 2 times of its 2,478 uses · Strong’s H6213Verb · Translated: done 292, made 265, make 143, did 112Full study and all 2,206 verses →
Numbers 6:4 All the days of his separation, he is not to eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins.
- טוֹב ṭôbpleasant, agreeable, goodtranslated this way 2 times of its 538 uses · Strong’s H2896Adjective · Translated: good 249, better 72, prosperity 19, good things 12Full study and all 499 verses →
1 Kings 22:8 The king of Israel answered, “There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king should not say that!” Jehoshaphat replied.
2 Chronicles 18:7 The king of Israel answered, “There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king should not say that!” Jehoshaphat replied.
- רַק raqthintranslated this way 2 times of its 97 uses · Strong’s H7535Adverb · Translated: only 27, but 24, Nevertheless 8, However 7Full study and all 96 verses →
1 Kings 22:16 But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the LORD?”
2 Chronicles 18:15 But the king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the LORD?”
- זֹאת zôththistranslated this way 2 times of its 559 uses · Strong’s H2063Pronoun · Translated: this 333, of this 33, in this 26, and this 15Full study and all 534 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- τὶς tìsany one, some onetranslated this way 30 times of its 449 uses · Strong’s G5100Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun · Translated: some 96, anyone 96, a 65, anything 30Full study and all 420 verses →
Mark 8:23 So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then He spit on the man’s eyes and placed His hands on him. “Can you see anything?” He asked.
Luke 22:35 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you out without purse or bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered.
- πᾶς pâsall, the whole, every kind oftranslated this way 5 times of its 1,133 uses · Strong’s G3956Adjective · Translated: all 462, everyone 131, every 116, everything 87Full study and all 998 verses →
Matthew 18:19 Again, I tell you truly that if two of you on the earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven.
- ὁ hothetranslated this way 4 times of its 9,898 uses · Strong’s G3588Article · Translated: the 6,410, of the 748, of 344, who 329Full study and all 5,117 verses →
Matthew 5:37 Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one.
- ἀγαθός agathósgoodtranslated this way 2 times of its 99 uses · Strong’s G18Adjective · Translated: good 79, good things 7, clear 3, anything good 2Full study and all 88 verses →
- κοινόω koinóōI make unclean, regard as uncleantranslated this way 2 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s G2840Verb · Translated: defile 7, defiled 2, call anything impure 2, defiles 1Full study and all 11 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.