Word study
Appear
5 Hebrew and 11 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: appeared, appear, appears, appearing. 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 “appear” 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)
- רָאָה rââhseetranslated this way 65 times of its 1,266 uses · Strong’s H7200Verb · Translated: see 354, saw 285, seen 124, look 45Full study and all 1,181 verses →
Genesis 1:9 And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so.
Exodus 3:2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed.
- מַרְאֶה marehsight, appearance, visiontranslated this way 12 times of its 76 uses · Strong’s H4758Noun · Translated: appearance 16, vision 8, appear 6, sight 5Full study and all 63 verses →
Leviticus 13:3 The priest is to examine the infection on his skin, and if the hair in the infection has turned white and the sore appears to be deeper than the skin, it is a skin disease. After the priest examines him, he must pronounce him unclean.
Numbers 9:15 On the day that the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it and appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning.
- הָיָה hâyâhfall out, come to pass, become, betranslated this way 5 times of its 2,848 uses · Strong’s H1961Verb · Translated: will be 206, become 178, came 169, was 151Full study and all 2,573 verses →
Genesis 2:5 Now no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth, nor had any plant of the field sprouted, for the LORD God had not yet sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.
Genesis 9:16 And whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of every kind that is on the earth.”
- בּוֹא bôcome in, come, go in, gotranslated this way 3 times of its 2,442 uses · Strong’s H935Verb · Translated: come 358, came 298, bring 209, brought 201Full study and all 2,217 verses →
- צָדַק tsâdaqbe just, righteoustranslated this way 3 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H6663Verb · Translated: righteous 8, more righteous 3, justify 3, justifying 3Full study and all 40 verses →
Ezekiel 16:51 Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have multiplied your abominations beyond theirs, and all the abominations you have committed have made your sisters appear righteous.
Ezekiel 16:52 So now you must bear your disgrace, since you have brought justification for your sisters. For they appear more righteous than you, because your sins were more vile than theirs. So you too must bear your shame and disgrace, since you have made your sisters appear righteous.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὁράω horáōI see, look upon, experiencetranslated this way 19 times of its 445 uses · Strong’s G3708Verb · Translated: saw 183, see 121, seen 60, appeared 18Full study and all 424 verses →
Matthew 17:3 Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared before them, talking with Jesus.
Mark 9:4 And Elijah and Moses appeared before them, talking with Jesus.
- φανερόω phaneróōI make clear, visible, or manifesttranslated this way 12 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s G5319Verb · Translated: revealed 17, appeared 6, appears 4, made 3Full study and all 43 verses →
Mark 16:12 After this, Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them as they walked along in the country.
John 21:14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after He was raised from the dead.
- φαίνω phaínōI shine, appear, seemtranslated this way 11 times of its 31 uses · Strong’s G5316Verb · Translated: appeared 7, appear 3, shining 3, seen 2Full study and all 31 verses →
Matthew 1:20 But after he had pondered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to embrace Mary as your wife, for the One conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
Mark 16:9 Early on the first day of the week, after Jesus had risen, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had driven out seven demons.
- γίνομαι gínomaiI come into being, am borntranslated this way 5 times of its 544 uses · Strong’s G1096Verb · Translated: become 58, came 42, became 34, happened 28Full study and all 515 verses →
- ἐγείρω egeírōI wake, arouse, raise uptranslated this way 3 times of its 144 uses · Strong’s G1453Verb · Translated: raised 53, Get 18, risen 13, got 11Full study and all 138 verses →
Matthew 24:24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
Mark 13:22 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
- ἀνίστημι anístēmiI raise up, set up, rise fromtranslated this way 3 times of its 107 uses · Strong’s G450Verb · Translated: got 20, Get 16, rise 14, stood 11Full study and all 106 verses →
Acts 5:37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and drew away people after him. He too perished, and all his followers were scattered.
Hebrews 7:11 Now if perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on this basis the people received the law), why was there still need for another priest to appear — one in the order of Melchizedek and not in the order of Aaron?
- ἐπιφαίνω epiphaínōI appear, shine upontranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G2014Verb · Translated: appeared 3, shine 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Acts 27:20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the great storm continued to batter us, we abandoned all hope of being saved.
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone.
- ἐπιφάνεια epipháneiaappearing, manifestationtranslated this way 3 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G2015Noun · Translated: appearing 3, appearance 2, majesty 1Full study and all 6 verses →
2 Timothy 1:10 And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel,
2 Timothy 4:1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom:
- εἰμί eimíI am, existtranslated this way 2 times of its 2,236 uses · Strong’s G1510Verb · Translated: is 523, are 214, was 183, am 83Full study and all 1,922 verses →
- ἐμφανίζω emphanízōI make visible, report against, appear beforetranslated this way 2 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G1718Verb · Translated: reveal 2, presented their case 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Matthew 27:53 After Jesus’ resurrection, when they had come out of the tombs, they entered the holy city and appeared to many people.
Hebrews 9:24 For Christ did not enter a man-made copy of the true sanctuary, but He entered heaven itself, now to appear on our behalf in the presence of God.
- ὡς hōsas, like as, how, while, so thattranslated this way 2 times of its 438 uses · Strong’s G5613Adverb · Translated: as 161, like 124, when 31, just as 15Full study and all 396 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.