Word study
Argument
5 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: arguments, argument. 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 “argument” 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)
- תּוֹכֵחָה tôkêchâhrebuke, correctiontranslated this way 2 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s H8433Noun · Translated: correction 7, rebuke 6, reproof 5Full study and all 28 verses →
Job 13:6 Hear now my argument, and listen to the plea of my lips.
Job 23:4 I would plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.
- אֵמֶר êmersomething saidtranslated this way 2 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s H561Noun · Translated: words 38, arguments 2Full study and all 47 verses →
Job 32:12 I paid you full attention. But no one proved Job wrong; not one of you rebutted his arguments.
Job 32:14 But Job has not directed his words against me, and I will not answer him with your arguments.
- יָכַח yâkachdecide, adjudge, provetranslated this way 1 time of its 56 uses · Strong’s H3198Verb · Translated: rebuke 13, rebukes 3, appointed 2, judge 2Full study and all 54 verses →
Job 6:25 How painful are honest words! But what does your argument prove?
- דָּבָר dâbârspeech, wordtranslated this way 1 time of its 1,244 uses · Strong’s H1697Noun · Translated: word 342, words 299, acts 51, Chronicles 42Full study and all 1,120 verses →
- עַצֻּמָה atstsumâhdefencetranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H6110Noun · Translated: arguments 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Isaiah 41:21 “Present your case,” says the LORD. “Submit your arguments,” says the King of Jacob.
Greek words (New Testament)
- διαλογισμός dialogismósa calculation, reasoning, thought, plottingtranslated this way 1 time of its 14 uses · Strong’s G1261Noun · Translated: thoughts 7, thinking 2Full study and all 14 verses →
Luke 9:46 Then an argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest.
- ἀντιλογία antilogíacontradiction, contention, rebelliontranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s G485Noun · Translated: argument 1, indisputably 1, hostility 1, rebellion 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Hebrews 6:16 Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and their oath serves as a confirmation to end all argument.
- λογισμός logismósreasoning, thinkingtranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G3053Noun · Translated: thoughts 1, arguments 1Full study and all 2 verses →
2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
- ἀντίθεσις antíthesisoppositiontranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G477Noun · Translated: opposing arguments 1Full study and its 1 verse →
1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid irreverent, empty chatter and the opposing arguments of so-called “knowledge,”
- ἔρις ériscontention, strifetranslated this way 1 time of its 9 uses · Strong’s G2054Noun · Translated: strife 2, dissension 2Full study and all 9 verses →
Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, arguments, and quarrels about the law, because these things are pointless and worthless.
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.