Word study

Behold

5 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: behold, beholds. 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 “Behold” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • הִנֵּה hinnêhlo! behold!translated this way 175 times of its 689 uses · Strong’s H2009Interjection  ·  Translated: Behold 175, Look 83, saw 47, indeed 36

    Genesis 1:29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food.

    Exodus 2:6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the little boy was crying. So she had compassion on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew children.”

    Full study and all 662 verses →
  • הֵן hênlo! beholdtranslated this way 108 times of its 249 uses · Strong’s H2005Interjection  ·  Translated: Behold 108, indeed 23, if 16, Surely 15

    Genesis 3:22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...”

    Exodus 9:18 Behold, at this time tomorrow I will rain down the worst hail that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded until now.

    Full study and all 241 verses →
  • רָאָה rââhseetranslated this way 7 times of its 1,266 uses · Strong’s H7200Verb  ·  Translated: see 354, saw 285, seen 124, look 45Full study and all 1,181 verses →
  • שׁוּר shûrbehold, regardtranslated this way 2 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H7789Verb  ·  Translated: see 4, watch 3, behold 2

    Numbers 24:17 I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth.

    Job 20:9 The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his place will no longer behold him.

    Full study and all 15 verses →
  • חָזָה châzâhsee, beholdtranslated this way 2 times of its 54 uses · Strong’s H2372Verb  ·  Translated: see 18, seen 6, saw 5, sees 3

    Job 23:9 When He is at work in the north, I cannot behold Him; when He turns to the south, I cannot see Him.

    Psalm 17:15 As for me, I will behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied in Your presence.

    Full study and all 50 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἰδού idoúSee! Lo! Behold! Look!translated this way 31 times of its 163 uses · Strong’s G2400Verb  ·  Translated: Look 50, Behold 31, See 23, here 10

    Matthew 1:23 “Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”).

    Mark 1:2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way.”

    Full study and all 160 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.