Word study

Beware

1 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “beware”. 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 “Beware” or one of its forms.

Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • עָרַם ârambe shrewd, craftytranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s H6191Verb  ·  Translated: extremely cunning 1, craftiness 1, cunning 1, prudent 1

    Proverbs 19:25 Strike a mocker, and the simple will beware; rebuke the discerning man, and he will gain knowledge.

    Full study and all 5 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • προσέχω proséchōI pay attention to, devote myself totranslated this way 7 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s G4337Verb  ·  Translated: Beware 7, paid close attention 2, devote 2, Watch 2

    Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

    Luke 12:1 In the meantime, a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling one another. Jesus began to speak first to His disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

    Full study and all 24 verses →
  • βλέπω blépōI look, seetranslated this way 1 time of its 128 uses · Strong’s G991Verb  ·  Translated: see 53, seeing 10, saw 8, sees 6

    Mark 8:15 “Watch out!” He cautioned them. “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod.”

    Full study and all 117 verses →
  • φυλάσσω phylássōI keep, guard, observetranslated this way 1 time of its 31 uses · Strong’s G5442Verb  ·  Translated: guard 7, keep 5, kept 4, obey 2

    2 Timothy 4:15 You too should beware of him, for he has vigorously opposed our message.

    Full study and all 31 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.