Word study
Cannot
7 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “cannot”. 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 “cannot” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- לֹא lônottranslated this way 152 times of its 4,657 uses · Strong’s H3808Adverb · Translated: no 309, not 269, never 218, will not 156Full study and all 3,775 verses →
Genesis 19:19 Your servant has indeed found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I cannot run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die.
Genesis 19:22 Hurry! Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you reach it.” That is why the town was called Zoar.
- אַיִן ayinnothing, noughttranslated this way 8 times of its 744 uses · Strong’s H369Adverb · Translated: there is no 55, no 54, without 54, nothing 40Full study and all 660 verses →
Leviticus 14:21 If, however, the person is poor and cannot afford these offerings, he is to take one male lamb as a guilt offering to be waved to make atonement for him, along with a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, a log of olive oil,
- בַּל balnottranslated this way 7 times of its 63 uses · Strong’s H1077Adverb · Translated: never 8, cannot 7, will not 4, i will not 3Full study and all 54 verses →
1 Chronicles 16:30 tremble before Him, all the earth. The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
Psalm 49:12 But a man, despite his wealth, cannot endure; he is like the beasts that perish.
- לָא lânottranslated this way 4 times of its 71 uses · Strong’s H3809Adverb · Translated: no 10, not 9, cannot 4, without 3Full study and all 56 verses →
Daniel 5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.
Daniel 6:8 Therefore, O king, establish the decree and sign the document so that it cannot be changed — in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”
- אַל alprohibition, do not . . ., let not . . .translated this way 3 times of its 662 uses · Strong’s H408Adverb · Translated: do not 400, and do not 41, not 29, no 24Full study and all 559 verses →
Genesis 21:16 Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I cannot bear to watch the boy die!” And as she sat nearby, she lifted up her voice and wept.
Jeremiah 46:6 “The swift cannot flee, and the warrior cannot escape! In the north by the River Euphrates they stumble and fall.
- בִּלְעֲדֵי bilădêapart from, except, withouttranslated this way 2 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H1107Preposition · Translated: but me 5, cannot 2, other 2, besides 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Genesis 41:16 “I myself cannot do it,” Joseph replied, “but God will give Pharaoh a sound answer.”
Job 34:32 Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do it again.’
- רָאָה rââhseetranslated this way 2 times of its 1,266 uses · Strong’s H7200Verb · Translated: see 354, saw 285, seen 124, look 45Full study and all 1,181 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- δύναμαι dýnamaiI am powerful, am abletranslated this way 50 times of its 205 uses · Strong’s G1410Verb · Translated: can 52, cannot 50, able 21, could 16Full study and all 196 verses →
Matthew 5:14 You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
Mark 2:19 Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them? As long as He is with them, they cannot fast.
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.