Word study
Change
9 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: changed, change, changes, changing. 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 “change” 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)
- שְׁנָא shenâtranslated this way 8 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H8133Verb · Translated: changed 5, different 5, change 2Full study and all 20 verses →
Daniel 2:9 If you do not tell me the dream, there is only one decree for you. You have conspired to speak before me false and fraudulent words, hoping the situation will change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I will know that you can give me its interpretation.”
Daniel 2:21 He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
- חָלַף châlaphpass on or away, pass throughtranslated this way 6 times of its 27 uses · Strong’s H2498Verb · Translated: changed 4, change 2, replace 2, sweep 2Full study and all 26 verses →
Genesis 31:7 And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me.
2 Samuel 12:20 Then David got up from the ground, washed and anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they set food before him, and he ate.
- הָפַךְ hâphakturn, overturntranslated this way 6 times of its 93 uses · Strong’s H2015Verb · Translated: turned 27, turn 7, changed 4, overthrew 3Full study and all 91 verses →
Exodus 7:15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as you see him walking out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.
Leviticus 13:55 After it has been washed, the priest is to reexamine it, and if the mildewed article has not changed in appearance, it is unclean. Even though the mildew has not spread, you must burn it, whether the rot is on the front or back.
- שָׁנָה shânâhchangetranslated this way 5 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s H8138Verb · Translated: change 2Full study and all 21 verses →
1 Samuel 21:13 So he changed his behavior before them and feigned madness in their hands; he scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down his beard.
Job 14:20 You forever overpower him, and he passes on; You change his countenance and send him away.
- נָחַם nâchambe sorry, consoletranslated this way 5 times of its 106 uses · Strong’s H5162Verb · Translated: comfort 24, relent 13, comforted 12, relented 7Full study and all 98 verses →
Exodus 13:17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road through the land of the Philistines, though it was shorter. For God said, “If the people face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”
Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
- סָבַב sâbabturn about, go around, surroundtranslated this way 4 times of its 153 uses · Strong’s H5437Verb · Translated: turned 16, surrounded 13, surround 10, turn 8Full study and all 144 verses →
Numbers 32:38 as well as Nebo and Baal-meon (whose names were changed), and Sibmah. And they renamed the cities they rebuilt.
2 Kings 23:34 Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and he changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, where he died.
- שׁוּב shûbturn back, returntranslated this way 4 times of its 1,007 uses · Strong’s H7725Verb · Translated: return 218, returned 105, restore 62, turn 56Full study and all 920 verses →
Leviticus 13:16 But if the raw flesh changes and turns white, he must go to the priest.
Numbers 23:20 I have indeed received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot change it.
- אַיִן ayinnothing, noughttranslated this way 2 times of its 744 uses · Strong’s H369Adverb · Translated: there is no 55, no 54, without 54, nothing 40Full study and all 660 verses →
Genesis 31:2 And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed.
Genesis 31:5 and he told them, “I can see from your father’s countenance that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me.
- שָׁנָא shânâaltertranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H8132Verb · Translated: Jehoiachin changed 1, changed 1, become dull 1Full study and all 3 verses →
2 Kings 25:29 So Jehoiachin changed out of his prison clothes, and he dined regularly at the king’s table for the rest of his life.
Ecclesiastes 8:1 Who is like the wise man? Who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀλλάσσω allássōI change, altertranslated this way 5 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G236Verb · Translated: changed 3, change 2, exchanged 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Acts 6:14 For we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”
1 Corinthians 15:51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed —
- μεταμέλλομαι metaméllomaiI change my mindtranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G3338Verb · Translated: regret 2, changed his mind 1, repent 1, filled with remorse 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Matthew 21:29 ‘I will not,’ he replied. But later he changed his mind and went.
Hebrews 7:21 but Jesus became a priest with an oath by the One who said to Him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’”
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.