Word study

Correct

5 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: correct, corrects, corrected. 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 “correct” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • יָטַב yâṭabbe good, well, glad, pleasingtranslated this way 5 times of its 110 uses · Strong’s H3190Verb  ·  Translated: good 14, well 8, pleased 8, go well 6

    Jeremiah 7:3 Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Correct your ways and deeds, and I will let you live in this place.

    Jeremiah 7:5 For if you really correct your ways and deeds, if you act justly toward one another,

    Full study and all 106 verses →
  • יָסַר yâsardiscipline, chasten, admonishtranslated this way 3 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H3256Verb  ·  Translated: discipline 10, scourged 4, punish 3, disciplines 2

    Proverbs 9:7 He who corrects a mocker brings shame on himself; he who rebukes a wicked man taints himself.

    Jeremiah 10:24 Correct me, O LORD, but only with justice — not in Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.

    Full study and all 38 verses →
  • יָכַח yâkachdecide, adjudge, provetranslated this way 2 times of its 56 uses · Strong’s H3198Verb  ·  Translated: rebuke 13, rebukes 3, appointed 2, judge 2

    Job 5:17 Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

    Job 6:26 Do you intend to correct my words, and treat as wind my cry of despair?

    Full study and all 54 verses →
  • תּוֹכֵחָה tôkêchâhrebuke, correctiontranslated this way 2 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s H8433Noun  ·  Translated: correction 7, rebuke 6, reproof 5

    Psalm 39:11 You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah

    Habakkuk 2:1 I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the ramparts. I will watch to see what He will say to me, and how I should answer when corrected.

    Full study and all 28 verses →
  • אָשַׁר âshargo straight, go on, advancetranslated this way 1 time of its 16 uses · Strong’s H833Verb  ·  Translated: blessed 2, walk 2, guide 2, call her blessed 2

    Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”

    Full study and all 15 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • καλῶς kalōswell, nobly, rightlytranslated this way 2 times of its 34 uses · Strong’s G2573Adverb  ·  Translated: well 14, good 4, correctly 3, right 3

    John 4:17 “I have no husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said to her, “You are correct to say that you have no husband.

    Romans 11:20 That is correct: They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.

    Full study and all 34 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.