Word study
Count
8 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: count, counted, counting, counts. 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 “count” 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)
- סָפַר sâpharcounttranslated this way 27 times of its 154 uses · Strong’s H5608Verb · Translated: scribe 41, count 19, told 15, declare 13Full study and all 150 verses →
Genesis 15:5 And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Leviticus 15:13 When the man has been cleansed from his discharge, he must count off seven days for his cleansing, wash his clothes, and bathe himself in fresh water, and he shall be clean.
- מִסְפָּר mispârnumber, taletranslated this way 19 times of its 113 uses · Strong’s H4557Noun · Translated: number 35, according to the number 13, counting 13, few 9Full study and all 111 verses →
Numbers 1:18 and on the first day of the second month they assembled the whole congregation and recorded their ancestry by clans and families, counting one by one the names of those twenty years of age or older,
2 Samuel 2:15 So they got up and were counted off — twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and twelve for David.
- פָּקַד pâqadattend to, visit, muster, appointtranslated this way 17 times of its 294 uses · Strong’s H6485Verb · Translated: punish 41, numbered 26, appointed 15, counted 14Full study and all 267 verses →
Exodus 30:12 “When you take a census of the Israelites to number them, each man must pay the LORD a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will come upon them when they are numbered.
Numbers 1:45 So all the Israelites twenty years of age or older who could serve in Israel’s army were counted according to their families.
- מָנָה mânâhcount, number, reckon, assigntranslated this way 9 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s H4487Verb · Translated: count 6, appointed 6, numbered 3, counted 2Full study and all 27 verses →
Genesis 13:16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted.
Numbers 23:10 Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous; let my end be like theirs!”
- חָשַׁב châshabthink, accounttranslated this way 7 times of its 118 uses · Strong’s H2803Verb · Translated: considered 10, regarded 7, devise 7, devised 6Full study and all 117 verses →
Leviticus 25:50 He and his purchaser will then count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale will be determined by the number of years, based on the daily wages of a hired hand.
Job 19:11 His anger burns against me, and He counts me among His enemies.
- נָשָׂא nâsâlift, take, carrytranslated this way 3 times of its 642 uses · Strong’s H5375Verb · Translated: bear 49, lift 45, lifted 41, carried 38Full study and all 601 verses →
Numbers 31:26 “You and Eleazar the priest and the family heads of the congregation are to take a count of what was captured, both of man and beast.
Numbers 31:49 and said, “Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one of us is missing.
- הָיָה hâyâhfall out, come to pass, become, betranslated this way 3 times of its 2,848 uses · Strong’s H1961Verb · Translated: will be 206, become 178, came 169, was 151Full study and all 2,573 verses →
- שָׁנֶה shânehyeartranslated this way 2 times of its 612 uses · Strong’s H8141Noun · Translated: years 295, year 255, years old 20, two years 7Full study and all 519 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- λογίζομαι logízomaiI reckon, count, decidetranslated this way 3 times of its 40 uses · Strong’s G3049Verb · Translated: credited 11, consider 4, think 2, regarded 2Full study and all 39 verses →
Romans 4:8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
2 Corinthians 5:19 that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
- ἡγέομαι hēgéomaiI lead, thinktranslated this way 2 times of its 27 uses · Strong’s G2233Verb · Translated: consider 7, leaders 4, ruler 2, thought 2Full study and all 26 verses →
Philippians 3:7 But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ.
Philippians 3:8 More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
- ἀξιόω axióōI account or treat as worthytranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G515Verb · Translated: consider myself worthy 1, thought it best 1, consider 1, count you worthy 1Full study and all 7 verses →
2 Thessalonians 1:11 To this end, we always pray for you, that our God will count you worthy of His calling, and that He will powerfully fulfill your every good desire and work of faith,
Hebrews 3:3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.
- καταξιόω kataxióōI deem worthytranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G2661Verb · Translated: counted worthy 2, considered worthy 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Acts 5:41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
2 Thessalonians 1:5 All this is clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment. And so you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.
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.