Word study
Course
8 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: course, courses. 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 “course” 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)
- דֶּרֶךְ derekway, road, distance, journey, mannertranslated this way 4 times of its 653 uses · Strong’s H1870Noun · Translated: way 204, ways 166, road 54, journey 35Full study and all 595 verses →
- אֹרַח ôrachway, pathtranslated this way 3 times of its 56 uses · Strong’s H734Noun · Translated: path 17, paths 15, way 5, ways 5Full study and all 56 verses →
Psalm 19:5 Like a bridegroom emerging from his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course,
Proverbs 17:23 A wicked man takes a covert bribe to subvert the course of justice.
- מְרוּצָה merûtsâhrunningtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H4794Noun · Translated: course 2, running 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Jeremiah 8:6 I have listened and heard; they do not speak what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, asking, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone has pursued his own course like a horse charging into battle.
Jeremiah 23:10 For the land is full of adulterers — because of the curse, the land mourns and the pastures of the wilderness have dried up — their course is evil and their power is misused.
- קֵץ qêtsendtranslated this way 1 time of its 61 uses · Strong’s H7093Noun · Translated: end 37, after 7, farthest 2, later 2Full study and all 56 verses →
Genesis 4:3 So in the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruit of the soil as an offering to the LORD,
- מָקוֹם mâqômstanding, spot, conditiontranslated this way 1 time of its 381 uses · Strong’s H4725Noun · Translated: place 279, home 16, places 11, wherever 7Full study and all 364 verses →
Joshua 4:18 When the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up out of the Jordan and their feet touched the dry land, the waters of the Jordan returned to their course and overflowed all the banks as before.
- תְּקוּפָה teqûphâhcoming round, circuittranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s H8622Noun · Translated: turn 1, course 1, spring 1, runs its circuit 1Full study and all 4 verses →
1 Samuel 1:20 So in the course of time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,saying, “Because I have asked for him from the LORD.”
- סָבִיב sâbîbcircuit, round abouttranslated this way 1 time of its 295 uses · Strong’s H5439Adverb · Translated: around 151, side 31, surrounding 29, sides 16Full study and all 268 verses →
Ecclesiastes 1:6 The wind blows southward, then turns northward; round and round it swirls, ever returning on its course.
- מְסִלָּה mesillâhhighwaytranslated this way 1 time of its 27 uses · Strong’s H4546Noun · Translated: highway 8, road 7, roads 3, highways 2Full study and all 26 verses →
Judges 5:20 From the heavens the stars fought; from their courses they fought against Sisera.
Greek words (New Testament)
- δρόμος drómosa running, course, careertranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G1408Noun · Translated: course 2, race 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Acts 13:25 As John was completing his course, he said, ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not that One. But there is One coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’
Acts 20:24 But I consider my life of no value to me, if only I may finish my course and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus — the ministry of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
- δέ début, on the other hand, andtranslated this way 1 time of its 1,642 uses · Strong’s G1161Conjunction · Translated: but 784, and 340, now 117, then 101Full study and all 1,541 verses →
- τροχός trochósa wheel, coursetranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G5164Noun · Translated: course 1Full study and its 1 verse →
James 3:6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
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.