Word study

Cross

1 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: cross, crossed, crossing, crosses. 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 “cross” or one of its forms.

Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • עָבַר âbarpass over, through, by, pass ontranslated this way 130 times of its 542 uses · Strong’s H5674Verb  ·  Translated: pass 62, crossed 57, cross 52, passed 35

    Genesis 31:21 So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.

    Exodus 30:13 Everyone who crosses over to those counted must pay a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.

    Full study and all 487 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • σταυρός staurósa crosstranslated this way 26 times of its 27 uses · Strong’s G4716Noun  ·  Translated: cross 26, on 1

    Matthew 10:38 and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.

    Mark 8:34 Then Jesus called the crowd to Him along with His disciples, and He told them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

    Full study and all 27 verses →
  • διαπεράω diaperáōI cross overtranslated this way 5 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G1276Verb  ·  Translated: crossed 4, can 1, crossing 1

    Matthew 9:1 Jesus got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own town.

    Mark 5:21 When Jesus had again crossed by boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around Him beside the sea.

    Full study and all 6 verses →
  • ἀπέρχομαι apérchomaiI come or go away from, depart, returntranslated this way 3 times of its 114 uses · Strong’s G565Verb  ·  Translated: went 30, go 21, went away 19, left 5

    Matthew 8:18 When Jesus saw a large crowd around Him, He gave orders to cross to the other side of the sea.

    Mark 8:13 And He left them, got back into the boat, and crossed to the other side.

    Full study and all 113 verses →
  • διέρχομαι diérchomaiI pass through, spread a reporttranslated this way 3 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s G1330Verb  ·  Translated: passed 7, traveled 5, passing 4, cross 3

    Mark 4:35 When that evening came, He said to His disciples, “Let us cross to the other side.”

    Luke 8:22 One day Jesus said to His disciples, “Let us cross to the other side of the lake.” So He got into a boat with them and set out.

    Full study and all 40 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.

What the Bible says about cross: passages by topic →

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.