Word study
Daybreak
6 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “daybreak”. 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 “daybreak” 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)
- עָלָה âlâhgo up, ascend, climbtranslated this way 2 times of its 873 uses · Strong’s H5927Verb · Translated: go 118, went 107, brought 56, come 42Full study and all 807 verses →
Genesis 32:24 So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
Genesis 32:26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
- בֹּקֶר bôqermorningtranslated this way 2 times of its 192 uses · Strong’s H1242Noun · Translated: morning 151, next morning 19, Early the next morning 5, Early in the morning 3Full study and all 179 verses →
Genesis 44:3 At daybreak, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys.
Psalm 5:3 In the morning, O LORD, You hear my voice; at daybreak I lay my plea before You and wait in expectation.
- אוֹר ôrlighttranslated this way 2 times of its 119 uses · Strong’s H216Noun · Translated: light 86, lightning 5, dawn 3, daylight 3Full study and all 108 verses →
2 Samuel 17:22 So David and all the people with him got up and crossed the Jordan. By daybreak, there was no one left who had not crossed the Jordan.
Nehemiah 8:3 So Ezra read it aloud from daybreak until noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate, in front of the men and women and those who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
- שַׁחַר shachardawntranslated this way 1 time of its 20 uses · Strong’s H7837Noun · Translated: dawn 13, like the dawn 2Full study and all 20 verses →
Genesis 19:15 At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”
- פָּנָה pânâhturntranslated this way 1 time of its 128 uses · Strong’s H6437Verb · Translated: turned 27, turn 21, facing 11, turn back 4Full study and all 122 verses →
Exodus 14:27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state. As the Egyptians were retreating, the LORD swept them into the sea.
- אוֹר ôrbe or become lighttranslated this way 1 time of its 40 uses · Strong’s H215Verb · Translated: shine 12, light 6, lit 2, gives light 2Full study and all 40 verses →
2 Samuel 2:32 And they took Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb in Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men marched all night and reached Hebron at daybreak.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἡμέρα hēméraa daytranslated this way 5 times of its 368 uses · Strong’s G2250Noun · Translated: day 186, days 131, time 19, daily 7Full study and all 353 verses →
Luke 4:42 At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place, and the crowds were looking for Him. They came to Him and tried to keep Him from leaving.
Acts 12:18 At daybreak there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.
- ὄρθρος órthrosearly dawn, day-breaktranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3722Noun · Translated: morning 1, Early in the morning 1, daybreak 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Acts 5:21 At daybreak the apostles entered the temple courts as they had been told and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin— the full assembly of the elders of Israel— and sent to the jail for the apostles.
- αὐγή augḗlight of daytranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G827Noun · Translated: daybreak 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Acts 20:11 Then Paul went back upstairs, broke bread, and ate. And after speaking until daybreak, he departed.
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.