Decree

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: decree, decreed, decrees. 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 “decree” or one of its forms.

• טְעֵם ṭeêm12
• חֹק chôq8
• אֱסָר ĕsâr7
• חָרַץ chârats6
• עֵדוּת êdûth5
• דָבַר dâbar4
• עֵדָה êdâh4
• δόγμα dógma4
• צָוָה tsâvâh3
• דָּבָר dâbâr3
• דָּת dâth3
• δικαίωμα dikaíōma2

Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

• טְעֵם ṭeêmtaste, judgment, commandtranslated this way 12 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H2942Noun  ·  Translated: decree 11, order 2

  Ezra 4:19 I issued a decree, and a search was conducted. It was discovered that this city has revolted against kings from ancient times, engaging in rebellion and sedition.

  Daniel 3:10 You, O king, have issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the golden statue,

  Full study and all 16 verses →
• חֹק chôqsomething prescribed, a statute or duetranslated this way 8 times of its 122 uses · Strong’s H2706Noun  ·  Translated: statutes 78, statute 10, portion 7, decree 7

  1 Chronicles 16:17 He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant:

  Job 23:14 For He carries out His decree against me, and He has many such plans.

  Full study and all 122 verses →
• אֱסָר ĕsârinterdicttranslated this way 7 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H633Noun  ·  Translated: decree 7

  Daniel 6:7 All the royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers, and governors have agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce a decree that for thirty days anyone who petitions any god or man except you, O king, will be thrown into the den of lions.

  Daniel 6:8 Therefore, O king, establish the decree and sign the document so that it cannot be changed — in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”

  Full study and all 6 verses →
• חָרַץ châratscut, sharpen, decidetranslated this way 6 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H2782Verb  ·  Translated: decreed 5

  Isaiah 10:22 Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overflowing with righteousness.

  Daniel 9:26 Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed.

  Full study and all 11 verses →
• עֵדוּת êdûthtestimonytranslated this way 5 times of its 61 uses · Strong’s H5715Noun  ·  Translated: Testimony 42, testimonies 9, decrees 4, presented him with the testimony 2

  1 Kings 2:3 And keep the charge of the LORD your God to walk in His ways and to keep His statutes, commandments, ordinances, and decrees, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you turn,

  2 Kings 17:15 They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and became worthless themselves, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.

  Full study and all 59 verses →
• דָבַר dâbarspeaktranslated this way 4 times of its 1,113 uses · Strong’s H1696Verb  ·  Translated: speak 209, said 157, spoken 142, spoke 110

  Genesis 24:51 Rebekah is here before you. Take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, just as the LORD has decreed.”

  Full study and all 1,025 verses →
• עֵדָה êdâhtestimony, witnesstranslated this way 4 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s H5713Noun  ·  Translated: testimonies 17, witness 4, decrees 3, meaning of the decrees 1

  Deuteronomy 6:20 In the future, when your son asks, “What is the meaning of the decrees and statutes and ordinances that the LORD our God has commanded you?”

  Psalm 25:10 All the LORD’s ways are loving and faithful to those who keep His covenant and His decrees.

  Full study and all 25 verses →
• צָוָה tsâvâhlay charge (upon), give charge (to), charge, command, ordertranslated this way 3 times of its 491 uses · Strong’s H6680Verb  ·  Translated: commanded 271, command 41, gave 16, instructed 13Full study and all 473 verses →
• דָּבָר dâbârspeech, wordtranslated this way 3 times of its 1,244 uses · Strong’s H1697Noun  ·  Translated: word 342, words 299, acts 51, Chronicles 42Full study and all 1,120 verses →
• דָּת dâthdecree, lawtranslated this way 3 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H1882Noun  ·  Translated: law 5, decree 3, laws 2, according to the law 2

  Daniel 2:9 If you do not tell me the dream, there is only one decree for you. You have conspired to speak before me false and fraudulent words, hoping the situation will change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I will know that you can give me its interpretation.”

  Daniel 2:13 So the decree went out that the wise men were to be executed, and men went to look for Daniel and his friends to execute them.

  Full study and all 13 verses →
• שׂוּם sûmset, maketranslated this way 2 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s H7761Verb  ·  Translated: issued 6, authorized 2, decree 2, hereby 2

  Ezra 6:11 I also decree that if any man interferes with this directive, a beam is to be torn from his house and raised up, and he is to be impaled on it. And his own house shall be made a pile of rubble for this offense.

  Daniel 3:29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be cut into pieces and their houses reduced to rubble. For there is no other god who can deliver in this way.”

  Full study and all 22 verses →
• דָּת dâthdecree, law, usagetranslated this way 2 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H1881Noun  ·  Translated: edict 9, law 3, laws 3, decree 2

  Esther 4:8 Mordecai also gave Hathach a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for the destruction of the Jews, to show and explain to Esther, urging her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead before him for her people.

  Esther 8:17 In every province and every city, wherever the king’s edict and decree reached, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many of the people of the land themselves became Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

  Full study and all 20 verses →
• גְּזֵרָה gezêrâhdecreetranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H1510Noun  ·  Translated: decree 2

  Daniel 4:17 This decision is the decree of the watchers, the verdict declared by the holy ones, so that the living will know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes, setting over it the lowliest of men.’

  Daniel 4:24 This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree that the Most High has issued against my lord the king:

  Full study and all 2 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

• δόγμα dógmaa decree, edict, ordinancetranslated this way 4 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G1378Noun  ·  Translated: decrees 3, decree 1, decisions 1

  Luke 2:1 Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census should be taken of the whole empire.

  Acts 17:7 and Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, named Jesus!”

  Full study and all 5 verses →
• δικαίωμα dikaíōmaa thing pronounced to be justtranslated this way 2 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G1345Noun  ·  Translated: regulations 2, righteous acts 2

  Luke 1:6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and decrees of the Lord.

  Romans 1:32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.

  Full study and all 10 verses →
• λόγος lógosa word, speech, divine utterance, analogytranslated this way 2 times of its 311 uses · Strong’s G3056Noun  ·  Translated: word 142, words 52, message 32, account 10Full study and all 298 verses →

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.