Word study
Descendant
10 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: descendants, descendant. 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 “descendant” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- בֵּן bênsontranslated this way 373 times of its 4,587 uses · Strong’s H1121Noun · Translated: son 1,843, sons 892, Israelites 422, descendants 358Full study and all 3,473 verses →
Genesis 25:4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.
Genesis 36:21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. They are the chiefs of the Horites, the descendants of Seir in the land of Edom.
- זֶרַע zerasowing, seed, offspringtranslated this way 88 times of its 220 uses · Strong’s H2233Noun · Translated: descendants 78, offspring 45, seed 34, children 10Full study and all 201 verses →
Genesis 9:9 “Behold, I now establish My covenant with you and your descendants after you,
Exodus 28:43 Aaron and his sons must wear them whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they will not incur guilt and die. This is to be a permanent statute for Aaron and his descendants.’’
- דּוֹר dôrperiod, generation, dwellingtranslated this way 5 times of its 150 uses · Strong’s H1755Noun · Translated: generation 53, generations to come 30, generations 28, descendants 5Full study and all 124 verses →
Leviticus 23:43 so that your descendants may know that I made the Israelites dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’”
Numbers 9:10 “Tell the Israelites: ‘When any one of you or your descendants is unclean because of a dead body, or is away on a journey, he may still observe the Passover to the LORD.
- יָלִיד yâlîdborntranslated this way 5 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H3211Noun · Translated: born 4, descendant 3, descendants 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Numbers 13:22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, dwelled. It had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.
2 Samuel 21:16 Then Ishbi-benob, a descendant of Rapha, whose bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels and who was bearing a new sword, resolved to kill David.
- צֶאֱצָא tseĕtsâissue, offspring, producetranslated this way 3 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H6631Noun · Translated: offspring 6, descendants 3, crops 1, springs 1Full study and all 11 verses →
Job 5:25 You will know that your offspring will be many, your descendants like the grass of the earth.
Isaiah 22:24 So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house: the descendants and the offshoots— all the lesser vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.
- אַחַר acharbehindtranslated this way 2 times of its 556 uses · Strong’s H310Preposition · Translated: after 123, behind 56, and after 22, after that 19Full study and all 533 verses →
Genesis 17:7 I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
1 Kings 21:21 This is what the LORD says: ‘I will bring calamity on you and consume your descendants; I will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both slave and free.
- לֹא lônottranslated this way 2 times of its 4,657 uses · Strong’s H3808Adverb · Translated: no 309, not 269, never 218, will not 156Full study and all 3,775 verses →
- יָלַד yâladbear, bring forth, begettranslated this way 2 times of its 484 uses · Strong’s H3205Verb · Translated: father 111, born 57, bore 52, gave birth 44Full study and all 395 verses →
2 Samuel 21:22 So these four descendants of Rapha in Gath fell at the hands of David and his servants.
1 Chronicles 20:8 So these descendants of Rapha in Gath fell at the hands of David and his servants.
- פְּרִי perîfruittranslated this way 2 times of its 119 uses · Strong’s H6529Noun · Translated: fruit 82, produce 11, offspring 5, fruitful 3Full study and all 107 verses →
Psalm 21:10 You will wipe their descendants from the earth, and their offspring from the sons of men.
Psalm 132:11 The LORD swore an oath to David, a promise He will not revoke: “One of your descendants I will place on your throne.
- אַחֲרִית achărîthafter-part, endtranslated this way 2 times of its 61 uses · Strong’s H319Noun · Translated: end 21, future 6, latter 5, come 4Full study and all 60 verses →
Psalm 109:13 May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out from the next generation.
Daniel 11:4 But as soon as he is established, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four winds of heaven. It will not go to his descendants, nor will it have the authority with which he ruled, because his kingdom will be uprooted and given to others.
Greek words (New Testament)
- σπέρμα spérmaseed, offspringtranslated this way 11 times of its 42 uses · Strong’s G4690Noun · Translated: seed 10, offspring 10, descendants 10, children 5Full study and all 39 verses →
Luke 1:55 as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.”
John 8:33 “We are Abraham’s descendants,” they answered. “We have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say we will be set free?”
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.