Word study
Direct
5 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: directed, direct, directs, directing. 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 “direct” 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)
- צָוָה tsâvâhlay charge (upon), give charge (to), charge, command, ordertranslated this way 4 times of its 491 uses · Strong’s H6680Verb · Translated: commanded 271, command 41, gave 16, instructed 13Full study and all 473 verses →
Genesis 45:19 You are also directed to tell them: ‘Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your young children and your wives, and bring your father and come back.
Exodus 18:23 If you follow this advice and God so directs you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people can go home in peace.”
- כּוּן kûnbe firmtranslated this way 3 times of its 213 uses · Strong’s H3559Verb · Translated: established 43, prepared 23, prepare 16, establish 15Full study and all 204 verses →
1 Chronicles 29:18 O LORD, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, keep this desire forever in the intentions of the hearts of Your people, and direct their hearts toward You.
Job 11:13 As for you, if you direct your heart and lift up your hands to Him,
- דָבַר dâbarspeaktranslated this way 2 times of its 1,113 uses · Strong’s H1696Verb · Translated: speak 209, said 157, spoken 142, spoke 110Full study and all 1,025 verses →
Genesis 12:4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
Leviticus 10:5 So they came forward and carried them, still in their tunics, outside the camp, as Moses had directed.
- דָּרַךְ dâraktread, marchtranslated this way 2 times of its 61 uses · Strong’s H1869Verb · Translated: bent 5, treads 4, tread 4, bend 4Full study and all 59 verses →
Psalm 119:35 Direct me in the path of Your commandments, for there I find delight.
Isaiah 48:17 Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who directs you in the way you should go.
- נָטָה nâṭâhstretch out, spread out, extend, incline, bendtranslated this way 2 times of its 215 uses · Strong’s H5186Verb · Translated: incline 24, stretch 23, stretched 21, outstretched 19Full study and all 207 verses →
Proverbs 2:2 if you incline your ear to wisdom and direct your heart to understanding,
Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD; He directs it where He pleases.
Greek words (New Testament)
- διατάσσω diatássōI give orders to, prescribetranslated this way 4 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s G1299Verb · Translated: directed 4, ordered 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Luke 8:55 Her spirit returned, and at once she got up. And He directed that she be given something to eat.
Acts 7:44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the wilderness. It was constructed exactly as God had directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.
- κελεύω keleúōI command, ordertranslated this way 2 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s G2753Verb · Translated: ordered 16, gave orders 2, directed 2Full study and all 25 verses →
Matthew 14:19 And He directed the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He spoke a blessing. Then He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.
Luke 18:40 Jesus stopped and directed that the man be brought to Him. When he had come near, Jesus asked him,
- συντάσσω syntássōI arrange with, direct, appointtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G4929Verb · Translated: directed 2, commanded 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 21:6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.
Matthew 26:19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.
- κατευθύνω kateuthýnōI make straight, directtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G2720Verb · Translated: direct 2, guide 1Full study and all 3 verses →
1 Thessalonians 3:11 Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you.
2 Thessalonians 3:5 May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.
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.