Word study
Distinguish
8 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: distinguish, distinguished, distinguishing. 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 “distinguish” 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)
- בָּדַל bâdalbe divided, separatetranslated this way 4 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H914Verb · Translated: separated 6, set apart 6, separate 6, distinguish 3Full study and all 40 verses →
Genesis 1:14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years.
Leviticus 10:10 You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean,
- כָּבַד kâbadbe heavy, weighty, burdensome, honouredtranslated this way 2 times of its 109 uses · Strong’s H3513Verb · Translated: honor 19, honored 11, heavy 10, hardened 6Full study and all 105 verses →
Numbers 22:15 Then Balak sent other princes, more numerous and more distinguished than the first messengers.
2 Samuel 6:20 When David returned home to bless his own household, Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today!” she said. “He has uncovered himself today in the sight of the maidservants of his subjects, like a vulgar person would do.”
- נָכַר nâkarregard, recognizetranslated this way 1 time of its 48 uses · Strong’s H5234Verb · Translated: recognized 7, recognize 4, acknowledge 4, show partiality 3Full study and all 46 verses →
Ezra 3:13 The people could not distinguish the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people were making so much noise. And the sound was heard from afar.
- יָדַע yâdaknowtranslated this way 1 time of its 914 uses · Strong’s H3045Verb · Translated: know 453, known 53, knows 48, knew 38Full study and all 863 verses →
Ezekiel 22:26 Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
- רָאָה rââhseetranslated this way 1 time of its 1,266 uses · Strong’s H7200Verb · Translated: see 354, saw 285, seen 124, look 45Full study and all 1,181 verses →
- פָּלָה pâlâhbe separated, distincttranslated this way 1 time of its 7 uses · Strong’s H6395Verb · Translated: give special treatment 1, make a distinction 1, makes a distinction 1, distinguished 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Exodus 33:16 For how then can it be known that Your people and I have found favor in Your sight, unless You go with us? How else will we be distinguished from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
- נְצַח netsachdistinguish oneselftranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H5330Verb · Translated: distinguished 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Daniel 6:3 Soon, by his extraordinary spirit, Daniel distinguished himself among the administrators and satraps. So the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.
- נָקַב nâqabpiercetranslated this way 1 time of its 19 uses · Strong’s H5344Verb · Translated: designated 6, pierce 4, pierced 2Full study and all 18 verses →
Amos 6:1 Woe to those at ease in Zion and those secure on Mount Samaria, the distinguished ones of the foremost nation, to whom the house of Israel comes.
Greek words (New Testament)
- διάκρισις diákrisisdistinguishing, deciding, passing sentence ontranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G1253Noun · Translated: passing judgment 1, distinguishing 1, distinguish 1Full study and all 3 verses →
1 Corinthians 12:10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in various tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
Hebrews 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.
- ἔντιμος éntimosprecious, honored, honorabletranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s G1784Adjective · Translated: precious 2, highly valued 1, more distinguished 1, honor 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Luke 14:8 “When you are invited to a wedding banquet, do not sit in the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited.
- φανερός phanerósapparent, clear, visible, manifest, clearlytranslated this way 1 time of its 18 uses · Strong’s G5318Adjective · Translated: known 3, light 2, clear 2, evident 2Full study and all 16 verses →
1 John 3:10 By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
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.