Word study
Earlier
6 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “earlier”. 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 “earlier” 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)
- רִאשׁוֹן rishônformer, first, chieftranslated this way 4 times of its 171 uses · Strong’s H7223Adjective · Translated: first 85, beginning 10, former 9, former things 6Full study and all 164 verses →
Joshua 8:33 All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel.
2 Chronicles 17:3 Now the LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals,
- תְּחִלָּה techillâhbeginningtranslated this way 2 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H8462Noun · Translated: beginning 8, first 4, first time 2, earlier 2Full study and all 20 verses →
Daniel 8:1 In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one that had appeared to me earlier.
Daniel 9:21 while I was still praying, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.
- הָיָה hâyâhfall out, come to pass, become, betranslated this way 1 time of its 2,848 uses · Strong’s H1961Verb · Translated: will be 206, become 178, came 169, was 151Full study and all 2,573 verses →
- פָּנִים pânîmface, beforetranslated this way 1 time of its 1,836 uses · Strong’s H6440Noun · Translated: before 448, face 222, presence 147, before you 123Full study and all 1,671 verses →
- אָז âzat that time, thentranslated this way 1 time of its 119 uses · Strong’s H227Adverb · Translated: then 63, time 23, long ago 5, and 4Full study and all 116 verses →
Isaiah 16:13 This is the message that the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab.
- קַדְמַי qadmayformer, firsttranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H6933Adjective · Translated: first 2, earlier 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Daniel 7:24 And the ten horns are ten kings who will rise from this kingdom. After them another king, different from the earlier ones, will rise and subdue three kings.
Greek words (New Testament)
- προαμαρτάνω proamartánōI sin previouslytranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4258Verb · Translated: sinned earlier 2Full study and all 2 verses →
2 Corinthians 12:21 I am afraid that when I come again, my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery.
2 Corinthians 13:2 I already warned you the second time I was with you. So now in my absence I warn those who sinned earlier and everyone else: If I return, I will not spare anyone,
- πρότερον próteronformerly, beforetranslated this way 1 time of its 9 uses · Strong’s G4386Adjective · Translated: first 2, former 2, formerly 2, before 1Full study and all 9 verses →
John 7:50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who himself was one of them, asked,
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.