Word study
Empty
12 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: empty, emptied, emptying, empties. 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 “empty” 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)
- רֵיקָם rêqâmemptily, vainlytranslated this way 5 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H7387Adverb · Translated: empty-handed 9, empty 5, without cause 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Genesis 31:42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.”
Exodus 3:21 And I will grant this people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that when you leave, you will not go away empty-handed.
- תֹּהוּ tôhûformlessness, confusion, unreality, emptinesstranslated this way 5 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H8414Noun · Translated: empty 4, wasteland 4, formless 2, chaos 2Full study and all 19 verses →
1 Samuel 12:21 Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty.
Job 26:7 He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing.
- רוּק rûqmake empty, empty outtranslated this way 4 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H7324Verb · Translated: draw 6, empty 3, pour 2, poured 2Full study and all 19 verses →
Genesis 42:35 As they began emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his bag of silver! And when they and their father saw the bags of silver, they were dismayed.
Isaiah 32:6 For a fool speaks foolishness; his mind plots iniquity. He practices ungodliness and speaks falsely about the LORD; he leaves the hungry empty and deprives the thirsty of drink.
- רֵיק rêqempty, vaintranslated this way 3 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H7386Adjective · Translated: empty 3, worthless 3, fantasies 2Full study and all 14 verses →
Genesis 37:24 and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, with no water in it.
2 Kings 4:3 “Go,” said Elisha, “borrow empty jars from all your neighbors. Do not gather just a few.
- פָּקַד pâqadattend to, visit, muster, appointtranslated this way 3 times of its 294 uses · Strong’s H6485Verb · Translated: punish 41, numbered 26, appointed 15, counted 14Full study and all 267 verses →
1 Samuel 20:18 Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.
1 Samuel 20:25 He sat in his usual place by the wall, opposite Jonathan and beside Abner, but David’s place was empty.
- הֶבֶל hebelvapour, breathtranslated this way 3 times of its 73 uses · Strong’s H1892Noun · Translated: futile 25, worthless idols 9, futility 8, fleeting 5Full study and all 64 verses →
Job 21:34 So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”
Zechariah 10:2 For idols speak deceit and diviners see illusions; they tell false dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd.
- שָׁוְא shâveemptiness, vanitytranslated this way 3 times of its 52 uses · Strong’s H7723Noun · Translated: vain 12, false 8, falsehood 4, worthless 4Full study and all 47 verses →
Job 35:13 Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it.
Lamentations 2:14 The visions of your prophets were empty and deceptive; they did not expose your guilt to ward off your captivity. The burdens they envisioned for you were empty and misleading.
- עָרָה ârâhbe naked, baretranslated this way 2 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H6168Verb · Translated: poured 2, expose 2Full study and all 14 verses →
Genesis 24:20 And she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran back to the well to draw water, until she had drawn water for all his camels.
2 Chronicles 24:11 Whenever the chest was brought by the Levites to the king’s overseers and they saw that there was a large amount of money, the royal scribe and the officer of the high priest would come and empty the chest and carry it back to its place. They did this daily and gathered the money in abundance.
- יָצָא yâtsâgo or come outtranslated this way 2 times of its 1,035 uses · Strong’s H3318Verb · Translated: brought 108, went 103, go 82, came 78Full study and all 975 verses →
- בָּקַק bâqaqbe luxurianttranslated this way 2 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H1238Verb · Translated: emptied 1, lays waste 1, utterly 1, laid waste 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Isaiah 19:3 Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them, and I will frustrate their plans, so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead, to mediums and spiritists.
Jeremiah 51:2 I will send strangers to Babylon to winnow her and empty her land; for they will come against her from every side in her day of disaster.
- 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 →
- רִיק rîqemptiness, vanitytranslated this way 2 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s H7385Noun · Translated: vain 8, vanity 1, empty 1, like an empty 1Full study and all 12 verses →
Isaiah 30:7 Egypt’s help is futile and empty; therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still.
Jeremiah 51:34 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies and vomited me out.
Greek words (New Testament)
- κενόω kenóōI empty, deprive of content, make unrealtranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G2758Verb · Translated: emptied 2, useless 1, nullify 1, prove empty 1Full study and all 5 verses →
1 Corinthians 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
2 Corinthians 9:3 But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove empty, but that you will be prepared, just as I said.
- κενός kenósempty, vain, hollowtranslated this way 3 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s G2756Adjective · Translated: vain 8, empty-handed 3, empty 3, worthless 1Full study and all 16 verses →
Mark 12:3 But they seized the servant, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.
Luke 1:53 He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.
- κενοφωνία kenophōníaempty disputing, worthless babbletranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G2757Noun · Translated: empty chatter 2Full study and all 2 verses →
1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid irreverent, empty chatter and the opposing arguments of so-called “knowledge,”
2 Timothy 2:16 But avoid irreverent, empty chatter, which will only lead to more ungodliness,
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.