Word study
Establish
13 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: established, establish, establishes. 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 “establish” 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)
- כּוּן kûnbe firmtranslated this way 65 times of its 213 uses · Strong’s H3559Verb · Translated: established 43, prepared 23, prepare 16, establish 15Full study and all 204 verses →
Exodus 15:17 You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of Your inheritance — the place, O LORD, You have prepared for Your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, Your hands have established.
Deuteronomy 32:6 Is this how you repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? Is He not your Father and Creator? Has He not made you and established you?
- קוּם qûmarise, stand up, standtranslated this way 27 times of its 594 uses · Strong’s H6965Verb · Translated: rise 68, got 61, set 44, Get 42Full study and all 570 verses →
Genesis 6:18 But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark — you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.
Exodus 6:4 I also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land where they lived as foreigners.
- שׂוּם sûmput, place, settranslated this way 12 times of its 560 uses · Strong’s H7760Verb · Translated: put 84, set 71, make 45, made 39Full study and all 533 verses →
Genesis 47:26 So Joseph established a law that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh, and it is in effect in the land of Egypt to this day. Only the priests’ land does not belong to Pharaoh.
Deuteronomy 12:5 Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.
- עָמַד âmadtake one's stand, standtranslated this way 5 times of its 508 uses · Strong’s H5975Verb · Translated: stood 99, stand 95, standing 50, stands 12Full study and all 485 verses →
- נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 4 times of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb · Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
Genesis 17:2 I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.”
- קוּם qûmarise, standtranslated this way 4 times of its 34 uses · Strong’s H6966Verb · Translated: set 10, stood 3, appointed 2, arise 2Full study and all 30 verses →
Daniel 2:21 He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
Daniel 6:7 All the royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers, and governors have agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce a decree that for thirty days anyone who petitions any god or man except you, O king, will be thrown into the den of lions.
- עָשָׂה âsâhdo, maketranslated this way 3 times of its 2,478 uses · Strong’s H6213Verb · Translated: done 292, made 265, make 143, did 112Full study and all 2,206 verses →
- יָסַד yâsadestablish, found, fixtranslated this way 3 times of its 43 uses · Strong’s H3245Verb · Translated: founded 6, laid 4, laid the foundations 3, established 3Full study and all 42 verses →
Psalm 78:69 He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth He has established forever.
Habakkuk 1:12 Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O LORD, You have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, You have established them for correction.
- שִׁית shîthput, settranslated this way 2 times of its 80 uses · Strong’s H7896Verb · Translated: set 13, make 7, put 6, placed 5Full study and all 78 verses →
Exodus 23:31 And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.
Isaiah 26:1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation is established as its walls and ramparts.
- נָטַע nâṭastrike, fix, planttranslated this way 2 times of its 57 uses · Strong’s H5193Verb · Translated: plant 28, planted 15, plants 2, establish 2Full study and all 55 verses →
Isaiah 51:16 I have put My words in your mouth, and covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”
Jeremiah 18:9 And if at another time I announce that I will build up and establish a nation or kingdom,
- אָמַן âmanconfirm, supporttranslated this way 2 times of its 104 uses · Strong’s H539Verb · Translated: believe 24, faithful 14, trust 8, believed 7Full study and all 98 verses →
1 Chronicles 17:23 And now, O LORD, let the word You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house be established forever. Do as You have promised,
1 Chronicles 17:24 so that Your name will be established and magnified forever when it is said, ‘The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, is God over Israel.’ And may the house of Your servant David be established before You.
- חָזַק châzaqbe or grow firm, strong, strengthentranslated this way 2 times of its 290 uses · Strong’s H2388Verb · Translated: strong 37, made repairs 22, strengthened 16, repaired 15Full study and all 264 verses →
2 Chronicles 1:1 Now Solomon son of David established himself securely over his kingdom, and the LORD his God was with him and highly exalted him.
2 Chronicles 12:13 Thus King Rehoboam established himself in Jerusalem and reigned. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to put His Name. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.
- אֵיתָן êthânperennial, ever-flowingtranslated this way 2 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H386Adjective · Translated: established 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Job 12:19 He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows the established.
Jeremiah 5:15 Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἵστημι hístēmiI cause to stand, standtranslated this way 5 times of its 152 uses · Strong’s G2476Verb · Translated: standing 39, stood 37, stand 29, set 4Full study and all 148 verses →
Matthew 18:16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
Romans 10:3 Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
- στηρίζω stērízōI fix firmly, strengthentranslated this way 2 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s G4741Verb · Translated: strengthen 8, resolutely set 1, fixed 1, establish 1Full study and all 13 verses →
1 Thessalonians 3:13 so that He may establish your hearts in blamelessness and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. Amen.
2 Peter 1:12 Therefore I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have.
- θεμελιόω themelióōI found, lay the foundationtranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G2311Verb · Translated: foundation 1, grounded 1, established 1, laid the foundations 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Colossians 1:23 if indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
1 Peter 5:10 And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you, secure you, strengthen you, and establish you.
- βεβαιόω bebaióōI confirm, ratifytranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G950Verb · Translated: confirmed 2Full study and all 8 verses →
2 Corinthians 1:21 Now it is God who establishes both us and you in Christ. He anointed us,
Colossians 2:7 rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
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.