Word study
Exist
5 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: exists, existed, exist, existing. 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 “exist” 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)
- הָיָה hâyâhfall out, come to pass, become, betranslated this way 5 times of its 2,848 uses · Strong’s H1961Verb · Translated: will be 206, become 178, came 169, was 151Full study and all 2,573 verses →
- יָצַב yâtsabset or station oneself, take one's standtranslated this way 1 time of its 47 uses · Strong’s H3320Verb · Translated: stand 10, stood 7, present 7, able to stand 3Full study and all 44 verses →
2 Samuel 21:5 And they answered the king, “As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us to exterminate us from existing within any border of Israel,
- הֶבֶל hebelvapour, breathtranslated this way 1 time of its 73 uses · Strong’s H1892Noun · Translated: futile 25, worthless idols 9, futility 8, fleeting 5Full study and all 64 verses →
Psalm 39:5 You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
- מָה mâhwhat? how? aughttranslated this way 1 time of its 708 uses · Strong’s H4100Interrogative · Translated: what 313, why 183, how 80, many 5Full study and all 618 verses →
- אִיתַי îthaythere is, are. . .translated this way 1 time of its 10 uses · Strong’s H383Adverb · Translated: there is 4Full study and all 10 verses →
Daniel 3:17 If the God whom we serve exists, then He is able to deliver us from the blazing fiery furnace and from your hand, O king.
Greek words (New Testament)
- εἰμί eimíI am, existtranslated this way 7 times of its 2,236 uses · Strong’s G1510Verb · Translated: is 523, are 214, was 183, am 83Full study and all 1,922 verses →
- ὑπάρχω hypárchōI am, exist, am in possessiontranslated this way 1 time of its 52 uses · Strong’s G5225Verb · Translated: possessions 10, is 5, was 3, to be 3Full study and all 52 verses →
Philippians 2:6 Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
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.