Word study
Family
6 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: families, family. 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 “family” 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)
- אָב âbfathertranslated this way 102 times of its 1,167 uses · Strong’s H1Noun · Translated: father 518, fathers 341, father's 129, families 72Full study and all 1,040 verses →
Exodus 6:25 Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These were the heads of the Levite families by their clans.
Numbers 1:2 “Take a census of the whole congregation of Israel by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one.
- בַּיִת bayithhousetranslated this way 31 times of its 1,913 uses · Strong’s H1004Noun · Translated: house 1,132, temple 176, palace 117, household 93Full study and all 1,624 verses →
Genesis 7:1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.
Exodus 1:1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:
- מִשְׁפָּחָה mishpâchâhclantranslated this way 30 times of its 285 uses · Strong’s H4940Noun · Translated: clans 135, clan 100, families 17, family 12Full study and all 217 verses →
Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”
Exodus 12:21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and told them, “Go at once and select for yourselves a lamb for each family, and slaughter the Passover lamb.
- זֶרַע zerasowing, seed, offspringtranslated this way 5 times of its 220 uses · Strong’s H2233Noun · Translated: descendants 78, offspring 45, seed 34, children 10Full study and all 201 verses →
2 Kings 25:25 In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down and killed Gedaliah, along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
Jeremiah 41:1 In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family and one of the king’s chief officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah, and they ate a meal together there.
- בָּנָה bânâhbuildtranslated this way 2 times of its 368 uses · Strong’s H1129Verb · Translated: built 132, build 98, rebuilt 34, rebuild 19Full study and all 342 verses →
Genesis 16:2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
Genesis 30:3 Then she said, “Here is my maidservant Bilhah. Sleep with her, that she may bear children for me, so that through her I too can build a family.”
- כָּתָב kâthâbwritingtranslated this way 2 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H3791Noun · Translated: script 3, family records 2, text 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Ezra 2:62 These men searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean.
Nehemiah 7:64 These men searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean.
Greek words (New Testament)
- οἶκος oîkosa house, householdtranslated this way 4 times of its 109 uses · Strong’s G3624Noun · Translated: house 59, home 25, household 14, family 4Full study and all 101 verses →
Luke 9:61 Still another said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first let me bid farewell to my family.”
1 Timothy 5:4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to show godliness to their own family and repay their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.
- γένος génosoffspring, family, race, kindtranslated this way 2 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s G1085Noun · Translated: people 3, offspring 3, family 2, native 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Acts 4:6 along with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and many others from the high priest’s family.
Acts 7:13 On their second visit, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and his family became known to Pharaoh.
- πατριά patriáa family, tribetranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3965Noun · Translated: line 1, families 1, family 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Acts 3:25 And you are sons of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers when He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.’
Ephesians 3:15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
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.
What the Bible says about family: passages by topic →
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.