Word study
Few
5 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “few”. 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 “few” 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)
- מְעַט meaṭa little, fewness, a fewtranslated this way 21 times of its 92 uses · Strong’s H4592Adjective · Translated: little 35, few 18, enough 10, soon 3Full study and all 85 verses →
Genesis 47:9 “My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”
Leviticus 25:52 If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to calculate and pay his redemption according to his remaining years.
- מִסְפָּר mispârnumber, taletranslated this way 9 times of its 113 uses · Strong’s H4557Noun · Translated: number 35, according to the number 13, counting 13, few 9Full study and all 111 verses →
Numbers 9:20 Sometimes the cloud remained over the tabernacle for only a few days, and they would camp at the LORD’s command and set out at the LORD’s command.
Deuteronomy 33:6 Let Reuben live and not die, nor his men be few.”
- מַת mathmale, mantranslated this way 6 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H4962Noun · Translated: men 10, few 5Full study and all 19 verses →
Genesis 34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”
Deuteronomy 4:27 Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.
- מָעַט mâaṭbe or become small, diminished, fewtranslated this way 3 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s H4591Verb · Translated: less 3, decrease 3, diminish 2, decreased 2Full study and all 21 verses →
2 Kings 4:3 “Go,” said Elisha, “borrow empty jars from all your neighbors. Do not gather just a few.
Ecclesiastes 12:3 on the day the keepers of the house tremble and the strong men stoop, when those grinding cease because they are few and those watching through windows see dimly,
- אֶחָד echâdonetranslated this way 2 times of its 855 uses · Strong’s H259Number · Translated: one 278, first 43, and one 43, a 36Full study and all 688 verses →
Genesis 29:20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὀλίγος olígossmall, brief, few, soontranslated this way 16 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s G3641Adjective · Translated: few 13, little 10, short 4, few things 3Full study and all 40 verses →
Matthew 7:14 But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Mark 6:5 So He could not perform any miracles there, except to lay His hands on a few of the sick and heal them.
- πολύς polýsmuch, many, oftentranslated this way 3 times of its 338 uses · Strong’s G4183Adjective · Translated: many 172, great 37, large 32, much 31Full study and all 307 verses →
Luke 15:13 After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living.
John 2:12 After this, He went down to Capernaum with His mother and brothers and His disciples, and they stayed there a few days.
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.