Word study
Fish
3 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: fish, fishing. 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 “fish” 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)
- דָּג dâgfishtranslated this way 19 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H1709Noun · Translated: fish 16, fishing 1, Like fish 1, like the fish 1Full study and all 18 verses →
Genesis 9:2 The fear and dread of you will fall on every living creature on the earth, every bird of the air, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are delivered into your hand.
Numbers 11:22 If all our flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?”
- דָּגָה dâgâhfishtranslated this way 15 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H1710Noun · Translated: fish 13, caused their fish 1, like the fish 1Full study and all 13 verses →
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
Exodus 7:18 The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water.’”
- מִכְמֶרֶת mikmerethnet, fishing-nettranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H4365Noun · Translated: fishing net 2, nets 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Habakkuk 1:15 The foe pulls all of them up with a hook; he catches them in his dragnet, and gathers them in his fishing net; so he rejoices gladly.
Habakkuk 1:16 Therefore he sacrifices to his dragnet and burns incense to his fishing net, for by these things his portion is sumptuous and his food is rich.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἰχθύς ichthýsa fishtranslated this way 19 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s G2486Noun · Translated: fish 19Full study and all 18 verses →
Matthew 7:10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
Mark 6:38 “Go and see how many loaves you have,” He told them. And after checking, they said, “Five — and two fish.”
- ὀψάριον opsáriona little fishtranslated this way 5 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G3795Noun · Translated: fish 4, small fish 1Full study and all 5 verses →
John 6:9 “Here is a boy with five barley loaves and two small fish. But what difference will these make among so many?”
John 6:11 Then Jesus took the loaves and the fish, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted.
- ἰχθύδιον ichthýdiona little fishtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G2485Noun · Translated: small fish 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 15:34 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”
Mark 8:7 They also had a few small fish, and Jesus blessed them and ordered that these be set before them as well.
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 fish: 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.