Word study
Foolish
5 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “foolish”. 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 “foolish” 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)
- כְּסִיל kesîlstupid fellow, dullard, fooltranslated this way 9 times of its 70 uses · Strong’s H3684Noun · Translated: fool 41, fools 18, foolish 9, fool's 2Full study and all 69 verses →
Psalm 49:10 For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others.
Proverbs 10:1 The proverbs of Solomon: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother.
- נָבָל nâbâlfoolish, senselesstranslated this way 4 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H5036Adjective · Translated: fool 10, foolish 3, fools 2, without understanding 1Full study and all 18 verses →
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?
Job 2:10 “You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept from God only good and not adversity?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
- סָכָל sâkâlfooltranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H5530Noun · Translated: fool 4, foolish 3Full study and all 6 verses →
Ecclesiastes 2:19 And who knows whether that man will be wise or foolish? Yet he will take over all the labor at which I have worked skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.
Jeremiah 4:22 “For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”
- אֱוִיל ĕvîlfoolishtranslated this way 2 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s H191Noun · Translated: fool 13, fools 8, foolish 2, like a deer 1Full study and all 26 verses →
Proverbs 10:8 A wise heart will receive commandments, but foolish lips will come to ruin.
Proverbs 10:10 He who winks the eye causes grief, and foolish lips will come to ruin.
- אִוֶּלֶת ivvelethfollytranslated this way 2 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s H200Noun · Translated: folly 17, foolish 2, according to his folly 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Proverbs 14:1 Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.
Proverbs 24:9 A foolish scheme is sin, and a mocker is detestable to men.
Greek words (New Testament)
- μωρός mōrósstupid, foolishtranslated this way 7 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s G3474Adjective · Translated: foolish 6, fool 2, fools 2, foolishness 1Full study and all 12 verses →
Matthew 7:26 But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
1 Corinthians 1:27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
- ἀνόητος anóētosfoolish, thoughtlesstranslated this way 6 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G453Adjective · Translated: foolish 6Full study and all 6 verses →
Luke 24:25 Then Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
Romans 1:14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.
- ἄφρων áphrōnsenseless, foolish, inconsideratetranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G878Adjective · Translated: fool 6, fools 2, foolish 2, of 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Ephesians 5:17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
1 Peter 2:15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorance of foolish men.
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.