Word study
Foretold
4 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “foretold”. 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 “foretold” 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)
- שָׁמַע shâmaheartranslated this way 2 times of its 1,132 uses · Strong’s H8085Verb · Translated: heard 311, hear 253, listen 218, obey 60Full study and all 1,063 verses →
- נָגַד nâgadbe conspicuoustranslated this way 2 times of its 360 uses · Strong’s H5046Verb · Translated: tell 83, told 67, reported 31, declare 18Full study and all 339 verses →
- דָבַר dâbarspeaktranslated this way 1 time of its 1,113 uses · Strong’s H1696Verb · Translated: speak 209, said 157, spoken 142, spoke 110Full study and all 1,025 verses →
- קָרָא qârâcall, proclaim, readtranslated this way 1 time of its 709 uses · Strong’s H7121Verb · Translated: called 211, call 104, named 58, summoned 50Full study and all 663 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- προλέγω prolégōI forewarntranslated this way 3 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s G4302Verb · Translated: foretold 3, said 2, warn 2Full study and all 12 verses →
Romans 9:29 It is just as Isaiah foretold: “Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.”
2 Peter 3:2 by recalling what was foretold by the holy prophets and commanded by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
- προκαταγγέλλω prokatangéllōI announce beforehand, promisetranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4293Verb · Translated: foretold 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 3:18 But in this way God has fulfilled what He foretold through all the prophets, saying that His Christ would suffer.
Acts 7:52 Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers —
- προέπω proépōI say previously, predicttranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G4277Verb · Translated: foretold 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Acts 1:16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit foretold through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus.
- προευαγγελίζομαι proeuangelízomaiI preach the gospel beforehandtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G4283Verb · Translated: foretold the gospel 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Galatians 3:8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
- προφητεύω prophēteúōI foretell, prophesytranslated this way 1 time of its 28 uses · Strong’s G4395Verb · Translated: prophesy 12, prophesied 7, prophesies 5, prophesying 2Full study and all 27 verses →
1 Peter 1:10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who foretold the grace to come to you searched and investigated carefully,
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.