Word study

Freedom

1 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “freedom”. 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 “freedom” or one of its forms.

Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • דְּרוֹר derôra flowing; free run, libertytranslated this way 4 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H1865Noun  ·  Translated: freedom 4, liberty 3, liquid 1

    Jeremiah 34:15 Recently you repented and did what pleased Me; each of you proclaimed freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before Me in the house that bears My Name.

    Ezekiel 46:17 But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it will belong to that servant until the year of freedom; then it will revert to the prince. His inheritance belongs only to his sons; it shall be theirs.

    Full study and all 7 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἐλευθερία eleutheríafreedom, libertytranslated this way 11 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G1657Noun  ·  Translated: freedom 10, gives freedom 1

    Romans 8:21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

    1 Corinthians 10:29 the other one’s conscience , I mean, not your own. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience?

    Full study and all 10 verses →
  • ἐλεύθερος eleútherosfree, delivered from obligationtranslated this way 2 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s G1658Adjective  ·  Translated: free 17, free of obligation 2, freedom 2, exempt 1

    1 Corinthians 7:21 Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let it concern you— but if you can gain your freedom, take the opportunity.

    1 Peter 2:16 Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

    Full study and all 23 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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 freedom: 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.