Word study
Front
5 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “front”. 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 “front” 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)
- פָּנִים pânîmface, beforetranslated this way 64 times of its 1,836 uses · Strong’s H6440Noun · Translated: before 448, face 222, presence 147, before you 123Full study and all 1,671 verses →
Exodus 16:34 And Aaron placed it in front of the Testimony, to be preserved just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Exodus 25:37 Make seven lamps and set them up on the lampstand so that they illuminate the area in front of it.
- מוּל mûlfront, in front oftranslated this way 15 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H4136Preposition · Translated: front 15, opposite 3, facing 2, toward 2Full study and all 28 verses →
Exodus 26:9 Join five of the curtains into one set and the other six into another. Then fold the sixth curtain over double at the front of the tent.
Leviticus 5:8 He is to bring them to the priest, who shall first present the one for the sin offering. He is to twist its head at the front of its neck without severing it;
- נֶגֶד negedwhat is conspicuous or in fronttranslated this way 9 times of its 142 uses · Strong’s H5048Preposition · Translated: before 24, before me 11, opposite 11, presence 9Full study and all 135 verses →
Exodus 19:2 After they had set out from Rephidim, they entered the Wilderness of Sinai, and Israel camped there in front of the mountain.
Joshua 5:13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in His hand. Joshua approached Him and asked, “Are You for us or for our enemies?”
- עַל alheighttranslated this way 4 times of its 4,859 uses · Strong’s H5921Preposition · Translated: on 777, over 297, in 218, against 216Full study and all 3,996 verses →
Exodus 27:21 In the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil that is in front of the Testimony, Aaron and his sons are to tend the lamps before the LORD from evening until morning. This is to be a permanent statute for the Israelites for the generations to come.’’
- אֵל êlmotion totranslated this way 2 times of its 4,199 uses · Strong’s H413Preposition · Translated: to 1,941, to me 285, to you 149, to him 137Full study and all 3,455 verses →
Genesis 30:39 they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἔμπροσθεν émprosthenin front, before the facetranslated this way 5 times of its 46 uses · Strong’s G1715Preposition · Translated: before 25, ahead 5, front 4, presence 3Full study and all 43 verses →
Luke 5:19 but they could not find a way through the crowd. So they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
Acts 18:17 At this, the crowd seized Sosthenes the synagogue leader and beat him in front of the judgment seat. But none of this was of concern to Gallio.
- ἐνώπιον enṓpionbefore the face of, in the presence oftranslated this way 5 times of its 85 uses · Strong’s G1799Preposition · Translated: before 44, sight 11, presence 10, front 5Full study and all 79 verses →
Luke 14:10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the last place, so that your host will come and tell you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in front of everyone at the table with you.
Acts 19:19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books and burned them in front of everyone. When the value of the books was calculated, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.
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.