Word study
God
13 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: god, gods. 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 “God” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- אֱלֹהִים ĕlôhîmGodtranslated this way 2,536 times of its 2,563 uses · Strong’s H430Noun · Translated: God 2,295, gods 202, God's 18, judges 4Full study and all 2,240 verses →
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Exodus 1:17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had instructed; they let the boys live.
- יְהֹוִה YehôvihYahwehtranslated this way 305 times of its 306 uses · Strong’s H3069Noun · Translated: god 305, lord 1Full study and all 296 verses →
Genesis 15:2 But Abram replied, “O Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
Deuteronomy 3:24 “O Lord GOD, You have begun to show Your greatness and power to Your servant. For what god in heaven or on earth can perform such works and mighty acts as Yours?
- אֵל êlgodtranslated this way 221 times of its 235 uses · Strong’s H410Noun · Translated: God 208, Mighty 5, power 3, God's 3Full study and all 225 verses →
Genesis 14:18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine — since he was priest of God Most High —
Exodus 6:3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by My name the LORD I did not make Myself known to them.
- אֱלָהּ ĕlâhhgod, Godtranslated this way 94 times of its 94 uses · Strong’s H426Noun · Translated: God 78, gods 15, means that god 1Full study and all 78 verses →
Ezra 4:24 Thus the construction of the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
Jeremiah 10:11 Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.”
- אֱלוֹהַּ ĕlôahhgod, Godtranslated this way 56 times of its 58 uses · Strong’s H433Noun · Translated: God 53, gods 1, God's behalf 1, other god 1Full study and all 57 verses →
Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked— becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
2 Kings 17:31 the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim.
- יְהֹוָה YehôvâhYahwehtranslated this way 10 times of its 6,473 uses · Strong’s H3068Noun · Translated: lord 6,171, LORD's 127, surely as the lord 39, god 10Full study and all 5,509 verses →
Exodus 23:17 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD.
Exodus 34:23 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
- לֹא lônottranslated this way 4 times of its 4,657 uses · Strong’s H3808Adverb · Translated: no 309, not 269, never 218, will not 156Full study and all 3,775 verses →
- עָשָׂה âsâhdo, maketranslated this way 2 times of its 2,478 uses · Strong’s H6213Verb · Translated: done 292, made 265, make 143, did 112Full study and all 2,206 verses →
Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
- שׁוּב shûbturn back, returntranslated this way 2 times of its 1,007 uses · Strong’s H7725Verb · Translated: return 218, returned 105, restore 62, turn 56Full study and all 920 verses →
- שָׁלַם shâlambe complete, soundtranslated this way 2 times of its 109 uses · Strong’s H7999Verb · Translated: repay 20, fulfill 14, make restitution 7, made peace 6Full study and all 106 verses →
Job 21:19 It is said that God lays up one’s punishment for his children. Let God repay the man himself, so he will know it.
Job 34:33 Should God repay you on your own terms when you have disavowed Him? You must choose, not I; so tell me what you know.
- 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 →
- זוּר zûrbe a strangertranslated this way 2 times of its 76 uses · Strong’s H2114Adjective · Translated: foreigners 13, strangers 12, outsider 9, stranger 8Full study and all 75 verses →
Deuteronomy 32:16 They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.
Isaiah 43:12 I alone decreed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you. So you are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God.
- תְּרָפִים terâphîmTeraphimtranslated this way 2 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H8655Noun · Translated: household idols 6, household gods 2, idol 2, idols 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Judges 18:14 Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Did you know that one of these houses has an ephod, household gods, a graven image, and a molten idol? Now think about what you should do.”
2 Kings 23:24 Furthermore, Josiah removed the mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this to carry out the words of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD.
Greek words (New Testament)
- θεός theósGod, a godtranslated this way 1,283 times of its 1,292 uses · Strong’s G2316Noun · Translated: God 1,187, God's 87, gods 8, godly 3Full study and all 1,142 verses →
Matthew 1:23 “Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”).
Mark 1:1 This is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
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 God: 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.