Word study

Gracious

4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

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

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • חָנַן chânanshew favour, be gracioustranslated this way 18 times of its 76 uses · Strong’s H2603Verb  ·  Translated: gracious 17, mercy 14, merciful 7, favor 4

    Genesis 33:11 Please accept my gift that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” So Jacob pressed him until he accepted.

    Numbers 6:25 may the LORD cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

    Full study and all 72 verses →
  • חַנּוּן channûngracioustranslated this way 12 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H2587Adjective  ·  Translated: gracious 12, compassionate 1

    Exodus 34:6 Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness,

    2 Chronicles 30:9 For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and sons will receive mercy in the presence of their captors and will return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful; He will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”

    Full study and all 13 verses →
  • טוֹב ṭôbpleasant, agreeable, goodtranslated this way 6 times of its 538 uses · Strong’s H2896Adjective  ·  Translated: good 249, better 72, prosperity 19, good things 12

    Ezra 7:9 He had begun the journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, for the gracious hand of his God was upon him.

    Nehemiah 2:8 And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so that he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house I will occupy.” And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests.

    Full study and all 499 verses →
  • חֵן chênfavour, gracetranslated this way 3 times of its 66 uses · Strong’s H2580Noun  ·  Translated: favor 48, grace 9, gracious 3, charm 2

    Proverbs 11:16 A gracious woman attains honor, but ruthless men gain only wealth.

    Ecclesiastes 10:12 The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool consume him.

    Full study and all 64 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • χάρις chárisgrace, favor, kindnesstranslated this way 3 times of its 153 uses · Strong’s G5485Noun  ·  Translated: grace 120, thanks 6, favor 5, credit 3

    Luke 4:22 All spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that came from His lips. “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” they asked.

    2 Corinthians 8:19 More than that, this brother was chosen by the churches to accompany us with the gracious offering we administer to honor the Lord Himself and to show our eagerness to help.

    Full study and all 145 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.

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.