Word study

Green

5 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

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

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • רַעֲנָן raănânluxuriant, freshtranslated this way 12 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H7488Adjective  ·  Translated: green 12, flourishing 4, flourish 1, fine 1

    Deuteronomy 12:2 Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods— atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.

    1 Kings 14:23 They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

    Full study and all 20 verses →
  • יֶרֶק yereqgreen, greennesstranslated this way 3 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H3418Noun  ·  Translated: green 2, gave you the green 1, grass 1, like tender 1

    Genesis 1:30 And to every beast of the earth and every bird of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth — everything that has the breath of life in it — I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

    Exodus 10:15 They covered the face of all the land until it was black, and they consumed all the plants on the ground and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left behind. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

    Full study and all 6 verses →
  • דֶּשֶׁא deshegrasstranslated this way 3 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H1877Noun  ·  Translated: vegetation 3, green shoots 2

    2 Kings 19:26 Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.

    Psalm 23:2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.

    Full study and all 14 verses →
  • יְרַקְרַק yeraqraqgreenish, pale-greentranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H3422Adjective  ·  Translated: green 1, consists of green 1, feathers 1

    Leviticus 13:49 and if the mark in the fabric, leather, weave, knit, or leather article is green or red, then it is contaminated with mildew and must be shown to the priest.

    Leviticus 14:37 He is to examine the house, and if the mildew on the walls consists of green or red depressions that appear to be beneath the surface of the wall,

    Full study and all 3 verses →
  • לַח lachmoist, fresh, newtranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H3892Adjective  ·  Translated: fresh 4, green 2

    Ezekiel 17:24 Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make the withered tree flourish. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done it.’”

    Ezekiel 20:47 Say to the forest of the Negev: Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Lord GOD says: I am about to ignite in you a fire, and it will devour all your trees, both green and dry. The blazing flame will not be quenched, and by it every face from south to north will be scorched.

    Full study and all 6 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • χλωρός chlōrósgreen, paletranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G5515Adjective  ·  Translated: green 2, pale green 1, plant 1

    Mark 6:39 Then Jesus directed them to have the people sit in groups on the green grass.

    Revelation 6:8 Then I looked and saw a pale green horse. Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed close behind. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword, by famine, by plague, and by the beasts of the earth.

    Full study and all 4 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.