Word study
Happen
8 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: happened, happen, happening, happens. 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 “happen” 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)
- הָיָה hâyâhfall out, come to pass, become, betranslated this way 44 times of its 2,848 uses · Strong’s H1961Verb · Translated: will be 206, become 178, came 169, was 151Full study and all 2,573 verses →
Genesis 24:14 Now may it happen that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels as well’— let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. By this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”
Genesis 41:13 And it happened to us just as he had interpreted: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged.”
- קָרָה qârâhencounter, meet, befalltranslated this way 7 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s H7136Verb · Translated: happened 4, met 4, happen 3, laid its beams 2Full study and all 25 verses →
Genesis 42:29 When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they described to him all that had happened to them:
Ruth 2:3 So Ruth departed and went out into the field and gleaned after the harvesters. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.
- קָרָא qârâencounter, befalltranslated this way 5 times of its 127 uses · Strong’s H7122Verb · Translated: meet 58, against 11, confront 8, met 6Full study and all 124 verses →
Genesis 49:1 Then Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the days to come:
Leviticus 10:19 But Aaron replied to Moses, “Behold, this very day they presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD. Since these things have happened to me, if I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been acceptable in the sight of the LORD?”
- עָשָׂה âsâhdo, maketranslated this way 4 times of its 2,478 uses · Strong’s H6213Verb · Translated: done 292, made 265, make 143, did 112Full study and all 2,206 verses →
Exodus 2:4 And his sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
- בּוֹא bôcome in, come, go in, gotranslated this way 4 times of its 2,442 uses · Strong’s H935Verb · Translated: come 358, came 298, bring 209, brought 201Full study and all 2,217 verses →
- מָצָא mâtsâattain to, findtranslated this way 3 times of its 436 uses · Strong’s H4672Verb · Translated: found 197, find 87, finds 13, present 7Full study and all 411 verses →
Deuteronomy 4:30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.
Joshua 2:23 Then the two men started back, came down from the hill country, and crossed the river. So they came to Joshua son of Nun and reported all that had happened to them.
- הָוָא hâvâcome to pass, become, betranslated this way 3 times of its 51 uses · Strong’s H1934Verb · Translated: he 5, was 4, be 3, happen 3Full study and all 43 verses →
Daniel 2:28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Your dream and the visions that came into your mind as you lay on your bed were these:
Daniel 2:29 As you lay on your bed, O king, your thoughts turned to the future, and the Revealer of Mysteries made known to you what will happen.
- דָּבָר dâbârspeech, wordtranslated this way 2 times of its 1,244 uses · Strong’s H1697Noun · Translated: word 342, words 299, acts 51, Chronicles 42Full study and all 1,120 verses →
Genesis 20:8 Early the next morning Abimelech got up and summoned all his servants; and when he described to them all that had happened, the men were terrified.
Genesis 29:13 When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, where Jacob told him all that had happened.
Greek words (New Testament)
- γίνομαι gínomaiI come into being, am borntranslated this way 53 times of its 544 uses · Strong’s G1096Verb · Translated: become 58, came 42, became 34, happened 28Full study and all 515 verses →
Matthew 18:31 When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and recounted all of this to their master.
Mark 5:14 Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.
- εἰμί eimíI am, existtranslated this way 8 times of its 2,236 uses · Strong’s G1510Verb · Translated: is 523, are 214, was 183, am 83Full study and all 1,922 verses →
Matthew 16:22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!”
Mark 13:4 “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to be fulfilled?”
- συμβαίνω symbaínōI happen, occurtranslated this way 5 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G4819Verb · Translated: happened 3, happen 1, came 1, happening 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Mark 10:32 As they were going up the road to Jerusalem, Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were amazed, but those who followed were afraid. Again Jesus took the Twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him:
Luke 24:14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.
- ὁ hothetranslated this way 2 times of its 9,898 uses · Strong’s G3588Article · Translated: the 6,410, of the 748, of 344, who 329Full study and all 5,117 verses →
- ἐπέρχομαι epérchomaiI approach, overtake, attacktranslated this way 2 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G1904Verb · Translated: come 3, coming 2, happen 2, attacks 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Acts 8:24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me, so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”
Acts 13:40 Watch out, then, that what was spoken by the prophets does not happen to you:
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.