Word study

Hardness

2 Greek words behind this English word

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

Compare the Greek words side by side

Greek words (New Testament)

  • σκληροκαρδία sklērokardíahardness of hearttranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G4641Noun  ·  Translated: hardness of heart 3

    Matthew 19:8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hardness of heart. But it was not this way from the beginning.

    Mark 10:5 But Jesus told them, “Moses wrote this commandment for you because of your hardness of heart.

    Full study and all 3 verses →
  • πώρωσις pṓrōsishardness of hearttranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G4457Noun  ·  Translated: hardness 2, hardening 1

    Mark 3:5 Jesus looked around at them with anger and sorrow at their hardness of heart. Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and it was restored.

    Ephesians 4:18 They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.

    Full study and all 3 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. Short definition: Dodson Greek Lexicon (2010, public domain). Full entry: G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922, public domain). Strong’s Greek Dictionary (1890) in the edition by Ulrik Sandborg-Petersen (CC0). 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.