Word study
Heaven
4 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: heaven, heavens. 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 “heaven” 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)
- שָׁמַיִם shâmayimsky, alofttranslated this way 322 times of its 410 uses · Strong’s H8064Noun · Translated: heaven 163, heavens 141, air 43, sky 32Full study and all 392 verses →
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Exodus 9:22 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that hail may fall on all the land of Egypt— on man and beast and every plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt.”
- שָׁמַיִן shâmayinheavenstranslated this way 31 times of its 37 uses · Strong’s H8065Noun · Translated: heaven 28, heavens 3, air 3, sky 3Full study and all 35 verses →
Ezra 5:11 And this is the answer they returned: “We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed.
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.”
- מָרוֹם mârômheighttranslated this way 5 times of its 53 uses · Strong’s H4791Noun · Translated: high 20, heights 12, lofty 3, heaven 3Full study and all 51 verses →
Job 25:2 “Dominion and awe belong to God; He establishes harmony in the heights of heaven.
Psalm 71:19 Your righteousness reaches to the heavens, O God, You who have done great things. Who, O God, is like You?
- רָקִיעַ râqîaextended surfacetranslated this way 2 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H7549Noun · Translated: expanse 12, heavens 2, skies 1Full study and all 15 verses →
Psalm 150:1 Hallelujah! Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty heavens.
Daniel 12:3 Then the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever.
Greek words (New Testament)
- οὐρανός ouranósthe sky, the heaventranslated this way 245 times of its 272 uses · Strong’s G3772Noun · Translated: heaven 227, heavens 18, sky 15, air 9Full study and all 255 verses →
Matthew 3:2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Mark 1:10 As soon as Jesus came up out of the water, He saw the heavens breaking open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove.
- ἐπουράνιος epourániosheavenly, celestialtranslated this way 3 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s G2032Adjective · Translated: heavenly 9, heavenly realms 5, heaven 3, in 1Full study and all 17 verses →
1 Corinthians 15:48 As was the earthly man, so also are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.
Philippians 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
- οὐρανόθεν ouranóthenfrom heaventranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G3771Adverb · Translated: heaven 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 14:17 Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”
Acts 26:13 About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions.
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 heaven: 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.