Word study

Highly

4 Hebrew words behind this English word

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

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • מְאֹד meôdmuchness, force, abundance, exceedinglytranslated this way 6 times of its 195 uses · Strong’s H3966Adverb  ·  Translated: greatly 28, very 12, was very 8, exceedingly 8

    Exodus 11:3 And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.

    1 Samuel 18:30 Every time the Philistine commanders came out for battle, David was more successful than all of Saul’s officers, so that his name was highly esteemed.

    Full study and all 186 verses →
  • מַעַל maalhigher parttranslated this way 3 times of its 112 uses · Strong’s H4605Adverb  ·  Translated: older 30, above 21, more 8, upward 6

    1 Chronicles 14:2 And David realized that the LORD had established him as king over Israel and had highly exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.

    2 Chronicles 1:1 Now Solomon son of David established himself securely over his kingdom, and the LORD his God was with him and highly exalted him.

    Full study and all 109 verses →
  • גָּאָה gââhrise uptranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H1342Verb  ·  Translated: highly exalted 2, grow 1, hold my head high 1, risen 1

    Exodus 15:1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: “I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted. The horse and rider He has thrown into the sea.

    Exodus 15:21 And Miriam sang back to them: “Sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted; the horse and rider He has thrown into the sea.”

    Full study and all 5 verses →
  • חֶמְדָּה chemdâhid.translated this way 2 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s H2532Noun  ·  Translated: pleasant 3, precious 3, highly precious 2, riches 2

    Daniel 10:11 He said to me, “Daniel, you are a man who is highly precious. Consider carefully the words that I am about to say to you. Stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he had said this to me, I stood up trembling.

    Daniel 10:19 “Do not be afraid, you who are highly precious,” he said. “Peace be with you! Be strong now; be very strong!” As he spoke with me, I was strengthened and said, “Speak, my lord, for you have strengthened me.”

    Full study and all 23 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.