Word study

Honorable

5 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “honorable”. 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 “honorable” 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)

  • כָּבַד kâbadbe heavy, weighty, burdensome, honouredtranslated this way 3 times of its 109 uses · Strong’s H3513Verb  ·  Translated: honor 19, honored 11, heavy 10, hardened 6

    1 Chronicles 4:9 Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.”

    Isaiah 3:5 The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor; the young will rise up against the old, and the base against the honorable.

    Full study and all 105 verses →
  • יַקִּיר yaqqîrhonourable, difficulttranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H3358Adjective  ·  Translated: honorable 1, difficult 1

    Ezra 4:10 and the rest of the peoples whom the great and honorable Ashurbanipal deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and elsewhere west of the Euphrates.

    Full study and all 2 verses →
  • כָּבוֹד kâbôdabundance, honour, glorytranslated this way 1 time of its 198 uses · Strong’s H3519Noun  ·  Translated: glory 124, honor 30, glorious 14, splendor 5

    Proverbs 20:3 It is honorable for a man to resolve a dispute, but any fool will quarrel.

    Full study and all 188 verses →
  • נָשָׂא nâsâlift, take, carrytranslated this way 1 time of its 642 uses · Strong’s H5375Verb  ·  Translated: bear 49, lift 45, lifted 41, carried 38Full study and all 601 verses →
  • נָדִיב nâdîbinclined, generous, nobletranslated this way 1 time of its 29 uses · Strong’s H5081Adjective  ·  Translated: nobles 9, willing 4, princes 4, prince 3

    Isaiah 32:8 But a noble man makes honorable plans; he stands up for worthy causes.

    Full study and all 26 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἄτιμος átimoswithout honor, despisedtranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s G820Adjective  ·  Translated: without honor 2, dishonored 1, less honorable 1

    1 Corinthians 12:23 and the parts we consider less honorable, we treat with greater honor. And our unpresentable parts are treated with special modesty,

    Full study and all 4 verses →
  • σεμνός semnóshonorabletranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s G4586Adjective  ·  Translated: dignified 3, honorable 1

    Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think on these things.

    Full study and all 4 verses →
  • τιμή timḗa price, honortranslated this way 1 time of its 41 uses · Strong’s G5092Noun  ·  Translated: honor 26, price 3, proceeds 3, value 2

    2 Timothy 2:20 A large house contains not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some indeed are for honorable use, but others are for common use.

    Full study and all 40 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.