Word study
Hundred
4 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: hundred, hundreds. 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 “hundred” 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)
- מֵאָה mêâhhundredtranslated this way 187 times of its 292 uses · Strong’s H3967Number · Translated: hundred 137, hundreds 26, two hundred 17, 120 6Full study and all 263 verses →
Genesis 8:13 In Noah’s six hundred and first year, on the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth. So Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.
Exodus 18:21 Furthermore, select capable men from among the people — God-fearing, trustworthy men who are averse to dishonest gain. Appoint them over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
- שְׁלוֹשִׁים shelôshîmthirtytranslated this way 13 times of its 134 uses · Strong’s H7970Number · Translated: thirty 56, hundred and thirty 12, 30 7, thirty-three 5Full study and all 122 verses →
Numbers 7:13 His offering was one silver platter weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel and filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
Numbers 7:19 The offering he presented was one silver platter weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel and filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
- מְאָה meâhhundredtranslated this way 7 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H3969Number · Translated: hundred 6, two hundred 1, 120 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Ezra 6:17 For the dedication of the house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and a sin offering for all Israel of twelve male goats, one for each tribe of Israel.
Ezra 7:22 up to a hundred talents of silver, a hundred cors of wheat, a hundred baths of wine, a hundred baths of olive oil, and salt without limit.
- מֵאָה MêâhMeahtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H3968Noun · Translated: Hundred 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Nehemiah 3:1 At the Sheep Gate, Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests began rebuilding. They dedicated it and installed its doors. After building as far as the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel, they dedicated the wall.
Nehemiah 12:39 over the Gate of Ephraim, the Jeshanah Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate. And they stopped at the Gate of the Guard.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἑκατόν hekatónone hundredtranslated this way 7 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s G1540Adjective · Translated: hundred 6, hundredfold 4, 144 000 3Full study and all 17 verses →
Matthew 18:12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?
Mark 6:40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.
- διακόσιοι diakósioitwo hundredtranslated this way 5 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G1250Adjective · Translated: two hundred 4, hundred yards 1, 276 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Mark 6:37 But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.” They asked Him, “Should we go out and spend two hundred denarii to give all of them bread to eat?”
John 6:7 Philip answered, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a small piece.”
- τριακόσιοι triakósioithree hundredtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G5145Adjective · Translated: three hundred 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Mark 14:5 It could have been sold for over three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her.
John 12:5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”
- πεντακόσιοι pentakósioifive hundredtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4001Adjective · Translated: five hundred 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Luke 7:41 “Two men were debtors to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
1 Corinthians 15:6 After that, He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
- τετρακόσιοι tetrakósioifour hundredtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G5071Adjective · Translated: four hundred 2, 450 1, 430 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Acts 5:36 Some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing.
Acts 7:6 God told him that his descendants would be foreigners in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
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.