Word study

Ignorance

2 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word

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

  • לֹא lônottranslated this way 1 time of its 4,657 uses · Strong’s H3808Adverb  ·  Translated: no 309, not 269, never 218, will not 156

    Leviticus 5:18 He is to bring to the priest an unblemished ram of proper value from the flock as a guilt offering. Then the priest will make atonement on his behalf for the wrong he has committed in ignorance, and he will be forgiven.

    Full study and all 3,775 verses →
  • פְּתִי pethîsimpletranslated this way 1 time of its 19 uses · Strong’s H6612Noun  ·  Translated: simple 16, simplehearted 1, Leave your folly 1, ignorance 1

    Ezekiel 45:20 You must do the same thing on the seventh day of the month for anyone who strays unintentionally or in ignorance. In this way you will make atonement for the temple.

    Full study and all 18 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἄγνοια ágnoiaignorancetranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G52Noun  ·  Translated: ignorance 4

    Acts 3:17 And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders.

    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 4 verses →
  • συνίημι syníēmiI consider, understandtranslated this way 1 time of its 25 uses · Strong’s G4920Verb  ·  Translated: understand 14, understood 4, understanding 3, understands 2

    2 Corinthians 10:12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they show their ignorance.

    Full study and all 25 verses →
  • ἀγνοέω agnoéōI do not know, am ignorant oftranslated this way 1 time of its 22 uses · Strong’s G50Verb  ·  Translated: unaware 4, understand 3, ignorant 3, uninformed 2

    1 Timothy 1:13 I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy.

    Full study and all 21 verses →
  • ἀγνόημα agnóēmaan offence committed through ignorancetranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G51Noun  ·  Translated: sins the people had committed in ignorance 1

    Hebrews 9:7 But only the high priest entered the second room, and then only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.

    Full study and its 1 verse →
  • ἀγνωσία agnōsíaignorancetranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G56Noun  ·  Translated: ignorant 1, ignorance 1

    1 Peter 2:15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorance of foolish men.

    Full study and all 2 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.

What the Bible says about ignorance: 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.