Word study
Inferior
2 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “inferior”. 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 “inferior” 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)
- נָפַל nâphalfall, lietranslated this way 2 times of its 432 uses · Strong’s H5307Verb · Translated: fall 104, fell 77, fallen 54, falls 21Full study and all 403 verses →
Job 12:3 But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
Job 13:2 What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.
- אֲרַע ăraearthtranslated this way 1 time of its 21 uses · Strong’s H772Noun · Translated: earth 15, ground 3, land 2, inferior 1Full study and all 17 verses →
Daniel 2:39 But after you, there will arise another kingdom, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule the whole earth.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὑστερέω hysteréōI am lacking, fall short, suffer needtranslated this way 2 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s G5302Verb · Translated: lack 3, need 3Full study and all 16 verses →
2 Corinthians 11:5 I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.”
2 Corinthians 12:11 I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.
- ἡττάω hēttáōI am defeated, made inferiortranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s G2274Verb · Translated: inferior 1, mastered 1, overcome 1Full study and all 3 verses →
2 Corinthians 12:13 In what way were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!
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.