Word study

Joyful

5 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

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

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • שָׂמֵחַ sâmêachglad, joyful, merrytranslated this way 5 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H8056Adjective  ·  Translated: rejoicing 5, joyful 5, enjoy 2, rejoice 2

    1 Kings 8:66 On the fifteenth day Solomon sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things that the LORD had done for His servant David and for His people Israel.

    2 Chronicles 7:10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, Solomon sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the good things that the LORD had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel.

    Full study and all 21 verses →
  • רוּעַ rûaraise a shouttranslated this way 5 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s H7321Verb  ·  Translated: shout 10, Make a joyful noise 5, shout in triumph 4, shouted 3

    Psalm 66:1 For the choirmaster. A song. A Psalm. Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth!

    Psalm 81:1 For the choirmaster. According to Gittith. Of Asaph. Sing for joy to God our strength; make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob.

    Full study and all 40 verses →
  • שָׂמַח sâmachrejoice, be gladtranslated this way 3 times of its 152 uses · Strong’s H8055Verb  ·  Translated: rejoice 50, glad 27, rejoiced 20, gloat 6

    Ezra 6:22 For seven days they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread with joy, because the LORD had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to strengthen their hands in the work on the house of the God of Israel.

    Isaiah 56:7 I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”

    Full study and all 147 verses →
  • רְנָנָה renânâhid.translated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H7445Noun  ·  Translated: joyful voice 1, triumph 1, joyful 1, joyful songs 1

    Job 3:7 Behold, may that night be barren; may no joyful voice come into it.

    Psalm 63:5 My soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods; with joyful lips my mouth will praise You.

    Full study and all 4 verses →
  • מָשׂוֹשׂ mâsôsid.translated this way 2 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H4885Noun  ·  Translated: joy 6, joyful 2, delight 2

    Isaiah 24:8 The joyful tambourines have ceased; the noise of revelers has stopped; the joyful harp is silent.

    Full study and all 15 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • χαίρω chaírōI rejoice, am gladtranslated this way 2 times of its 71 uses · Strong’s G5463Verb  ·  Translated: rejoice 26, rejoiced 7, Greetings 6, glad 6

    Romans 12:12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer.

    1 Corinthians 7:30 those who weep, as if they did not; those who are joyful, as if they were not; those who make a purchase, as if they had nothing;

    Full study and all 65 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.