Word study
Joyfully
4 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “joyfully”. 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 “joyfully” 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)
- שִׂמְחָה simchâhjoy, gladness, mirthtranslated this way 2 times of its 91 uses · Strong’s H8057Noun · Translated: joy 48, gladness 14, rejoicing 6, pleasure 5Full study and all 87 verses →
1 Chronicles 29:17 I know, my God, that You test the heart and delight in uprightness. All these things I have given willingly and with an upright heart, and now I have seen Your people who are present here giving joyfully and willingly to You.
2 Chronicles 20:27 Then all the men of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat at their head, returned joyfully to Jerusalem, for the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies.
- קוֹל qôlsound, voicetranslated this way 1 time of its 425 uses · Strong’s H6963Noun · Translated: voice 197, sound 63, voices 22, thunder 11Full study and all 378 verses →
Ezra 3:12 But many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads who had seen the first temple wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple. Still, many others shouted joyfully.
- עָלַס âlasrejoicetranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H5965Verb · Translated: enjoy 1, flap joyfully 1, delight 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Job 39:13 The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but cannot match the pinions and feathers of the stork.
- רָנַן rânangive a ringing crytranslated this way 1 time of its 56 uses · Strong’s H7442Verb · Translated: shout for joy 18, sing for joy 12, sing 5, Rejoice 3Full study and all 53 verses →
Psalm 145:7 They will extol the fame of Your abundant goodness and sing joyfully of Your righteousness.
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 6Full study and all 65 verses →
Luke 19:6 So Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed Him joyfully.
Luke 19:37 And as He approached the descent from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began to praise God joyfully in a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen:
- ἐπιτίθημι epitíthēmiI put, place upon, lay ontranslated this way 1 time of its 37 uses · Strong’s G2007Verb · Translated: laid 6, place 5, placed 5, lay 4Full study and all 36 verses →
Luke 15:5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders,
- ἀσμένως asménōsjoyfully, with delighttranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G780Adverb · Translated: joyfully 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Acts 21:17 When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us joyfully.
- μετά metáwith, aftertranslated this way 1 time of its 413 uses · Strong’s G3326Preposition · Translated: with 265, after 72, along 11, later 9Full study and all 387 verses →
- χαρά charájoy, gladnesstranslated this way 1 time of its 55 uses · Strong’s G5479Noun · Translated: joy 51, great delight 1, overjoyed 1, joyfully 1Full study and all 54 verses →
Hebrews 10:34 You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you yourselves had a better and permanent possession.
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.