Word study

King

8 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: king, kings. 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 “king” 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)

  • מֶלֶךְ melekkingtranslated this way 2,251 times of its 2,416 uses · Strong’s H4428Noun  ·  Translated: king 1,810, kings 267, king's 134, royal 58

    Genesis 14:1 In those days Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim

    Exodus 1:8 Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt.

    Full study and all 1,901 verses →
  • מֶלֶךְ melekkingtranslated this way 151 times of its 166 uses · Strong’s H4430Noun  ·  Translated: king 133, kings 12, royal 8, king's 5

    Ezra 4:8 Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote the letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows:

    Daniel 2:4 Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, may you live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”

    Full study and all 127 verses →
  • מָלַךְ mâlakbe or become king, or queen, reigntranslated this way 123 times of its 340 uses · Strong’s H4427Verb  ·  Translated: reigned 132, became king 68, reign 36, king 32

    Judges 9:16 Now if you have acted faithfully and honestly in making Abimelech king, if you have done well by Jerubbaal and his family, and if you have done to him as he deserves—

    1 Samuel 8:7 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king.

    Full study and all 283 verses →
  • שָׁלַח shâlachsendtranslated this way 4 times of its 829 uses · Strong’s H7971Verb  ·  Translated: sent 334, send 126, go 43, sending 19Full study and all 783 verses →
  • אָמַר âmarutter, saytranslated this way 3 times of its 4,555 uses · Strong’s H559Verb  ·  Translated: said 1,531, says 576, say 352, replied 341Full study and all 3,827 verses →
  • פָּנִים pânîmface, beforetranslated this way 3 times of its 1,836 uses · Strong’s H6440Noun  ·  Translated: before 448, face 222, presence 147, before you 123Full study and all 1,671 verses →
  • אֵל êlmotion totranslated this way 2 times of its 4,199 uses · Strong’s H413Preposition  ·  Translated: to 1,941, to me 285, to you 149, to him 137Full study and all 3,455 verses →
  • מַמְלָכָה mamlâkâhkingdom, sovereignty, dominion, reigntranslated this way 2 times of its 117 uses · Strong’s H4467Noun  ·  Translated: kingdom 51, kingdoms 42, royal 8, kings 2

    2 Chronicles 12:8 Nevertheless, they will become his servants, so that they may learn the difference between serving Me and serving the kings of other lands.”

    Psalm 135:11 Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kings of Canaan.

    Full study and all 113 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • βασιλεύς basileúsa king, ruler, emperortranslated this way 114 times of its 115 uses · Strong’s G935Noun  ·  Translated: King 83, kings 28, king's 3

    Matthew 1:6 and Jesse the father of David the king. Next: David was the father of Solomon by Uriah’s wife,

    Mark 6:14 Now King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known, and people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

    Full study and all 105 verses →
  • βασιλεύω basileúōI rule, reign, reign overtranslated this way 3 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s G936Verb  ·  Translated: reign 8, reigned 4, rule 2

    1 Corinthians 4:8 Already you have all you want. Already you have become rich. Without us, you have become kings. How I wish you really were kings, so that we might be kings with you!

    1 Timothy 6:15 which the blessed and only Sovereign One— the King of kings and Lord of lords— will bring about in His own time.

    Full study and all 18 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 king: 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.