Word study
Know
9 Hebrew and 9 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: know, known, knows, knew, knowing. 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 “know” 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)
- יָדַע yâdaknowtranslated this way 637 times of its 914 uses · Strong’s H3045Verb · Translated: know 453, known 53, knows 48, knew 38Full study and all 863 verses →
Genesis 3:5 “For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Exodus 1:8 Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt.
- יְדַע yedaknowtranslated this way 17 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s H3046Verb · Translated: know 6, made known 5, known 4, tell 4Full study and all 39 verses →
Ezra 4:12 Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came from you to us have returned to Jerusalem and are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are restoring its walls and repairing its foundations.
Daniel 2:8 The king replied, “I know for sure that you are stalling for time because you see that my word is final.
- דַּעַת daathknowledgetranslated this way 6 times of its 84 uses · Strong’s H1847Noun · Translated: knowledge 69, know 5, devoid of knowledge 2Full study and all 82 verses →
Job 10:7 though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand?
Isaiah 58:2 For day after day they seek Me and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not forsake the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.”
- שֵׁם shêmnametranslated this way 4 times of its 769 uses · Strong’s H8034Noun · Translated: name 553, names 65, named 61, him 20Full study and all 703 verses →
Joshua 15:15 From there he marched against the inhabitants of Debir (formerly known as Kiriath-sepher).
Judges 1:10 Judah also marched against the Canaanites who were living in Hebron (formerly known as Kiriath-arba), and they struck down Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.
- דֵּעַ dêaknowledge, opiniontranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H1843Noun · Translated: know 3, knowledge 2Full study and all 5 verses →
Job 32:6 So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite declared: “I am young in years, while you are old; that is why I was timid and afraid to tell you what I know.
Job 32:10 Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me; I too will declare what I know.’
- הוּא hûhe, shetranslated this way 2 times of its 1,425 uses · Strong’s H1931Pronoun · Translated: he 269, it 151, that 114, on that 87Full study and all 1,320 verses →
- נָכַר nâkarregard, recognizetranslated this way 2 times of its 48 uses · Strong’s H5234Verb · Translated: recognized 7, recognize 4, acknowledge 4, show partiality 3Full study and all 46 verses →
Job 24:13 Then there are those who rebel against the light, not knowing its ways or staying on its paths.
Proverbs 20:11 Even a young man is known by his actions— whether his conduct is pure and upright.
- שָׁלוֹם shâlômcompleteness, soundness, welfare, peacetranslated this way 2 times of its 223 uses · Strong’s H7965Noun · Translated: peace 135, safely 10, prosperity 8, well 5Full study and all 200 verses →
2 Kings 9:18 So a horseman rode off to meet Jehu and said, “This is what the king asks: ‘Have you come in peace?’” “What do you know about peace?” Jehu replied. “Fall in behind me.” And the watchman reported, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.”
2 Kings 9:19 So the king sent out a second horseman, who went to them and said, “This is what the king asks: ‘Have you come in peace?’” “What do you know about peace?” Jehu replied. “Fall in behind me.”
- בִּין bîndiscerntranslated this way 2 times of its 166 uses · Strong’s H995Verb · Translated: understand 27, discerning 16, understanding 12, consider 10Full study and all 160 verses →
Job 38:20 so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home?
Isaiah 32:4 The mind of the rash will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will speak clearly and fluently.
Greek words (New Testament)
- εἴδω eídōI know, remembertranslated this way 279 times of its 317 uses · Strong’s G1492Verb · Translated: know 218, knew 20, knows 16, knowing 14Full study and all 295 verses →
Matthew 6:8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
Mark 1:24 “What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are — the Holy One of God!”
- γινώσκω ginṓskōI come to know, learn, realizetranslated this way 143 times of its 220 uses · Strong’s G1097Verb · Translated: know 95, understand 19, known 15, knew 12Full study and all 205 verses →
Matthew 6:3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
Mark 5:43 Then Jesus gave strict orders that no one should know about this, and He told them to give her something to eat.
- γνωρίζω gnōrízōI make known, declare, knowtranslated this way 14 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s G1107Verb · Translated: made known 9, tell 3, make 2, want you to know 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Luke 2:15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.
- ἐπιγινώσκω epiginṓskōI come to know, discern, recognizetranslated this way 12 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s G1921Verb · Translated: recognized 6, recognize 4, know 4, realized 3Full study and all 40 verses →
Matthew 11:27 All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.
Mark 2:8 At once Jesus knew in His spirit that they were thinking this way within themselves. “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?” He asked.
- γνωστός gnōstósknown, an acquaintancetranslated this way 12 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G1110Adjective · Translated: known 10, friends 1, knew 1, remarkable 1Full study and all 15 verses →
Luke 23:49 But all those who knew Jesus, including the women who had followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching these things.
John 18:15 Now Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he also went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest.
- ἐπίσταμαι epístamaiI know, understandtranslated this way 11 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s G1987Verb · Translated: know 5, Knowing 2Full study and all 14 verses →
Acts 10:28 He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.
Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going.
- φανερός phanerósapparent, clear, visible, manifest, clearlytranslated this way 5 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s G5318Adjective · Translated: known 3, light 2, clear 2, evident 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Matthew 12:16 warning them not to make Him known.
Mark 3:12 But He warned them sternly not to make Him known.
- προγινώσκω proginṓskōI know beforehandtranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G4267Verb · Translated: known 2, foreknew 2, already know 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Acts 26:5 They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the strictest sect of our religion.
1 Peter 1:20 He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.
- καρδιογνώστης kardiognṓstēsa knower of the inner lifetranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G2589Noun · Translated: know everyone's heart 1, knows the heart 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 1:24 And they prayed, “Lord, You know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two You have chosen
Acts 15:8 And God, who knows the heart, showed His approval by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us.
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.