Word study
Large
7 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “large”. 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 “large” 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)
- גָּדוֹל gâdôlgreattranslated this way 35 times of its 501 uses · Strong’s H1419Adjective · Translated: great 262, large 33, high 20, loud 14Full study and all 477 verses →
Genesis 29:2 He looked and saw a well in the field, and near it lay three flocks of sheep, because the sheep were watered from this well. And a large stone covered the mouth of the well.
Numbers 13:28 Nevertheless, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified. We even saw the descendants of Anak there.
- רַב rabmuch, many, greattranslated this way 11 times of its 445 uses · Strong’s H7227Adjective · Translated: many 171, great 65, captain 24, long 14Full study and all 426 verses →
Genesis 30:43 Thus Jacob became exceedingly prosperous. He owned large flocks, maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.
Numbers 26:54 Increase the inheritance for a large tribe and decrease it for a small one; each tribe is to receive its inheritance according to the number of those registered.
- כָּבֵד kâbêdheavytranslated this way 4 times of its 40 uses · Strong’s H3515Adjective · Translated: heavy 7, severe 6, large 4, great 4Full study and all 39 verses →
Genesis 50:9 Chariots and horsemen alike went up with him, and it was an exceedingly large procession.
Numbers 20:20 But Edom insisted, “You may not pass through.” And they came out to confront the Israelites with a large army and a strong hand.
- צִנָּה tsinnâhhooktranslated this way 4 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H6793Noun · Translated: shield 6, large shields 3, shields 3, buckler 2Full study and all 18 verses →
1 Kings 10:16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield.
2 Chronicles 9:15 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of hammered gold went into each shield.
- מְאֹד meôdmuchness, force, abundance, exceedinglytranslated this way 3 times of its 195 uses · Strong’s H3966Adverb · Translated: greatly 28, very 12, was very 8, exceedingly 8Full study and all 186 verses →
Deuteronomy 17:17 He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold.
2 Samuel 8:8 And from Betah and Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a large amount of bronze.
- רֹב rôbmultitude, abundance, greatnesstranslated this way 3 times of its 142 uses · Strong’s H7230Noun · Translated: many 28, abundance 22, great 18, abundant 10Full study and all 138 verses →
1 Chronicles 22:3 David provided a large quantity of iron to make the nails for the doors of the gateways and for the fittings, together with more bronze than could be weighed
Proverbs 14:28 A large population is a king’s splendor, but a lack of subjects is a prince’s ruin.
- רְבָה rebâhgrow greattranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H7236Verb · Translated: grew large 2, promoted 1, become great 1, grown 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Daniel 4:11 The tree grew large and strong; its top reached the sky, and it was visible to the ends of the earth.
Daniel 4:20 The tree you saw that grew large and strong, whose top reached the sky and was visible to all the earth,
Greek words (New Testament)
- πολύς polýsmuch, many, oftentranslated this way 34 times of its 338 uses · Strong’s G4183Adjective · Translated: many 172, great 37, large 32, much 31Full study and all 307 verses →
Matthew 4:25 Large crowds followed Him, having come from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.
Mark 2:2 they gathered in such large numbers that there was no more room, not even outside the door, as Jesus spoke the word to them.
- μέγας mégaslarge, greattranslated this way 8 times of its 218 uses · Strong’s G3173Adjective · Translated: great 108, greater 29, loud 23, greatest 14Full study and all 206 verses →
Mark 5:11 There on the nearby hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding.
Luke 22:12 And he will show you a large upper room, already furnished. Make preparations there.”
- ἱκανός hikanóssufficient, worthy, many, muchtranslated this way 5 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s G2425Adjective · Translated: worthy 5, large 5, many 5, long 4Full study and all 38 verses →
Matthew 28:12 And after the chief priests had met with the elders and formed a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money
Mark 10:46 Next, they came to Jericho. And as Jesus and His disciples were leaving Jericho with a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting beside the road.
- ὀνικός onikóspertaining to an asstranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G3684Adjective · Translated: large 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 18:6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
Mark 9:42 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea.
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.