Word study
Luxury
4 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “luxury”. 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 “luxury” 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)
- עֵדֶן êdenluxury, dainty, delighttranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s H5730Noun · Translated: pleasure 1, luxury 1, delights 1, delicacies 1Full study and all 4 verses →
2 Samuel 1:24 O daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and luxury, who decked your garments with ornaments of gold.
- תַּעֲנוּג taănûgdaintiness, luxury, exquisite delighttranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s H8588Noun · Translated: delights 2, Luxury 1, precious 1, pleasant 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Proverbs 19:10 Luxury is unseemly for a fool— how much worse for a slave to rule over princes!
- עָדִין âdînvoluptuoustranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H5719Adjective · Translated: lover of luxury 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Isaiah 47:8 So now hear this, O lover of luxury who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.’
- כְּבוּדָּה kebûddâhweightiness, magnificence, wealthtranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H3520Noun · Translated: possessions 1, glorious 1, luxury 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Ezekiel 23:41 You sat on a couch of luxury with a table spread before it, on which you had set My incense and My oil,
Greek words (New Testament)
- στρηνιάω strēniáōI live luxuriouslytranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4763Verb · Translated: lived in luxury 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Revelation 18:7 As much as she has glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her the same measure of torment and grief. In her heart she says, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow and will never see grief.’
Revelation 18:9 Then the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail at the sight of the smoke rising from the fire that consumes her.
- τρυφή tryphḗeffeminate luxurytranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G5172Noun · Translated: luxury 1, carouse 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Luke 7:25 Otherwise, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Look, those who wear elegant clothing and live in luxury are found in palaces.
- τρυφάω trypháōI live a luxurious lifetranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G5171Verb · Translated: luxury 1Full study and its 1 verse →
James 5:5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter.
- στρῆνος strēnoswantonness, luxurytranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G4764Noun · Translated: luxury 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Revelation 18:3 All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance of her luxury.”
- λιπαρός liparósrich, sumptuoustranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G3045Adjective · Translated: luxury 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Revelation 18:14 And they will say: “The fruit of your soul’s desire has departed from you; all your luxury and splendor have vanished, never to be seen again.”
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.