Word study
Magnificent
5 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “magnificent”. 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 “magnificent” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- אַדִּיר addîrmajestictranslated this way 1 time of its 27 uses · Strong’s H117Adjective · Translated: majestic 7, mighty 6, nobles 5, leaders 3Full study and all 25 verses →
Judges 5:25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk. In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.
- גָּדַל gâdalgrow up, become greattranslated this way 1 time of its 115 uses · Strong’s H1431Verb · Translated: great 14, grew 10, grown 7, greater 7Full study and all 114 verses →
1 Chronicles 22:5 And David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent — famous and glorious throughout all lands. Therefore I must make preparations for it.” So David made lavish preparations before his death.
- תִּפְאָרָה tiphârâhbeauty, glorytranslated this way 1 time of its 49 uses · Strong’s H8597Noun · Translated: glory 14, splendor 10, glorious 8, beauty 3Full study and all 49 verses →
Esther 1:4 And for a full 180 days he displayed the glorious riches of his kingdom and the magnificent splendor of his greatness.
- גְּבוּרָה gebûrâhstrength, mighttranslated this way 1 time of its 60 uses · Strong’s H1369Noun · Translated: strength 15, power 8, mighty acts 5, his might 5Full study and all 60 verses →
Esther 10:2 And all of Mordecai’s powerful and magnificent accomplishments, together with the full account of the greatness to which the king had raised him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia?
- אֶדֶר ederglory, magnificencetranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H145Noun · Translated: splendid 1, magnificent 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Zechariah 11:13 And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”— this magnificent price at which they valued me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
Greek words (New Testament)
- μέγας mégaslarge, greattranslated this way 1 time of its 218 uses · Strong’s G3173Adjective · Translated: great 108, greater 29, loud 23, greatest 14Full study and all 206 verses →
2 Peter 1:4 Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
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.