Word study

Mark

3 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: mark, marks, marked. 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 “Mark” 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)

  • אוֹת ôthsigntranslated this way 2 times of its 78 uses · Strong’s H226Noun  ·  Translated: sign 40, signs 27, miraculous signs 2, banners 2

    Genesis 1:14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years.

    Genesis 4:15 “Not so!” replied the LORD. “If anyone slays Cain, then Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him.

    Full study and all 77 verses →
  • תָּו tâvmarktranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H8420Noun  ·  Translated: mark 2, signature 1

    Ezekiel 9:4 “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem,” said the LORD, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men sighing and groaning over all the abominations committed there.”

    Ezekiel 9:6 Slaughter the old men, the young men and maidens, the women and children; but do not go near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple.

    Full study and all 3 verses →
  • שׂוּם sûmput, place, settranslated this way 2 times of its 560 uses · Strong’s H7760Verb  ·  Translated: put 84, set 71, make 45, made 39

    Ezekiel 21:19 “Now you, son of man, mark out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to take, both starting from the same land. And make a signpost where the road branches off to each city.

    Ezekiel 21:20 Mark out one road for the sword to come against Rabbah of the Ammonites, and another against Judah into fortified Jerusalem.

    Full study and all 533 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • Μάρκος MárkosMarktranslated this way 8 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G3138Noun  ·  Translated: Mark 8

    Acts 12:12 And when he had realized this, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered together and were praying.

    Colossians 4:10 My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you greetings, as does Mark the cousin of Barnabas. You have already received instructions about him: If he comes to you, welcome him.

    Full study and all 8 verses →
  • χάραγμα cháragmasculpture, a stamp, signtranslated this way 7 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G5480Noun  ·  Translated: mark 7, image formed 1

    Revelation 13:16 And the second beast required all people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,

    Revelation 13:17 so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark — the name of the beast or the number of its name.

    Full study and all 8 verses →
  • σημεῖον sēmeîona sign, miracle, indicationtranslated this way 2 times of its 74 uses · Strong’s G4592Noun  ·  Translated: signs 37, sign 31, miracle 2

    2 Corinthians 12:12 The marks of a true apostle — signs, wonders, and miracles — were performed among you with great perseverance.

    2 Thessalonians 3:17 This greeting is in my own hand — Paul. This is my mark in every letter; it is the way I write.

    Full study and all 69 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 Mark: 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.