Word study

Meanwhile

4 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “meanwhile”. 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 “meanwhile” 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)

  • יְהוֹשׁוּעַ YehôshûaJehoshuatranslated this way 2 times of its 211 uses · Strong’s H3091Noun  ·  Translated: Joshua 202, Meanwhile 2, Finally Joshua 1

    Joshua 6:22 Meanwhile, Joshua told the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the house of the prostitute and bring out the woman and all who are with her, just as you promised her.”

    Joshua 7:2 Meanwhile, Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.

    Full study and all 194 verses →
  • אֵלֶּה êl-lehthesetranslated this way 2 times of its 693 uses · Strong’s H428Pronoun  ·  Translated: these 377, things 36, of these 28, this 25

    Joshua 8:22 Meanwhile, those in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces on both sides. So Israel struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained.

    Full study and all 655 verses →
  • בֵּן bênsontranslated this way 2 times of its 4,587 uses · Strong’s H1121Noun  ·  Translated: son 1,843, sons 892, Israelites 422, descendants 358Full study and all 3,473 verses →
  • כֹּל kôlthe whole, alltranslated this way 2 times of its 5,107 uses · Strong’s H3605Noun  ·  Translated: all 1,589, and all 471, whole 223, every 196Full study and all 4,112 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • δέ début, on the other hand, andtranslated this way 12 times of its 1,642 uses · Strong’s G1161Conjunction  ·  Translated: but 784, and 340, now 117, then 101

    Matthew 11:2 Meanwhile John heard in prison about the works of Christ, and he sent his disciples

    Full study and all 1,541 verses →
  • οὖν oûntherefore, thentranslated this way 5 times of its 375 uses · Strong’s G3767Conjunction  ·  Translated: then 128, so 122, Therefore 77, at this 9

    John 12:9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews learned that Jesus was there. And they came not only because of Him, but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.

    John 12:17 Meanwhile, many people who had been with Jesus when He called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify.

    Full study and all 369 verses →
  • καί kaíand, even, also, namelytranslated this way 3 times of its 6,414 uses · Strong’s G2532Conjunction  ·  Translated: and 5,245, then 262, also 157, even 101Full study and all 4,279 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.

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.