Word study
Mile
4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: miles, mile. 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 “mile” or one of its forms.
Compare the Greek words side by side
Greek words (New Testament)
- μίλιον míliona Roman miletranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G3400Noun · Translated: mile 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Matthew 5:41 and if someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
- ἑξήκοντα hexḗkontasixtytranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s G1835Adjective · Translated: sixtyfold 4, seven miles 1, sixty 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Luke 24:13 That same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.
- εἴκοσι eíkositwentytranslated this way 1 time of its 11 uses · Strong’s G1501Adjective · Translated: twenty-four 6, twenty 3, three or four miles 1, twenty-three 1Full study and all 10 verses →
John 6:19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the sea — and they were terrified.
- δεκαπέντε dekapéntefifteentranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s G1178Adjective · Translated: fifteen 2, two miles 1Full study and all 3 verses →
John 11:18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, a little less than two miles away,
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.
What the Bible says about mile: passages by topic →
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Short definition: Dodson Greek Lexicon (2010, public domain). Full entry: G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922, public domain). Strong’s Greek Dictionary (1890) in the edition by Ulrik Sandborg-Petersen (CC0). 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.