Word study

Multitude

3 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: multitude, multitudes. 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 “multitude” 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)

  • הָמוֹן hâmônsound, murmur, roar, crowd, abundancetranslated this way 20 times of its 81 uses · Strong’s H1995Noun  ·  Translated: multitude 12, army 10, multitudes 8, many 6

    2 Samuel 6:19 Then he distributed to every man and woman among the multitude of Israel a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake. And all the people departed, each to his own home.

    2 Chronicles 14:11 Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God: “O LORD, there is no one besides You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God. Do not let a mere mortal prevail against You.”

    Full study and all 77 verses →
  • רֹב rôbmultitude, abundance, greatnesstranslated this way 7 times of its 142 uses · Strong’s H7230Noun  ·  Translated: many 28, abundance 22, great 18, abundant 10

    Genesis 48:16 the angel who has redeemed me from all harm— may He bless these boys. And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth.”

    2 Samuel 17:11 Instead, I advise that all Israel from Dan to Beersheba— a multitude like the sand on the seashore— be gathered to you, and that you yourself lead them into battle.

    Full study and all 138 verses →
  • עַם ampeopletranslated this way 2 times of its 1,751 uses · Strong’s H5971Noun  ·  Translated: people 1,346, peoples 111, troops 89, nations 65Full study and all 1,601 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • πλῆθος plēthosa multitudetranslated this way 5 times of its 31 uses · Strong’s G4128Noun  ·  Translated: number 5, crowd 4, multitude 4, congregation 2

    Luke 2:13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a great multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying:

    Acts 4:32 The multitude of believers was one in heart and soul. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they owned.

    Full study and all 31 verses →
  • ὄχλος óchlosa crowdtranslated this way 4 times of its 171 uses · Strong’s G3793Noun  ·  Translated: crowd 98, crowds 49, people 17, multitude 3Full study and all 166 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.