Word study
Nation
4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: nations, nation. 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 “nation” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- גּוֹי gôynation, peopletranslated this way 539 times of its 553 uses · Strong’s H1471Noun · Translated: nations 406, nation 114, people 4, peoples 3Full study and all 507 verses →
Genesis 10:5 From these, the maritime peoples separated into their territories, according to their languages, by clans within their nations.
Exodus 9:24 The hail fell and the lightning continued flashing through it. The hail was so severe that nothing like it had ever been seen in all the land of Egypt from the time it became a nation.
- עַם ampeopletranslated this way 72 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 →
Genesis 49:10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.
Exodus 15:14 The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the dwellers of Philistia.
- לְאֹם leômpeopletranslated this way 12 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H3816Noun · Translated: peoples 12, nations 11, people 4, other 1Full study and all 26 verses →
Genesis 27:29 May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be the master of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.”
Psalm 65:7 You stilled the roaring of the seas, the pounding of their waves, and the tumult of the nations.
- אֻמָּה ummâhnationtranslated this way 6 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H524Noun · Translated: nation 6, peoples 1, of 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Daniel 3:7 Therefore, as soon as all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, and all kinds of music, the people of every nation and language would fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
Daniel 3:29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be cut into pieces and their houses reduced to rubble. For there is no other god who can deliver in this way.”
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἔθνος éthnosa race, people, the Gentilestranslated this way 66 times of its 162 uses · Strong’s G1484Noun · Translated: Gentiles 79, nations 39, nation 27, people 5Full study and all 150 verses →
Matthew 12:18 “Here is My Servant, whom I have chosen, My beloved, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations.
Mark 11:17 Then Jesus began to teach them, and He declared, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
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 nation: 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.