Word study

Nullify

1 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: nullify, nullifies, nullified. 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 “nullify” or one of its forms.

Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • פָּרַר pârarbreak, frustratetranslated this way 5 times of its 47 uses · Strong’s H6565Verb  ·  Translated: break 11, broken 7, nullifies 3, thwart 3

    Numbers 30:8 But if her husband prohibits her when he hears of it, he nullifies the vow that binds her or the rash promise she has made, and the LORD will absolve her.

    Numbers 30:12 But if her husband nullifies them on the day he hears of them, then nothing that came from her lips, whether her vows or pledges, shall stand. Her husband has nullified them, and the LORD will absolve her.

    Full study and all 46 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • καταργέω katargéōI bring to naught, sever, abolishtranslated this way 4 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s G2673Verb  ·  Translated: nullify 4, released 2, destroy 2, destroyed 2

    Romans 3:3 What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?

    1 Corinthians 1:28 He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,

    Full study and all 26 verses →
  • ἀκυρόω akyróōI annul, make of no effect, canceltranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G208Verb  ·  Translated: nullify 2, revoke 1

    Matthew 15:6 he need not honor his father or mother with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

    Mark 7:13 Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.”

    Full study and all 3 verses →
  • κενόω kenóōI empty, deprive of content, make unrealtranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s G2758Verb  ·  Translated: emptied 2, useless 1, nullify 1, prove empty 1

    1 Corinthians 9:15 But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that something be done for me. Indeed, I would rather die than let anyone nullify my boast.

    Full study and all 5 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.