Word study
Number
15 Hebrew and 6 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: number, numbered, numbers. 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 “number” 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)
- פָּקַד pâqadattend to, visit, muster, appointtranslated this way 64 times of its 294 uses · Strong’s H6485Verb · Translated: punish 41, numbered 26, appointed 15, counted 14Full study and all 267 verses →
Exodus 30:12 “When you take a census of the Israelites to number them, each man must pay the LORD a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will come upon them when they are numbered.
Numbers 1:3 You and Aaron are to number those who are twenty years of age or older by their divisions— everyone who can serve in Israel’s army.
- מִסְפָּר mispârnumber, taletranslated this way 59 times of its 113 uses · Strong’s H4557Noun · Translated: number 35, according to the number 13, counting 13, few 9Full study and all 111 verses →
Genesis 34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”
Exodus 23:26 No woman in your land will miscarry or be barren; I will fulfill the number of your days.
- רֹב rôbmultitude, abundance, greatnesstranslated this way 4 times of its 142 uses · Strong’s H7230Noun · Translated: many 28, abundance 22, great 18, abundant 10Full study and all 138 verses →
Leviticus 25:16 You shall increase the price in proportion to a greater number of years, or decrease it in proportion to a lesser number of years; for he is selling you a given number of harvests.
2 Chronicles 15:9 And he assembled all Judah and Benjamin, along with those from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had settled among them, for great numbers had come over to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
- רַב rabmuch, many, greattranslated this way 4 times of its 445 uses · Strong’s H7227Adjective · Translated: many 171, great 65, captain 24, long 14Full study and all 426 verses →
Joshua 11:4 So these kings came out with all their armies, a multitude as numerous as the sand on the seashore, along with a great number of horses and chariots.
Job 1:3 and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man of all the people of the East.
- מָנָה mânâhcount, number, reckon, assigntranslated this way 4 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s H4487Verb · Translated: count 6, appointed 6, numbered 3, counted 2Full study and all 27 verses →
1 Kings 8:5 There, before the ark, King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel who had assembled with him sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.
2 Chronicles 5:6 There, before the ark, King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel who had assembled with him sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.
- אַרְבַּע arbafourtranslated this way 4 times of its 247 uses · Strong’s H702Number · Translated: four 161, fourteenth 20, fourteen 17, fourth 5Full study and all 218 verses →
Numbers 1:27 those registered to the tribe of Judah numbered 74,600.
Numbers 1:29 those registered to the tribe of Issachar numbered 54,400.
- סָפַר sâpharcounttranslated this way 3 times of its 154 uses · Strong’s H5608Verb · Translated: scribe 41, count 19, told 15, declare 13Full study and all 150 verses →
2 Samuel 24:10 After David had numbered the troops, his conscience was stricken and he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg You to take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
1 Kings 3:8 Your servant is here among the people You have chosen, a people too numerous to count or number.
- שָׁלוֹשׁ shâlôsha three, triadtranslated this way 3 times of its 383 uses · Strong’s H7969Number · Translated: three 254, third 11, thirteenth 10, thirteen 10Full study and all 342 verses →
Numbers 1:43 those registered to the tribe of Naphtali numbered 53,400.
Numbers 4:44 The men registered by their clans numbered 3,200.
- רָבָה râbâhbe, or become, much, many, greattranslated this way 2 times of its 219 uses · Strong’s H7235Verb · Translated: multiply 39, multiplied 23, many 15, much 10Full study and all 207 verses →
Genesis 47:27 Now the Israelites settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and became fruitful and increased greatly in number.
2 Samuel 12:2 The rich man had a great number of sheep and cattle,
- מִפְקָד miphqâdmuster, appointment, appointed placetranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H4662Noun · Translated: number 2, appointment 1, Inspection 1, appointed part 1Full study and all 5 verses →
2 Samuel 24:9 And Joab reported to the king the total number of the troops. In Israel there were 800,000 men of valor who drew the sword, and in Judah there were 500,000.
1 Chronicles 21:5 And Joab reported to David the total number of the troops. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, including 470,000 in Judah.
- 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 →
- הָיָה hâyâhfall out, come to pass, become, betranslated this way 2 times of its 2,848 uses · Strong’s H1961Verb · Translated: will be 206, become 178, came 169, was 151Full study and all 2,573 verses →
Exodus 1:5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all, including Joseph, who was already in Egypt.
- שֵׁשׁ shêshsixtranslated this way 2 times of its 171 uses · Strong’s H8337Number · Translated: six 103, sixteen 18, 600 3, 666 3Full study and all 165 verses →
Numbers 1:21 those registered to the tribe of Reuben numbered 46,500.
1 Samuel 14:2 Meanwhile, Saul was staying under the pomegranate tree in Migron on the outskirts of Gibeah. And the troops who were with him numbered about six hundred men,
- חָמֵשׁ châmêshfivetranslated this way 2 times of its 249 uses · Strong’s H2568Number · Translated: five 148, fifteenth 16, fifteen 14, 25 000 14Full study and all 192 verses →
Numbers 1:25 those registered to the tribe of Gad numbered 45,650.
Numbers 1:37 those registered to the tribe of Benjamin numbered 35,400.
- שְׁנַיִם shenayimtwotranslated this way 2 times of its 642 uses · Strong’s H8147Number · Translated: two 364, twelve 68, both 33, 12 25Full study and all 550 verses →
Numbers 1:35 those registered to the tribe of Manasseh numbered 32,200.
Numbers 1:39 those registered to the tribe of Dan numbered 62,700.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀριθμός arithmósa number, totaltranslated this way 15 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G706Noun · Translated: number 14, numbers 1Full study and all 12 verses →
Acts 4:4 But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
Romans 9:27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
- πλῆθος plēthosa multitudetranslated this way 8 times of its 31 uses · Strong’s G4128Noun · Translated: number 5, crowd 4, multitude 4, congregation 2Full study and all 31 verses →
Luke 5:6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to tear.
John 5:3 On these walkways lay a great number of the sick, the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed.
- πληθύνω plēthýnōI increase, multiplytranslated this way 3 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G4129Verb · Translated: multiply 3, multiplied 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Acts 6:1 In those days when the disciples were increasing in number, the Grecian Jews among them began to grumble against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food .
Acts 7:17 As the time drew near for God to fulfill His promise to Abraham, our people in Egypt increased greatly in number.
- ἱκανός hikanóssufficient, worthy, many, muchtranslated this way 3 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s G2425Adjective · Translated: worthy 5, large 5, many 5, long 4Full study and all 38 verses →
Acts 19:19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books and burned them in front of everyone. When the value of the books was calculated, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.
1 Corinthians 11:30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
- αὐτός autóshe, she, it, they, them, sametranslated this way 2 times of its 4,051 uses · Strong’s G846Personal / Possessive Pronoun · Translated: him 1,014, his 849, them 557, their 272Full study and all 2,999 verses →
- ἀριθμέω arithméōI number, counttranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G705Verb · Translated: numbered 2, count 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 10:30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Luke 12:7 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
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.
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.