Word study
Old
16 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “old”. 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 “old” 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)
- בֵּן bênsontranslated this way 121 times of its 4,587 uses · Strong’s H1121Noun · Translated: son 1,843, sons 892, Israelites 422, descendants 358Full study and all 3,473 verses →
Genesis 5:32 After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Exodus 7:7 Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
- זָקֵן zâqênoldtranslated this way 32 times of its 175 uses · Strong’s H2205Adjective · Translated: elders 118, old 23, elderly 5, aged 3Full study and all 169 verses →
Genesis 18:11 And Abraham and Sarah were already old and well along in years; Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.
Exodus 10:9 “We will go with our young and old,” Moses replied. “We will go with our sons and daughters, and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the LORD.”
- זָקֵן zâqênbe or become oldtranslated this way 27 times of its 27 uses · Strong’s H2204Verb · Translated: old 24, grew old 1, Jehoiada was old 1, grow old 1Full study and all 26 verses →
Genesis 18:12 So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
Joshua 13:1 Now Joshua was old and well along in years, and the LORD said to him, “You are old and well along in years, but very much of the land remains to be possessed.
- שָׁנֶה shânehyeartranslated this way 22 times of its 612 uses · Strong’s H8141Noun · Translated: years 295, year 255, years old 20, two years 7Full study and all 519 verses →
Genesis 5:3 When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son in his own likeness, after his own image; and he named him Seth.
Numbers 29:17 On the second day you are to present twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished,
- קֶדֶם qedemfront, east, aforetimetranslated this way 14 times of its 85 uses · Strong’s H6924Noun · Translated: east 35, old 13, eastern 5, east side 4Full study and all 82 verses →
2 Kings 19:25 Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble.
Psalm 44:1 For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.
- עוֹלָם ôlâmlong duration, antiquity, futuritytranslated this way 11 times of its 341 uses · Strong’s H5769Noun · Translated: forever 114, everlasting 60, endures forever 43, permanent 38Full study and all 324 verses →
Genesis 6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days— and afterward as well— when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.
Deuteronomy 32:7 Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will inform you.
- גָּדוֹל gâdôlgreattranslated this way 8 times of its 501 uses · Strong’s H1419Adjective · Translated: great 262, large 33, high 20, loud 14Full study and all 477 verses →
Genesis 19:11 And they struck the men at the entrance, young and old, with blindness, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the door.
1 Samuel 5:9 But after they had moved the ark to Gath, the LORD’s hand was also against that city, throwing it into great confusion and afflicting the men of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.
- שֵׂיבָה sêbâhhoary head, old agetranslated this way 6 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H7872Noun · Translated: old age 5, gray hair 3, gray 2Full study and all 19 verses →
Genesis 15:15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.
Judges 8:32 Later, Gideon son of Joash died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
- זִקְנָה ziqnâhold agetranslated this way 6 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H2209Noun · Translated: old age 4, old 2Full study and all 6 verses →
Genesis 24:36 My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and my master has given him everything he owns.
1 Kings 11:4 For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.
- זָקֻן zâqunold agetranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H2208Noun · Translated: old age 4Full study and all 4 verses →
Genesis 21:2 So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised.
Genesis 21:7 She added, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
- רִאשׁוֹן rishônformer, first, chieftranslated this way 3 times of its 171 uses · Strong’s H7223Adjective · Translated: first 85, beginning 10, former 9, former things 6Full study and all 164 verses →
2 Chronicles 3:3 The foundation that Solomon laid for the house of God was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide, according to the old standard.
Psalm 89:49 Where, O Lord, is Your loving devotion of old, which You faithfully swore to David?
- יוֹם yômdaytranslated this way 2 times of its 2,013 uses · Strong’s H3117Noun · Translated: day 1,009, days 524, today 141, time 72Full study and all 1,744 verses →
Genesis 17:12 Generation after generation, every male must be circumcised when he is eight days old, including those born in your household and those purchased from a foreigner — even those who are not your offspring.
Genesis 21:4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.
- יָשָׁן yâshânoldtranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H3465Adjective · Translated: previous 1, old 1, Jeshanah 1, well as old 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Leviticus 26:10 You will still be eating the old supply of grain when you need to clear it out to make room for the new.
Song of Solomon 7:13 The mandrakes send forth a fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, new as well as old, that I have treasured up for you, my beloved.
- קַדְמוֹנִי qadmônîformer, easterntranslated this way 2 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H6931Adjective · Translated: Eastern 3, east 2, old 1, things of old 1Full study and all 9 verses →
1 Samuel 24:13 As the old proverb says, ‘Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.’ But my hand will never be against you.
Isaiah 43:18 “Do not call to mind the former things; pay no attention to the things of old.
- נָבִיא nâbîspokesman, speaker, prophettranslated this way 2 times of its 311 uses · Strong’s H5030Noun · Translated: prophet 157, prophets 145, old prophet 2, prophesy 2Full study and all 286 verses →
1 Kings 13:23 And after the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the old prophet who had brought him back saddled the donkey for him.
1 Kings 13:29 So the old prophet lifted up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury him.
- יָשִׁישׁ yâshîshagedtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H3453Adjective · Translated: found with the elderly 1, aged 1, old men 1, old 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Job 29:8 the young men saw me and withdrew, and the old men rose to their feet.
Job 32:6 So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite declared: “I am young in years, while you are old; that is why I was timid and afraid to tell you what I know.
Greek words (New Testament)
- παλαιός palaiósold, ancient, worn outtranslated this way 18 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s G3820Adjective · Translated: old 18Full study and all 15 verses →
Matthew 9:16 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. For the patch will pull away from the garment, and a worse tear will result.
Mark 2:21 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, and a worse tear will result.
- ἀρχαῖος archaîosoriginal, primitive, ancienttranslated this way 3 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G744Adjective · Translated: ancient 4, old 3, ancients 2, early 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Luke 9:8 others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that a prophet of old had arisen.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!
- ἡλικία hēlikíaage, staturetranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G2244Noun · Translated: life 2, stature 2, old enough 2, of 1Full study and all 8 verses →
John 9:21 But how he can now see or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.”
John 9:23 That was why his parents said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”
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.