Word study

Olive

2 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

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

  • זַיִת zayitholive-tree, olivetranslated this way 37 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s H2132Noun  ·  Translated: olive 8, olive groves 7, olives 6, olive trees 5

    Genesis 8:11 And behold, the dove returned to him in the evening with a freshly plucked olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.

    Exodus 23:11 but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.

    Full study and all 36 verses →
  • שֶׁמֶן shemenfat, oiltranslated this way 29 times of its 191 uses · Strong’s H8081Noun  ·  Translated: oil 144, olive oil 22, olive 4, perfume 3

    Exodus 25:6 olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense;

    Leviticus 2:1 “When anyone brings a grain offering to the LORD, his offering must consist of fine flour. He is to pour olive oil on it, put frankincense on it,

    Full study and all 175 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἐλαία elaíaan olive treetranslated this way 15 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G1636Noun  ·  Translated: Olives 12, olive 1, olive tree 1, olive trees 1

    Matthew 21:1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent out two disciples,

    Mark 11:1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent out two of His disciples

    Full study and all 15 verses →
  • ἔλαιον élaionolive oiltranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G1637Noun  ·  Translated: oil 8, olive oil 2, with 1

    Luke 16:6 ‘A hundred measures of olive oil,’ he answered. ‘Take your bill,’ said the manager, ‘sit down quickly, and write fifty.’

    Revelation 18:13 of cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; of wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; of cattle, sheep, horses, and carriages; of bodies and souls of slaves.

    Full study and all 11 verses →
  • ἀγριέλαιος agriélaiosa wild olive treetranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G65Noun  ·  Translated: wild olive shoot 1, wild olive tree 1

    Romans 11:17 Now if some branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others to share in the nourishment of the olive root,

    Romans 11:24 For if you were cut from a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into one that is cultivated, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

    Full study and all 2 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.

What the Bible says about olive: 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.