Word study
Overlook
7 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: overlooking, overlooks, overlook, overlooked. 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 “overlook” 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)
- שָׁקַף shâqaphoverhang, look out and downtranslated this way 3 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s H8259Verb · Translated: looked 12, looks 4, overlooks 2Full study and all 22 verses →
Numbers 21:20 and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.
1 Samuel 13:18 another toward Beth-horon, and the third down the border road overlooking the Valley of Zeboim facing the wilderness.
- עַל alheighttranslated this way 2 times of its 4,859 uses · Strong’s H5921Preposition · Translated: on 777, over 297, in 218, against 216Full study and all 3,996 verses →
- כָּסָה kâsâhcovertranslated this way 1 time of its 150 uses · Strong’s H3680Verb · Translated: covered 51, cover 36, covers 16, covering 9Full study and all 148 verses →
Proverbs 12:16 A fool’s anger is known at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.
- אַל alprohibition, do not . . ., let not . . .translated this way 1 time of its 662 uses · Strong’s H408Adverb · Translated: do not 400, and do not 41, not 29, no 24Full study and all 559 verses →
Deuteronomy 9:27 Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people and the wickedness of their sin.
- עָבַר âbarpass over, through, by, pass ontranslated this way 1 time of its 542 uses · Strong’s H5674Verb · Translated: pass 62, crossed 57, cross 52, passed 35Full study and all 487 verses →
Proverbs 19:11 A man’s insight gives him patience, and his virtue is to overlook an offense.
- פָּנִים pânîmface, beforetranslated this way 1 time of its 1,836 uses · Strong’s H6440Noun · Translated: before 448, face 222, presence 147, before you 123Full study and all 1,671 verses →
- מִצְפֶּה mitspehwatch-towertranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H4707Noun · Translated: place overlooking 1, watchtower 1Full study and all 2 verses →
2 Chronicles 20:24 When the men of Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked for the vast army, but there were only corpses lying on the ground; no one had escaped.
Greek words (New Testament)
- λανθάνω lanthánōI am hidden, escape noticetranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s G2990Verb · Translated: escape their notice 1, escape notice 1, escaped 1, without knowing 1Full study and all 6 verses →
2 Peter 3:5 But they deliberately overlook the fact that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water,
- παραθεωρέω paratheōréōI overlook, neglecttranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G3865Verb · Translated: overlooked 1Full study and its 1 verse →
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 .
- ὑπερείδω hypereídōI overlooktranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G5237Verb · Translated: overlooked 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Acts 17:30 Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.
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.