Word study

Perfect

3 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

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

  • תָּמִים tâmîmcomplete, soundtranslated this way 6 times of its 91 uses · Strong’s H8549Adjective  ·  Translated: unblemished 39, blameless 16, without blemish 11, perfect 6

    Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.

    2 Samuel 22:31 As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.

    Full study and all 85 verses →
  • כָּלִיל kâlîlentire, whole, holocausttranslated this way 3 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H3632Adjective  ·  Translated: completely 3, whole 3, perfect 3, entirely 2

    Ezekiel 16:14 Your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect in the splendor I bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD.

    Ezekiel 27:3 Tell Tyre, who dwells at the gateway to the sea, merchant of the peoples on many coasts, that this is what the Lord GOD says: You have said, O Tyre, ‘I am perfect in beauty.’

    Full study and all 15 verses →
  • כָּלַל kâlalcomplete, perfecttranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H3634Verb  ·  Translated: perfected 2

    Ezekiel 27:4 Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders perfected your beauty.

    Ezekiel 27:11 Men of Arvad and Helech manned your walls all around, and the men of Gammad were in your towers. They hung their shields around your walls; they perfected your beauty.

    Full study and all 2 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • τελειόω teleióōI complete, accomplish, make perfecttranslated this way 13 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s G5048Verb  ·  Translated: made perfect 5, perfected 4, finish 2

    Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

    Hebrews 5:9 And having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him

    Full study and all 23 verses →
  • τέλειος téleiosperfect, full-growntranslated this way 11 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s G5046Adjective  ·  Translated: perfect 10, mature 7, more perfect 1, finish 1

    Matthew 5:48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’’

    Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

    Full study and all 17 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.