Word study
Permit
2 Hebrew and 6 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: permitted, permit, permits. 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 “permit” 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)
- נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 3 times of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb · Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
- נוּחַ nûachresttranslated this way 1 time of its 140 uses · Strong’s H5117Verb · Translated: rest 20, leave 10, placed 9, set 7Full study and all 139 verses →
Ecclesiastes 5:12 The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich man permits him no sleep.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐπιτρέπω epitrépōI allow, permittranslated this way 7 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s G2010Verb · Translated: let 4, permitted 4, gave them permission 2, permits 2Full study and all 17 verses →
Matthew 19:8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hardness of heart. But it was not this way from the beginning.
Mark 10:4 They answered, “Moses permitted a man to write his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
- ἀφίημι aphíēmiI send away, release, remit, forgive, permittranslated this way 3 times of its 142 uses · Strong’s G863Verb · Translated: left 36, forgive 22, forgiven 22, let 12Full study and all 130 verses →
Matthew 3:15 “Let it be so now,” Jesus replied. “It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness in this way.” Then John permitted Him.
Mark 7:12 he is no longer permitted to do anything for his father or mother.
- ἔξεστι éxestiit is permitted, lawful, possibletranslated this way 2 times of its 31 uses · Strong’s G1832Verb · Translated: lawful 16, unlawful 6, permissible 4, permitted 2Full study and all 29 verses →
John 18:31 “You take Him and judge Him by your own law,” Pilate told them. “We are not permitted to execute anyone,” the Jews replied.
2 Corinthians 12:4 was caught up to Paradise. The things he heard were inexpressible, things that man is not permitted to tell.
- δίδωμι dídōmiI offer, givetranslated this way 2 times of its 403 uses · Strong’s G1325Verb · Translated: give 110, given 107, gave 72, gives 14Full study and all 370 verses →
- ἐάω eáōI allow, permit, leavetranslated this way 1 time of its 11 uses · Strong’s G1439Verb · Translated: allow 2, let 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Acts 16:7 And when they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit them.
- κωλύω kōlýōI prevent, hindertranslated this way 1 time of its 23 uses · Strong’s G2967Verb · Translated: hinder 4, prevented 3, tried to stop 2, stop 2Full study and all 23 verses →
Acts 24:23 He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard, but to allow him some freedom and permit his friends to minister to his needs.
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.