Word study
Plan
11 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: plans, plan, planned, planning. 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 “plan” 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)
- עֵצָה êtsâhcounsel, advicetranslated this way 18 times of its 88 uses · Strong’s H6098Noun · Translated: counsel 33, advice 11, plans 11, plan 6Full study and all 84 verses →
Ezra 4:5 They hired counselors against them to frustrate their plans throughout the reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.
Job 5:13 He catches the wise in their craftiness, and sweeps away the plans of the cunning.
- מַחֲשָׁבָה machăshâbâhthought, devicetranslated this way 12 times of its 52 uses · Strong’s H4284Noun · Translated: thoughts 15, plans 10, artistic 3, schemes 3Full study and all 48 verses →
Psalm 40:5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us — none can compare to You — if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count.
Proverbs 12:5 The plans of the righteous are just, but the counsel of the wicked leads to deceit.
- חָשַׁב châshabthink, accounttranslated this way 8 times of its 118 uses · Strong’s H2803Verb · Translated: considered 10, regarded 7, devise 7, devised 6Full study and all 117 verses →
Nehemiah 6:2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me.
Psalm 35:4 May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plan to harm me be driven back and confounded.
- יָצַר yâtsarform, fashiontranslated this way 5 times of its 62 uses · Strong’s H3335Verb · Translated: formed 17, potter 9, potter's 5, Maker 5Full study and all 55 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.
Isaiah 22:11 You built a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider Him who planned it long ago.
- תַּבְנִית tabnîthconstruction, pattern, figuretranslated this way 5 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H8403Noun · Translated: plans 3, likeness 2Full study and all 15 verses →
2 Kings 16:10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria. On seeing the altar in Damascus, King Ahaz sent Uriah the priest a model of the altar and complete plans for its construction.
1 Chronicles 28:11 Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, storehouses, upper rooms, inner rooms, and the room for the mercy seat.
- יָעַץ yâatsadvise, counseltranslated this way 3 times of its 75 uses · Strong’s H3289Verb · Translated: counselor 11, counselors 9, advise 6, consulted 5Full study and all 69 verses →
Isaiah 19:12 Where are your wise men now? Let them tell you and reveal what the LORD of Hosts has planned against Egypt.
Isaiah 23:8 Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are renowned on the earth?
- אָמַר âmarutter, saytranslated this way 2 times of its 4,555 uses · Strong’s H559Verb · Translated: said 1,531, says 576, say 352, replied 341Full study and all 3,827 verses →
- דָּמָה dâmâhbe like, resembletranslated this way 2 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H1819Verb · Translated: like 9, compare 4, liken 3, planned 2Full study and all 28 verses →
Numbers 33:56 And then I will do to you what I had planned to do to them.”
Isaiah 14:24 The LORD of Hosts has sworn: “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand.
- זָמַם zâmamconsider, purpose, devisetranslated this way 2 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H2161Verb · Translated: resolved 3, planned 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Jeremiah 4:28 Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above will grow dark. I have spoken, I have planned, and I will not relent or turn back.”
Lamentations 2:17 The LORD has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old; He has overthrown you without pity. He has let the enemy gloat over you and exalted the horn of your foes.
- דָּבָר dâbârspeech, wordtranslated this way 2 times of its 1,244 uses · Strong’s H1697Noun · Translated: word 342, words 299, acts 51, Chronicles 42Full study and all 1,120 verses →
Deuteronomy 1:23 The plan seemed good to me, so I selected twelve men from among you, one from each tribe.
- מְזִמָּה mezimmâhpurpose, discretion, devicetranslated this way 2 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H4209Noun · Translated: schemes 4, discretion 4, plan 2, purposes 2Full study and all 18 verses →
Job 42:2 “I know that You can do all things and that no plan of Yours can be thwarted.
Jeremiah 51:11 Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His plan is aimed at Babylon to destroy her, for it is the vengeance of the LORD — vengeance for His temple.
Greek words (New Testament)
- βουλή boulḗcounsel, deliberate wisdomtranslated this way 2 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s G1012Noun · Translated: purpose 4, will 2Full study and all 12 verses →
Acts 2:23 He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.
Acts 27:42 The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners so none of them could swim to freedom.
- βούλομαι boúlomaiI will, intend, desiretranslated this way 2 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s G1014Verb · Translated: want 8, wanted 4, chooses 3, wanting 3Full study and all 35 verses →
2 Corinthians 1:15 Confident of this, I planned to visit you first, so that you might receive a double blessing.
2 Corinthians 1:17 When I planned this, did I do it carelessly? Or do I make my plans by human standards, so as to say “Yes, yes” and also “No, no”?
- πρόθεσις próthesisthe show-bread, predeterminationtranslated this way 2 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s G4286Noun · Translated: purpose 4, plan 2, all their 1, opportunity 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Romans 9:11 Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand,
Ephesians 1:11 In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
- βουλεύω bouleúōI deliberate, take counseltranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G1011Verb · Translated: consider 1, plotted 1, made plans 1, resolved 1Full study and all 6 verses →
John 12:10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well,
2 Corinthians 1:17 When I planned this, did I do it carelessly? Or do I make my plans by human standards, so as to say “Yes, yes” and also “No, no”?
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.