Word study
Plenty
10 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “plenty”. 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 “plenty” 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)
- שָׂבַע sâbabe sated, satisfied, surfeitedtranslated this way 4 times of its 97 uses · Strong’s H7646Verb · Translated: satisfied 39, filled 11, satisfy 10, fill 7Full study and all 93 verses →
Proverbs 12:11 The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks judgment.
Jeremiah 44:17 Instead, we will do everything we vowed to do: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and offer drink offerings to her, just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and good things, and we saw no disaster.
- רַב rabmuch, many, greattranslated this way 3 times of its 445 uses · Strong’s H7227Adjective · Translated: many 171, great 65, captain 24, long 14Full study and all 426 verses →
Genesis 24:25 Then she added, “We have plenty of straw and feed, as well as a place for you to spend the night.”
2 Chronicles 32:4 Many people assembled and stopped up all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land. “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?” they said.
- רֹב rôbmultitude, abundance, greatnesstranslated this way 1 time of its 142 uses · Strong’s H7230Noun · Translated: many 28, abundance 22, great 18, abundant 10Full study and all 138 verses →
2 Chronicles 31:10 and Azariah, the chief priest of the household of Zadok, answered him, “Since the people began to bring their contributions into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat, and there is plenty left over, because the LORD has blessed His people; this great abundance is what is left over.”
- סֵפֶק sêpheqchastisement, satietytranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H5607Noun · Translated: plenty 1, riches 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Job 20:22 In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed; the full force of misery will come upon him.
- דֶּשֶׁן deshenfatness, fat ashestranslated this way 1 time of its 15 uses · Strong’s H1880Noun · Translated: ashes 7Full study and all 14 verses →
Psalm 65:11 You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your paths overflow with plenty.
- שָׂבָע sâbâplenty, satietytranslated this way 1 time of its 8 uses · Strong’s H7647Noun · Translated: abundance 7, plenty 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Proverbs 3:10 then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.
- מוֹתָר môthârgain, superioritytranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H4195Noun · Translated: profit 1, bring plenty 1, advantage 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Proverbs 21:5 The plans of the diligent bring plenty, as surely as haste leads to poverty.
- דַּי daysufficiency, enoughtranslated this way 1 time of its 32 uses · Strong’s H1767Noun · Translated: enough 6, whenever 5, from 2, often 2Full study and all 29 verses →
Proverbs 27:27 You will have plenty of goats’ milk to feed you— food for your household and nourishment for your maidservants.
- רָבָה râbâhbe, or become, much, many, greattranslated this way 1 time of its 219 uses · Strong’s H7235Verb · Translated: multiply 39, multiplied 23, many 15, much 10Full study and all 207 verses →
Isaiah 30:33 For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
- אָכַל âkaleattranslated this way 1 time of its 784 uses · Strong’s H398Verb · Translated: eat 341, ate 64, eaten 63, consumed 39Full study and all 696 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- πολύς polýsmuch, many, oftentranslated this way 2 times of its 338 uses · Strong’s G4183Adjective · Translated: many 172, great 37, large 32, much 31Full study and all 307 verses →
Luke 12:19 Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
- περισσεύω perisseúōI exceed, am left overtranslated this way 2 times of its 37 uses · Strong’s G4052Verb · Translated: left 5, abound 5, excel 5, abundance 3Full study and all 33 verses →
Luke 15:17 Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food, but here I am, starving to death!
Philippians 4:12 I know how to live humbly, and I know how to abound. In any and every situation I have learned the secret of being filled and being hungry, of having plenty and having need.
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.