Word study
Powerful
9 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “powerful”. 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 “powerful” 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)
- עָצוּם âtsûmmighty, numeroustranslated this way 5 times of its 31 uses · Strong’s H6099Adjective · Translated: mighty 6, powerful 5, strong 5, mightier 3Full study and all 31 verses →
Genesis 18:18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
Exodus 1:9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become too numerous and too powerful for us.
- חָזַק châzaqbe or grow firm, strong, strengthentranslated this way 3 times of its 290 uses · Strong’s H2388Verb · Translated: strong 37, made repairs 22, strengthened 16, repaired 15Full study and all 264 verses →
- גִּבּוֹר gibbôrstrong, mightytranslated this way 2 times of its 156 uses · Strong’s H1368Adjective · Translated: mighty men 50, mighty 45, warriors 13, mighty man 12Full study and all 151 verses →
1 Samuel 9:1 Now there was a Benjamite, a powerful man, whose name was Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin.
Ezra 7:28 and who has shown me favor before the king, his counselors, and all his powerful officials. And because the hand of the LORD my God was upon me, I took courage and gathered the leaders of Israel to return with me.
- עַז azstrong, mighty, fiercetranslated this way 2 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s H5794Adjective · Translated: strong 8, powerful 2Full study and all 22 verses →
2 Samuel 22:18 He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from foes too mighty for me.
Psalm 18:17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from foes too mighty for me.
- כֹּחַ kôachstrength, powertranslated this way 2 times of its 118 uses · Strong’s H3581Noun · Translated: strength 54, power 35, produce 2, powerless 2Full study and all 114 verses →
2 Chronicles 26:13 Under their authority was an army of 307,500 trained for war, a powerful force to support the king against his enemies.
Psalm 29:4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic.
- גָּדַל gâdalgrow up, become greattranslated this way 2 times of its 115 uses · Strong’s H1431Verb · Translated: great 14, grew 10, grown 7, greater 7Full study and all 114 verses →
Esther 9:4 For Mordecai exercised great power in the palace, and his fame spread throughout the provinces as he became more and more powerful.
Jeremiah 5:27 Like cages full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become powerful and rich.
- חָזָק châzâqstrong, stout, mightytranslated this way 2 times of its 55 uses · Strong’s H2389Adjective · Translated: mighty 20, strong 18, powerful 2, hard 2Full study and all 53 verses →
Job 5:15 He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth and from the clutches of the powerful.
Ezekiel 26:17 Then they will lament for you, saying, “How you have perished, O city of renown inhabited by seafaring men— she who was powerful on the sea, along with her people, who imposed terror on all peoples!
- קַו qavlinetranslated this way 2 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H6957Noun · Translated: line 8, measuring line 7, powerful 2, circumference 1Full study and all 14 verses →
Isaiah 18:2 which sends couriers by sea, in papyrus vessels on the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people widely feared, to a powerful nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.
Isaiah 18:7 At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD of Hosts— from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people widely feared, from a powerful nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers— to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD of Hosts.
- גָּדוֹל gâdôlgreattranslated this way 2 times of its 501 uses · Strong’s H1419Adjective · Translated: great 262, large 33, high 20, loud 14Full study and all 477 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἰσχυρός ischyrósstrong, mighty, powerfultranslated this way 3 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s G2478Adjective · Translated: mighty 10, strong 6, more powerful 3, stronger 3Full study and all 27 verses →
Matthew 3:11 I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come One more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Mark 1:7 And he proclaimed: “After me will come One more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
- δυνατός dynatóspowerful, able, possibletranslated this way 3 times of its 31 uses · Strong’s G1415Adjective · Translated: possible 12, able 4, powerful 3, strong 3Full study and all 31 verses →
Luke 24:19 “What things?” He asked. “The events involving Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered. “This man was a prophet, powerful in speech and action before God and all the people.
Acts 7:22 So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.
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.