Word study

Preparation

1 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: preparations, preparation. 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 “preparation” or one of its forms.

Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • כּוּן kûnbe firmtranslated this way 7 times of its 213 uses · Strong’s H3559Verb  ·  Translated: established 43, prepared 23, prepare 16, establish 15

    1 Chronicles 22:5 And David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent — famous and glorious throughout all lands. Therefore I must make preparations for it.” So David made lavish preparations before his death.

    2 Chronicles 35:6 Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves, and make preparations for your fellow countrymen to carry out the word of the LORD given by Moses.”

    Full study and all 204 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • παρασκευή paraskeuḗthe day before the Sabbathtranslated this way 6 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G3904Noun  ·  Translated: day of preparation 3, Preparation Day 2, Preparation 1

    Matthew 27:62 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and Pharisees assembled before Pilate.

    Mark 15:42 Now it was already evening. Since it was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath),

    Full study and all 6 verses →
  • ἑτοιμάζω hetoimázōI make ready, preparetranslated this way 3 times of its 40 uses · Strong’s G2090Verb  ·  Translated: prepared 18, prepare 14, Make preparations 3

    Mark 14:15 And he will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”

    Luke 22:8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”

    Full study and all 40 verses →
  • διακονία diakoníawaiting at table, service, ministrationtranslated this way 1 time of its 34 uses · Strong’s G1248Noun  ·  Translated: ministry 19, service 6, serve 3

    Luke 10:40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations to be made. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me!”

    Full study and all 32 verses →
  • ἵνα hínain order that, so thattranslated this way 1 time of its 584 uses · Strong’s G2443Conjunction  ·  Translated: so that 226, to 162, that 95, order 23

    John 12:7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “She has kept this perfume in preparation for the day of My burial.

    Full study and all 552 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.