Word study
Previous
3 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “previous”. 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 “previous” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- יָשָׁן yâshânoldtranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s H3465Adjective · Translated: previous 1, old 1, Jeshanah 1, well as old 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Leviticus 25:22 While you are sowing in the eighth year, you will be eating from the previous harvest, until the ninth year’s harvest comes in.
- פַּעַם paambeat, foot, anvil, occurrencetranslated this way 1 time of its 105 uses · Strong’s H6471Noun · Translated: times 42, time 15, feet 9, twice 6Full study and all 102 verses →
Numbers 24:1 And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not seek omens as on previous occasions, but he turned his face toward the wilderness.
- שָׁנֶה shânehyeartranslated this way 1 time of its 612 uses · Strong’s H8141Noun · Translated: years 295, year 255, years old 20, two years 7Full study and all 519 verses →
2 Kings 17:4 But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea had conspired to send envoys to King So of Egypt, and that he had not paid tribute to the king of Assyria as in previous years. Therefore the king of Assyria arrested Hoshea and put him in prison.
Greek words (New Testament)
- προάγω proágōI lead forth, go beforetranslated this way 1 time of its 20 uses · Strong’s G4254Verb · Translated: went ahead 3, going ahead 3, go on ahead 2, go ahead 2Full study and all 20 verses →
1 Timothy 1:18 Timothy, my child, I entrust you with this command in keeping with the previous prophecies about you, so that by them you may fight the good fight,
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.