Word study
Purify
4 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: purify, purified, purifying, purifies. 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 “purify” 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)
- חָטָא châṭâmisstranslated this way 14 times of its 233 uses · Strong’s H2398Verb · Translated: sinned 73, sin 33, committed 26, sins 21Full study and all 217 verses →
Exodus 29:36 Sacrifice a bull as a sin offering each day for atonement. Purify the altar by making atonement for it, and anoint it to consecrate it.
Leviticus 8:15 Moses slaughtered the bull, took some of the blood, and applied it with his finger to all four horns of the altar, purifying the altar. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it so that atonement could be made on it.
- טָהֵר ṭâhêrbe clean, puretranslated this way 12 times of its 94 uses · Strong’s H2891Verb · Translated: clean 25, cleansed 22, cleanse 16, purified 6Full study and all 79 verses →
Genesis 35:2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments.
Numbers 8:7 This is what you must do to cleanse them: Sprinkle them with the water of purification. Have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.
- בָּרַר bârarpurify, selecttranslated this way 3 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H1305Verb · Translated: pure 3, show yourself pure 2, choice 2, chosen 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Isaiah 52:11 Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; come out from it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
Daniel 11:35 Some of the wise will fall so that they may be refined, purified, and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.
- קָדַשׁ qâdashbe set apart, consecratedtranslated this way 2 times of its 169 uses · Strong’s H6942Verb · Translated: consecrate 40, consecrated 33, dedicated 10, sanctifies 8Full study and all 151 verses →
2 Samuel 11:4 Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home.
Job 1:5 And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children to purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἁγνίζω hagnízōI cleanse, purifytranslated this way 6 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G48Verb · Translated: purify 3, purified 2, ceremonially clean 1, purifies 1Full study and all 7 verses →
John 11:55 Now the Jewish Passover was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover.
Acts 21:24 Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is no truth to these rumors about you, but that you also live in obedience to the law.
- καθαρίζω katharízōI make cleantranslated this way 4 times of its 31 uses · Strong’s G2511Verb · Translated: cleansed 9, clean 7, cleanse 4, make me clean 3Full study and all 30 verses →
Titus 2:14 He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Hebrews 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!
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.