Word study
Ready
4 Hebrew and 6 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “ready”. 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 “ready” 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)
- כּוּן kûnbe firmtranslated this way 7 times of its 213 uses · Strong’s H3559Verb · Translated: established 43, prepared 23, prepare 16, establish 15Full study and all 204 verses →
Exodus 34:2 Be ready in the morning, and come up on Mount Sinai to present yourself before Me on the mountaintop.
Joshua 8:4 with these orders: “Pay attention. You are to lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it. All of you must be ready.
- קוּם qûmarise, stand up, standtranslated this way 3 times of its 594 uses · Strong’s H6965Verb · Translated: rise 68, got 61, set 44, Get 42Full study and all 570 verses →
Genesis 24:61 Then Rebekah and her servant girls got ready, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.
1 Samuel 9:26 They got up early in the morning, and just before dawn Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Get ready, and I will send you on your way!” So Saul got ready, and both he and Samuel went outside together.
- הִנֵּה hinnêhlo! behold!translated this way 2 times of its 689 uses · Strong’s H2009Interjection · Translated: Behold 175, Look 83, saw 47, indeed 36Full study and all 662 verses →
Genesis 37:13 Israel said to him, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flocks at Shechem? Get ready; I am sending you to them.” “I am ready,” Joseph replied.
1 Chronicles 28:21 The divisions of the priests and Levites are ready for all the service of the house of God, and every willing man of every skill will be at your disposal for the work. The officials and all the people are fully at your command.”
- עָשָׂה âsâhdo, maketranslated this way 2 times of its 2,478 uses · Strong’s H6213Verb · Translated: done 292, made 265, make 143, did 112Full study and all 2,206 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἕτοιμος hétoimosready, preparedtranslated this way 13 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s G2092Adjective · Translated: ready 13, prepared 2, hand 1, already done 1Full study and all 17 verses →
Matthew 22:4 Again, he sent other servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
Mark 14:15 And he will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”
- ἑτοιμάζω hetoimázōI make ready, preparetranslated this way 3 times of its 40 uses · Strong’s G2090Verb · Translated: prepared 18, prepare 14, Make preparations 3Full study and all 40 verses →
Luke 1:17 And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous — to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Revelation 19:7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him the glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.
- ἑτοίμως hetoímōsreadilytranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G2093Adverb · Translated: ready 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Acts 21:13 Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
2 Corinthians 12:14 See, I am ready to come to you a third time, and I will not be a burden, because I am not seeking your possessions, but you. For children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
- κεῖμαι keîmaiI lie, recline, am laidtranslated this way 2 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s G2749Verb · Translated: lying 5, lies ready 2, appointed 2, laid 2Full study and all 23 verses →
Matthew 3:10 The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
Luke 3:9 The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
- ἀνίστημι anístēmiI raise up, set up, rise fromtranslated this way 2 times of its 107 uses · Strong’s G450Verb · Translated: got 20, Get 16, rise 14, stood 11Full study and all 106 verses →
Luke 1:39 In those days Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah,
Acts 10:23 So Peter invited them in as his guests. And the next day he got ready and went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.
- δύναμαι dýnamaiI am powerful, am abletranslated this way 2 times of its 205 uses · Strong’s G1410Verb · Translated: can 52, cannot 50, able 21, could 16Full study and all 196 verses →
1 Corinthians 3:2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready,
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.