Word study
Reason
3 Hebrew and 7 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: reason, reasoned, reasoning. 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 “reason” 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)
- חִנָּם chinnâmout of favourtranslated this way 3 times of its 31 uses · Strong’s H2600Adverb · Translated: without cause 12, nothing 3, needless 2, cost me nothing 2Full study and all 30 verses →
1 Samuel 19:5 He took his life in his hands when he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced, so why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?”
Psalm 35:7 For without cause they laid their net for me; without reason they dug a pit for my soul.
- יָכַח yâkachdecide, adjudge, provetranslated this way 2 times of its 56 uses · Strong’s H3198Verb · Translated: rebuke 13, rebukes 3, appointed 2, judge 2Full study and all 54 verses →
Job 23:7 Then an upright man could reason with Him, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge.
Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.
- שֶׁקֶר sheqerdeception, disappointment, falsehoodtranslated this way 2 times of its 104 uses · Strong’s H8267Noun · Translated: lies 18, lying 16, false 12, falsely 10Full study and all 100 verses →
Psalm 38:19 Many are my enemies without cause, and many hate me without reason.
Psalm 69:4 Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs of my head; many are those who would destroy me — my enemies for no reason. Though I did not steal, I must repay.
Greek words (New Testament)
- διά diáthrough, on account oftranslated this way 17 times of its 607 uses · Strong’s G1223Preposition · Translated: through 201, by 83, because of 56, for 37Full study and all 553 verses →
Matthew 13:52 Then He told them, “For this reason, every scribe who has been discipled in the kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
John 1:31 I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.”
- αἰτία aitíaa cause, reason, chargetranslated this way 5 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s G156Noun · Translated: reason 5, charge 3, basis for a charge 3, charges 2Full study and all 18 verses →
Matthew 19:3 Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”
Acts 22:24 the commander ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks. He directed that Paul be flogged and interrogated to determine the reason for this outcry against him.
- διαλέγομαι dialégomaiI converse, address, preach, lecturetranslated this way 4 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s G1256Verb · Translated: reasoned 4, arguing 2, talked 2Full study and all 12 verses →
Acts 17:2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
Acts 17:17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace with those he met each day.
- ἕνεκα hénekafor the sake of, on account of, whereforetranslated this way 3 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s G1752Preposition · Translated: sake 9, because of 4, account 4, reason 3Full study and all 21 verses →
Matthew 19:5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?
Mark 10:7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,
- χάριν chárinon account oftranslated this way 3 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s G5484Preposition · Translated: reason 3, for 2, Therefore 1, because of 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Ephesians 3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles...
Titus 1:5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you would set in order what was unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
- οὗτος hoûtosthis, he, she, ittranslated this way 2 times of its 1,042 uses · Strong’s G3778Demonstrative Pronoun · Translated: this 534, these 121, things 105, he 31Full study and all 976 verses →
- λογίζομαι logízomaiI reckon, count, decidetranslated this way 2 times of its 40 uses · Strong’s G3049Verb · Translated: credited 11, consider 4, think 2, regarded 2Full study and all 39 verses →
1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways.
Hebrews 11:19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death.
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.