Word study

Recite

6 Hebrew words behind this English word

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

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • דָבַר dâbarspeaktranslated this way 3 times of its 1,113 uses · Strong’s H1696Verb  ·  Translated: speak 209, said 157, spoken 142, spoke 110

    Deuteronomy 31:30 Then Moses recited aloud to the whole assembly of Israel the words of this song from beginning to end:

    Deuteronomy 32:44 Then Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people.

    Full study and all 1,025 verses →
  • שׂוּם sûmput, place, settranslated this way 2 times of its 560 uses · Strong’s H7760Verb  ·  Translated: put 84, set 71, make 45, made 39

    Exodus 17:14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

    Deuteronomy 31:19 Now therefore, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it, so that it may be a witness for Me against them.

    Full study and all 533 verses →
  • אָמַר âmarutter, saytranslated this way 2 times of its 4,555 uses · Strong’s H559Verb  ·  Translated: said 1,531, says 576, say 352, replied 341Full study and all 3,827 verses →
  • סָפַר sâpharcounttranslated this way 1 time of its 154 uses · Strong’s H5608Verb  ·  Translated: scribe 41, count 19, told 15, declare 13

    Psalm 50:16 To the wicked, however, God says, “What right have you to recite My statutes and to bear My covenant on your lips?

    Full study and all 150 verses →
  • מָשַׁל mâshalrepresent, be liketranslated this way 1 time of its 17 uses · Strong’s H4911Verb  ·  Translated: like 3, speak a parable 2

    Ezekiel 12:23 Therefore tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will put an end to this proverb, and in Israel they will no longer recite it.’ But say to them: ‘The days are at hand when every vision will be fulfilled.

    Full study and all 16 verses →
  • קָרָא qârâcall, proclaim, readtranslated this way 1 time of its 709 uses · Strong’s H7121Verb  ·  Translated: called 211, call 104, named 58, summoned 50Full study and all 663 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.