Word study
Reign
8 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: reigned, reign, reigns, reigning. 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 “reign” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- מָלַךְ mâlakbe or become king, or queen, reigntranslated this way 187 times of its 340 uses · Strong’s H4427Verb · Translated: reigned 132, became king 68, reign 36, king 32Full study and all 283 verses →
Genesis 36:31 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites:
Exodus 15:18 The LORD will reign forever and ever!”
- מֶלֶךְ melekkingtranslated this way 43 times of its 2,416 uses · Strong’s H4428Noun · Translated: king 1,810, kings 267, king's 134, royal 58Full study and all 1,901 verses →
- מַלְכוּת malkûthroyalty, royal power, reign, kingdomtranslated this way 20 times of its 88 uses · Strong’s H4438Noun · Translated: kingdom 46, reign 20, royal 17, kingdoms 2Full study and all 80 verses →
1 Chronicles 26:31 As for the Hebronites, Jerijah was the chief of the Hebronites, according to the genealogies of his ancestors. In the fortieth year of David’s reign the records were searched, and strong, capable men were found among the Hebronites at Jazer in Gilead.
2 Chronicles 3:2 Solomon began construction on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.
- יוֹם yômdaytranslated this way 10 times of its 2,013 uses · Strong’s H3117Noun · Translated: day 1,009, days 524, today 141, time 72Full study and all 1,744 verses →
- מַלְכוּ malkûroyalty, reign, kingdomtranslated this way 5 times of its 54 uses · Strong’s H4437Noun · Translated: kingdom 35, reign 4, sovereignty 3, royal 3Full study and all 42 verses →
Ezra 4:24 Thus the construction of the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
Daniel 5:26 And this is the interpretation of the message: MENE means that God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
- מָשַׁל mâshalrule, have dominion, reigntranslated this way 2 times of its 79 uses · Strong’s H4910Verb · Translated: rule 27, ruler 16, ruled 6, rules 6Full study and all 74 verses →
1 Kings 4:21 And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
2 Chronicles 9:26 He reigned over all the kings from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt.
- תִּרְצָה TirtsâhTirtsahtranslated this way 2 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H8656Noun · Translated: Tirzah 14, reigned in tirzah 2, starting from tirzah 1Full study and all 17 verses →
1 Kings 15:33 In the third year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king of all Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah twenty-four years.
1 Kings 16:8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah two years.
- מַמְלָכָה mamlâkâhkingdom, sovereignty, dominion, reigntranslated this way 2 times of its 117 uses · Strong’s H4467Noun · Translated: kingdom 51, kingdoms 42, royal 8, kings 2Full study and all 113 verses →
Jeremiah 27:1 At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD.
Jeremiah 28:1 In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, near the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and all the people:
Greek words (New Testament)
- βασιλεύω basileúōI rule, reign, reign overtranslated this way 16 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s G936Verb · Translated: reign 8, reigned 4, rule 2Full study and all 18 verses →
Matthew 2:22 But when he learned that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee,
Luke 1:33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!”
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.