Word study
Response
8 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “response”. 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 “response” 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)
- עָנָה ânâhanswer, respondtranslated this way 3 times of its 317 uses · Strong’s H6030Verb · Translated: answered 79, answer 75, replied 47, respond 14Full study and all 308 verses →
Judges 8:8 From there he went up to Penuel and asked the same from them, but the men of Penuel gave the same response as the men of Succoth.
Job 19:7 Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.
- אֱדַיִן ĕdayinthen, thereupontranslated this way 2 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s H116Adverb · Translated: then 18, so 11, Thus 4, when 3Full study and all 46 verses →
Ezra 6:13 In response, Tattenai the governor of the region west of the Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates diligently carried out what King Darius had decreed.
Daniel 5:17 In response, Daniel said to the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the inscription for the king and interpret it for him.
- דָּבָר dâbârspeech, wordtranslated this way 2 times of its 1,244 uses · Strong’s H1697Noun · Translated: word 342, words 299, acts 51, Chronicles 42Full study and all 1,120 verses →
- שָׁלוֹשׁ shâlôsha three, triadtranslated this way 1 time of its 383 uses · Strong’s H7969Number · Translated: three 254, third 11, thirteenth 10, thirteen 10Full study and all 342 verses →
Judges 15:11 In response, three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Do you not realize that the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?” “I have done to them what they did to me,” he replied.
- קוֹל qôlsound, voicetranslated this way 1 time of its 425 uses · Strong’s H6963Noun · Translated: voice 197, sound 63, voices 22, thunder 11Full study and all 378 verses →
1 Kings 18:29 Midday passed, and they kept on raving until the time of the evening sacrifice. But there was no response; no one answered, no one paid attention.
- קֶשֶׁב qeshebattentivenesstranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H7182Noun · Translated: paid attention 1, response 1, alert 1Full study and all 3 verses →
2 Kings 4:31 Gehazi went on ahead of them and laid the staff on the boy’s face, but there was no sound or response. So he went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The boy has not awakened.”
- נָדַב nâdabincite, impeltranslated this way 1 time of its 17 uses · Strong’s H5068Verb · Translated: prompted 2, volunteer 2Full study and all 15 verses →
1 Chronicles 29:9 And the people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given to the LORD freely and wholeheartedly. And King David also rejoiced greatly.
- עַל alheighttranslated this way 1 time of its 4,859 uses · Strong’s H5921Preposition · Translated: on 777, over 297, in 218, against 216Full study and all 3,996 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀποκρίνομαι apokrínomaiI answer, replytranslated this way 2 times of its 206 uses · Strong’s G611Verb · Translated: replied 84, answered 64, said 14, answer 13Full study and all 206 verses →
- ἀντιλέγω antilégōI speak or say in opposition, contradicttranslated this way 1 time of its 11 uses · Strong’s G483Verb · Translated: contradict 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Acts 4:14 And seeing the man who had been healed standing there with them, they had nothing to say in response.
- πρός prósto, towards, withtranslated this way 1 time of its 549 uses · Strong’s G4314Preposition · Translated: to 359, with 43, for 32, against 20Full study and all 508 verses →
- κατά katádown from, against, according to, throughout, duringtranslated this way 1 time of its 381 uses · Strong’s G2596Preposition · Translated: according 65, against 46, in 41, by 38Full study and all 349 verses →
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.