Word study
Ripen
4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: ripens, ripened, ripening, ripen. 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 “ripen” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- בָּשַׁל bâshalboil, seethetranslated this way 1 time of its 27 uses · Strong’s H1310Verb · Translated: cook 6, boiled 6, boil 5, cooked 3Full study and all 24 verses →
Genesis 40:10 and on the vine were three branches. As it budded, its blossoms opened and its clusters ripened into grapes.
- חָנַט chânaṭspice, make spicy, embalmtranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s H2590Verb · Translated: embalmed 2, embalm 1, embalming 1, ripens 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Song of Solomon 2:13 The fig tree ripens its figs; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come away, my darling; come away with me, my beautiful one.”
- גָּמַל gâmaldeal fully or adequately with, deal out totranslated this way 1 time of its 35 uses · Strong’s H1580Verb · Translated: weaned 8, rewarded 5, done 3, repay 2Full study and all 31 verses →
Isaiah 18:5 For before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife and remove and discard the branches.
- תְּאֵן teênfigtranslated this way 1 time of its 39 uses · Strong’s H8384Noun · Translated: fig tree 15, figs 13, fig trees 5, fig 3Full study and all 35 verses →
Jeremiah 24:2 One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early, but the other basket contained very poor figs, so bad they could not be eaten.
Greek words (New Testament)
- πλήρης plḗrēsfulltranslated this way 1 time of its 11 uses · Strong’s G4134Adjective · Translated: full 8, ripens 1, covered 1, occupied 1Full study and all 11 verses →
Mark 4:28 All by itself the earth produces a crop— first the stalk, then the head, then grain that ripens within.
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.