Word study

Rumor

3 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: rumor, rumors. 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 “rumor” 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)

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἀκοή akoḗhearing, faculty of hearing, eartranslated this way 2 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s G189Noun  ·  Translated: hearing 6, ears 4, heard 3, rumors 2

    Matthew 24:6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come.

    Mark 13:7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come.

    Full study and all 21 verses →
  • λόγος lógosa word, speech, divine utterance, analogytranslated this way 1 time of its 311 uses · Strong’s G3056Noun  ·  Translated: word 142, words 52, message 32, account 10

    John 21:23 Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. However, Jesus did not say that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain until I return, what is that to you?”

    Full study and all 298 verses →
  • κατηχέω katēchéōI instruct orallytranslated this way 1 time of its 8 uses · Strong’s G2727Verb  ·  Translated: instructed 2

    Acts 21:24 Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is no truth to these rumors about you, but that you also live in obedience to the law.

    Full study and all 7 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.