Word study

Secret

4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

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

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • סֵתֶר sêthercovering, hiding-place, secrecytranslated this way 12 times of its 36 uses · Strong’s H5643Noun  ·  Translated: secret 10, secretly 5, hiding place 4, shelter 3

    Deuteronomy 27:15 ‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image — an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman — and sets it up in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

    Judges 3:19 But upon reaching the idols near Gilgal, he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” “Silence,” said the king, and all his attendants left him.

    Full study and all 36 verses →
  • מִסְתָּר mistârsecret place, hiding placetranslated this way 3 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H4565Noun  ·  Translated: ambush 2, secret places 2

    Isaiah 45:3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and the riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by name.

    Jeremiah 13:17 But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.

    Full study and all 9 verses →
  • סוֹד sôdcouncil, counseltranslated this way 2 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H5475Noun  ·  Translated: council 7

    Proverbs 11:13 A gossip reveals a secret, but a trustworthy person keeps a confidence.

    Proverbs 20:19 He who reveals secrets is a constant gossip; avoid the one who babbles with his lips.

    Full study and all 20 verses →
  • תַּעֲלֻמָּה taălummâhhidden thing, secrettranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H8587Noun  ·  Translated: secrets 2, hidden 1

    Job 11:6 and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know then that God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves.

    Psalm 44:21 would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?

    Full study and all 3 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • κρυπτός kryptóshidden, secrettranslated this way 10 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s G2927Adjective  ·  Translated: secret 8, hidden 5, unseen 2, secrets 2

    Matthew 6:4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

    John 7:4 For no one who wants to be known publicly acts in secret. Since You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world.”

    Full study and all 16 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.

What the Bible says about secret: passages by topic →

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.