Word study
Signal
5 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: signal, signaling, signaled. 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 “signal” 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)
- נֵס nêsstandard, ensign, signal, signtranslated this way 2 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H5251Noun · Translated: banner 13, pole 2, signal flag 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Jeremiah 4:6 Raise a signal flag toward Zion. Seek refuge! Do not delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, and terrible destruction.
Jeremiah 4:21 How long must I see the signal flag and hear the sound of the horn?
- תָּקַע tâqathrust, clap, give a blow, blasttranslated this way 1 time of its 65 uses · Strong’s H8628Verb · Translated: blew 15, blow 11, sound 7, sounded 4Full study and all 60 verses →
Numbers 10:6 When you sound the short blasts a second time, the camps that lie on the south side are to set out. The blasts are to signal them to set out.
- מוֹעֵד môêdappointed time, place, meetingtranslated this way 1 time of its 223 uses · Strong’s H4150Noun · Translated: Meeting 146, appointed feasts 20, appointed time 14, time 9Full study and all 213 verses →
Judges 20:38 The men of Israel had arranged a signal with the men in ambush: When they sent up a great cloud of smoke from the city,
- מַשְׂאֵת masêthuprising, utterance, burden, portiontranslated this way 1 time of its 13 uses · Strong’s H4864Noun · Translated: gift 2, tax 2, gifts 2Full study and all 12 verses →
Jeremiah 6:1 “Run for cover, O sons of Benjamin; flee from Jerusalem! Sound the ram’s horn in Tekoa; send up a signal over Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms from the north, even great destruction.
- תְּרוּעָה terûâhshout or blast of war, alarm, or joytranslated this way 1 time of its 31 uses · Strong’s H8643Noun · Translated: shouting 4, short blasts 2, shout 2, shout of joy 2Full study and all 29 verses →
Numbers 31:6 And Moses sent the thousand from each tribe into battle, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who took with him the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling.
Greek words (New Testament)
- σημεῖον sēmeîona sign, miracle, indicationtranslated this way 1 time of its 74 uses · Strong’s G4592Noun · Translated: signs 37, sign 31, miracle 2Full study and all 69 verses →
Matthew 26:48 Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The One I kiss is the man; arrest Him.”
- σύσσημον sýssēmona signal agreed upontranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G4953Noun · Translated: signal 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Mark 14:44 Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The One I kiss is the man; arrest Him and lead Him away securely.”
- κατανεύω kataneúōI nod, make a signtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G2656Verb · Translated: signaled 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Luke 5:7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
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.
What the Bible says about signal: 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.