Word study
Sound
12 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: sound, sounded, sounds, sounding, soundings. 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 “sound” 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)
- קוֹל qôlsound, voicetranslated this way 77 times of its 425 uses · Strong’s H6963Noun · Translated: voice 197, sound 63, voices 22, thunder 11Full study and all 378 verses →
Exodus 19:19 And as the sound of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.
Leviticus 26:36 As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
- תָּקַע tâqathrust, clap, give a blow, blasttranslated this way 16 times of its 65 uses · Strong’s H8628Verb · Translated: blew 15, blow 11, sound 7, sounded 4Full study and all 60 verses →
Numbers 10:3 When both are sounded, the whole congregation is to assemble before you at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
Joshua 6:9 While the horns continued to sound, the armed troops marched ahead of the priests who blew the horns, and the rear guard followed the ark.
- תּוּשִׁיָּה tûshîâhsound, efficient wisdom, abiding successtranslated this way 5 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H8454Noun · Translated: sound judgment 3, success 2, sound wisdom 2, true wisdom 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Proverbs 2:7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk with integrity,
Micah 6:9 The voice of the LORD calls out to the city (and it is sound wisdom to fear Your name): “Heed the rod and the One who ordained it.
- קָל qâlvoicetranslated this way 4 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H7032Noun · Translated: sound 4, voice 2Full study and all 6 verses →
Daniel 3:5 As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.
Daniel 3:7 Therefore, as soon as all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, and all kinds of music, the people of every nation and language would fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
- רוּעַ rûaraise a shouttranslated this way 3 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s H7321Verb · Translated: shout 10, Make a joyful noise 5, shout in triumph 4, shouted 3Full study and all 40 verses →
Numbers 10:9 When you enter into battle in your land against an adversary who attacks you, sound short blasts on the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the LORD your God and saved from your enemies.
2 Chronicles 13:12 Now behold, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with their trumpets sound the battle call against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”
- שָׁמַע shâmaheartranslated this way 3 times of its 1,132 uses · Strong’s H8085Verb · Translated: heard 311, hear 253, listen 218, obey 60Full study and all 1,063 verses →
- שָׁלוֹם shâlômcompleteness, soundness, welfare, peacetranslated this way 2 times of its 223 uses · Strong’s H7965Noun · Translated: peace 135, safely 10, prosperity 8, well 5Full study and all 200 verses →
Genesis 41:16 “I myself cannot do it,” Joseph replied, “but God will give Pharaoh a sound answer.”
Zechariah 8:16 These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another, render true and sound judgments in your gates,
- עָבַר âbarpass over, through, by, pass ontranslated this way 2 times of its 542 uses · Strong’s H5674Verb · Translated: pass 62, crossed 57, cross 52, passed 35Full study and all 487 verses →
Leviticus 25:9 Then you are to sound the horn far and wide on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. You shall sound it throughout your land.
- תְּרוּעָה terûâhshout or blast of war, alarm, or joytranslated this way 2 times 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 29:1 “On the first day of the seventh month, you are to hold a sacred assembly, and you must not do any regular work. This will be a day for you to sound the trumpets.
Psalm 89:15 Blessed are those who know the joyful sound, who walk, O LORD, in the light of Your presence.
- טוֹב ṭôbpleasant, agreeable, goodtranslated this way 2 times of its 538 uses · Strong’s H2896Adjective · Translated: good 249, better 72, prosperity 19, good things 12Full study and all 499 verses →
2 Samuel 17:7 Hushai replied, “This time the advice of Ahithophel is not sound.”
- תַּחְבֻּלָה tachbulâhdirection, counseltranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H8458Noun · Translated: sound guidance 2, direction 1, wise counsel 1, guidance 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Proverbs 20:18 Set plans by consultation, and wage war under sound guidance.
Proverbs 24:6 Only with sound guidance should you wage war, and victory lies in a multitude of counselors.
- חָצַר châtsartrumpet, blow on that instrumenttranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H2690Verb · Translated: blow 1, sounding 1, trumpeters 1, sounded trumpets 1Full study and all 6 verses →
2 Chronicles 5:12 all the Levitical singers — Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and relatives — stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps, and lyres, accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets.
2 Chronicles 7:6 The priests stood at their posts, as did the Levites with the musical instruments of the LORD, which King David had made for giving thanks to the LORD and with which David had offered praise, saying, “For His loving devotion endures forever.” Across from the Levites, the priests sounded trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.
Greek words (New Testament)
- σαλπίζω salpízōI sound a trumpettranslated this way 12 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s G4537Verb · Translated: sounded 8, sound 2, sound a trumpet 1, trumpet will sound 1Full study and all 12 verses →
Matthew 6:2 So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
1 Corinthians 15:52 in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
- ὑγιαίνω hygiaínōI am welltranslated this way 9 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s G5198Verb · Translated: sound 8, healthy 1, good health 1, safe and sound 1Full study and all 12 verses →
Luke 15:27 ‘Your brother has returned,’ he said, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has him back safe and sound.’
1 Timothy 1:10 for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave traders and liars and perjurers, and for anyone else who is averse to sound teaching
- φωνή phōnḗa sound, noise, voicetranslated this way 8 times of its 136 uses · Strong’s G5456Noun · Translated: voice 83, loud voice 13, sound 8, voices 8Full study and all 125 verses →
Luke 1:44 For as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
- βολίζω bolízōI cast the line for sounding, I soundtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1001Verb · Translated: took soundings 1, took another set of soundings 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Acts 27:28 They took soundings and found that the water was twenty fathoms deep. Going a little farther, they took another set of soundings that read fifteen fathoms.
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.