Word study
Sovereignty
4 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “sovereignty”. 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 “sovereignty” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- מַלְכוּ malkûroyalty, reign, kingdomtranslated this way 3 times of its 54 uses · Strong’s H4437Noun · Translated: kingdom 35, reign 4, sovereignty 3, royal 3Full study and all 42 verses →
Daniel 2:37 You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given sovereignty, power, strength, and glory.
Daniel 5:18 As for you, O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness, glory and honor.
- מַמְלָכָה mamlâkâhkingdom, sovereignty, dominion, reigntranslated this way 2 times of its 117 uses · Strong’s H4467Noun · Translated: kingdom 51, kingdoms 42, royal 8, kings 2Full study and all 113 verses →
Isaiah 17:3 The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the sovereignty from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the splendor of the Israelites,” declares the LORD of Hosts.
Micah 4:8 And you, O watchtower of the flock, O stronghold of the Daughter of Zion — the former dominion will be restored to you; sovereignty will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem.”
- מַלְכוּת malkûthroyalty, royal power, reign, kingdomtranslated this way 1 time of its 88 uses · Strong’s H4438Noun · Translated: kingdom 46, reign 20, royal 17, kingdoms 2Full study and all 80 verses →
2 Chronicles 12:1 After Rehoboam had established his sovereignty and royal power, he and all Israel with him forsook the Law of the LORD.
- שְׂאֵת seêthexaltation, dignitytranslated this way 1 time of its 14 uses · Strong’s H7613Noun · Translated: swelling 7Full study and all 13 verses →
Habakkuk 1:7 They are dreaded and feared; from themselves they derive justice and sovereignty.
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 sovereignty: 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.