Word study
Statement
1 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: statement, statements. 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 “statement” or one of its forms.
Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- דָּבָר dâbârspeech, wordtranslated this way 1 time of its 1,244 uses · Strong’s H1697Noun · Translated: word 342, words 299, acts 51, Chronicles 42Full study and all 1,120 verses →
Genesis 37:8 “Do you intend to reign over us?” his brothers asked. “Will you actually rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and his statements.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ῥῆμα rhēmaa thing spokentranslated this way 4 times of its 60 uses · Strong’s G4487Noun · Translated: words 19, word 17, message 6, statement 4Full study and all 58 verses →
Mark 9:32 But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him about it.
Luke 2:50 But they did not understand the statement He was making to them.
- λόγος lógosa word, speech, divine utterance, analogytranslated this way 2 times of its 311 uses · Strong’s G3056Noun · Translated: word 142, words 52, message 32, account 10Full study and all 298 verses →
John 19:8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid,
Acts 22:22 The crowd listened to Paul until he made this statement. Then they lifted up their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He is not fit to live!”
- ἐρέω eréōI say, speaktranslated this way 1 time of its 96 uses · Strong’s G2046Verb · Translated: say 24, spoken 17, said 15, tell 9Full study and all 96 verses →
Acts 20:38 They were especially grieved by his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
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.