Word study

Step

8 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: steps, stepped, step. 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 “step” 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)

  • מַעֲלָה maălâhwhat comes uptranslated this way 21 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s H4609Noun  ·  Translated: steps 20, ascents 15, stairway 2

    Exodus 20:26 And you must not go up to My altar on steps, lest your nakedness be exposed on it.’’’

    1 Kings 10:19 The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, with a lion standing beside each armrest.

    Full study and all 39 verses →
  • צַעַד tsaadstep, pacetranslated this way 9 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H6806Noun  ·  Translated: steps 6, step 3, path 2, stride 2

    Job 14:16 For then You would count my steps, but would not keep track of my sin.

    Proverbs 4:12 When you walk, your steps will not be impeded; when you run, you will not stumble.

    Full study and all 14 verses →
  • אָשֻׁר âshurstep, goingtranslated this way 6 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H838Noun  ·  Translated: steps 6, tracks 1, tracked 1, made my footsteps 1

    Job 31:7 If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,

    Psalm 17:5 My steps have held to Your paths; my feet have not slipped.

    Full study and all 9 verses →
  • רֶגֶל regelfoottranslated this way 5 times of its 213 uses · Strong’s H7272Noun  ·  Translated: feet 128, foot 45, legs 8, times 4

    1 Samuel 2:9 He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

    Job 18:11 Terrors frighten him on every side and harass his every step.

    Full study and all 203 verses →
  • פַּעַם paambeat, foot, anvil, occurrencetranslated this way 4 times of its 105 uses · Strong’s H6471Noun  ·  Translated: times 42, time 15, feet 9, twice 6

    Psalm 74:3 Turn Your steps to the everlasting ruins, to everything in the sanctuary the enemy has destroyed.

    Isaiah 26:6 Feet trample it down — the feet of the oppressed, the steps of the poor.

    Full study and all 102 verses →
  • יָצָא yâtsâgo or come outtranslated this way 2 times of its 1,035 uses · Strong’s H3318Verb  ·  Translated: brought 108, went 103, go 82, came 78

    Numbers 12:5 and the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance to the Tent, and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them had stepped forward,

    Full study and all 975 verses →
  • מִצְעָד mitsâdsteptranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H4703Noun  ·  Translated: steps 2, submit 1

    Psalm 37:23 The steps of a man are ordered by the LORD who takes delight in his journey.

    Proverbs 20:24 A man’s steps are from the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way?

    Full study and all 3 verses →
  • עָקֵב âqêbheel, footprint, hinderparttranslated this way 2 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H6119Noun  ·  Translated: heel 4, heels 2

    Psalm 56:6 They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps while they wait to take my life.

    Psalm 89:51 how Your enemies have taunted, O LORD, and have mocked every step of Your anointed one!

    Full study and all 13 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἐξέρχομαι exérchomaiI go out, come outtranslated this way 4 times of its 215 uses · Strong’s G1831Verb  ·  Translated: went 56, came 26, left 23, come 23

    Matthew 14:14 When He stepped ashore and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their sick.

    Mark 6:34 When Jesus stepped ashore and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.

    Full study and all 209 verses →
  • ἀναβαθμός anabathmósa step, a flight of stepstranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G304Noun  ·  Translated: steps 2

    Acts 21:35 When Paul reached the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob.

    Acts 21:40 Having received permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. A great hush came over the crowd, and he addressed them in Hebrew:

    Full study and all 2 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.

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.