Word study
Succeed
8 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: succeed, succeeded, succeeds. 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 “succeed” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- צָלַח tsâlachrushtranslated this way 8 times of its 65 uses · Strong’s H6743Verb · Translated: prosper 13, succeed 8, success 5, prospered 5Full study and all 64 verses →
Numbers 14:41 But Moses said, “Why are you transgressing the commandment of the LORD? This will not succeed!
1 Chronicles 22:11 Now, my son, may the LORD be with you, and may you succeed in building the house of the LORD your God, as He said you would.
- מָלַךְ mâlakbe or become king, or queen, reigntranslated this way 6 times of its 340 uses · Strong’s H4427Verb · Translated: reigned 132, became king 68, reign 36, king 32Full study and all 283 verses →
2 Samuel 10:1 Some time later, the king of the Ammonites died and was succeeded by his son Hanun.
2 Kings 1:17 So Ahaziah died according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken. And since he had no son, Jehoram succeeded him in the second year of the reign of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat over Judah.
- תַּחַת tachaththe under parttranslated this way 3 times of its 465 uses · Strong’s H8478Preposition · Translated: place 126, under 106, for 34, beneath 29Full study and all 421 verses →
Exodus 29:30 The son who succeeds him as priest and enters the Tent of Meeting to minister in the Holy Place must wear them for seven days.
- שָׂכַל sâkalbe prudenttranslated this way 3 times of its 61 uses · Strong’s H7919Verb · Translated: wise 11, prosper 5, understand 5, prospered 3Full study and all 61 verses →
Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in all you do.
Proverbs 17:8 A bribe is a charm to its giver; wherever he turns, he succeeds.
- קוּם qûmarise, stand up, standtranslated this way 3 times of its 594 uses · Strong’s H6965Verb · Translated: rise 68, got 61, set 44, Get 42Full study and all 570 verses →
1 Kings 8:20 Now the LORD has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
2 Chronicles 6:10 Now the LORD has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
- כָּהַן kâhanact as priesttranslated this way 2 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s H3547Verb · Translated: serve me as priests 8, serve as priests 4, priests 3, served as priests 2Full study and all 23 verses →
Leviticus 16:32 The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest shall make atonement. He will put on the sacred linen garments
Deuteronomy 10:6 The Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him as priest.
- אַחַר acharbehindtranslated this way 2 times of its 556 uses · Strong’s H310Preposition · Translated: after 123, behind 56, and after 22, after that 19Full study and all 533 verses →
1 Kings 15:4 Nevertheless, for the sake of David, the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and to make Jerusalem strong.
- עָמַד âmadtake one's stand, standtranslated this way 2 times of its 508 uses · Strong’s H5975Verb · Translated: stood 99, stand 95, standing 50, stands 12Full study and all 485 verses →
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.