Word study

Suppose

3 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: suppose, supposing, supposed. 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 “suppose” 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)

  • אוּלַי ûlayperadventure, perhapstranslated this way 5 times of its 45 uses · Strong’s H194Adverb  ·  Translated: Perhaps 34, Suppose 5, what if 4, if she had not 1

    Genesis 18:28 suppose the fifty righteous ones lack five. Will You destroy the whole city for the lack of five?” He replied, “If I find forty-five there, I will not destroy it.”

    Genesis 18:29 Once again Abraham spoke to the LORD, “Suppose forty are found there?” He answered, “On account of the forty, I will not do it.”

    Full study and all 44 verses →
  • כִּי kîburning, brandingtranslated this way 4 times of its 3,991 uses · Strong’s H3588Conjunction  ·  Translated: for 1,770, that 572, because 523, when 194Full study and all 3,583 verses →
  • יָלַד yâladbear, bring forth, begettranslated this way 2 times of its 484 uses · Strong’s H3205Verb  ·  Translated: father 111, born 57, bore 52, gave birth 44Full study and all 395 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἐάν eániftranslated this way 4 times of its 256 uses · Strong’s G1437Conjunction  ·  Translated: if 200, unless 33, suppose 4, Even 2

    Matthew 24:48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says in his heart, ‘My master will be away a long time.’

    Luke 12:45 But suppose that servant says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and he begins to beat the menservants and maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk.

    Full study and all 238 verses →
  • ὑπολαμβάνω hypolambánōI take up, receive, answer, suppose, welcometranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G5274Verb  ·  Translated: suppose 2, took 1, hid 1, support 1

    Luke 7:43 “I suppose the one who was forgiven more,” Simon replied. “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

    Acts 2:15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It is only the third hour of the day!

    Full study and all 5 verses →
  • οἴομαι oíomaiI think, supposetranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3633Verb  ·  Translated: suppose 1, supposing 1, expect 1

    John 21:25 There are many more things that Jesus did. If all of them were written down, I suppose that not even the world itself would have space for the books that would be written.

    Philippians 1:17 The former, however, preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can add to the distress of my chains.

    Full study and all 3 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.