Word study

Thanksgiving

2 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “thanksgiving”. 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 “thanksgiving” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • תּוֹדָה tôdâhthanksgivingtranslated this way 19 times of its 32 uses · Strong’s H8426Noun  ·  Translated: thanksgiving 19, thank offerings 5, thank offering 3, thank 2

    Leviticus 7:12 If he offers it in thanksgiving, then along with the sacrifice of thanksgiving he shall offer unleavened cakes mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers coated with oil, and well-kneaded cakes of fine flour mixed with oil.

    Nehemiah 12:27 At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from all their homes and brought to Jerusalem to celebrate the joyous dedication with thanksgiving and singing, accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.

    Full study and all 30 verses →
  • יָדָה yâdâhthrow, casttranslated this way 5 times of its 114 uses · Strong’s H3034Verb  ·  Translated: praise 36, give thanks 32, confess 11, give you thanks 8

    1 Chronicles 16:7 On that day David first committed to Asaph and his associates this song of thanksgiving to the LORD:

    Ezra 3:11 And they sang responsively with praise and thanksgiving to the LORD: “For He is good; for His loving devotion to Israel endures forever.” Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD had been laid.

    Full study and all 111 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • εὐχαριστία eucharistíathankfulness, gratitudetranslated this way 8 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s G2169Noun  ·  Translated: thanksgiving 7, thanks 2

    1 Corinthians 14:16 Otherwise, if you speak a blessing in spirit, how can someone who is uninstructed say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying?

    2 Corinthians 9:11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will produce thanksgiving to God.

    Full study and all 14 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.

What the Bible says about thanksgiving: 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.