Word study

Thoroughly

8 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “thoroughly”. 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 “thoroughly” 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)

  • יָטַב yâṭabbe good, well, glad, pleasingtranslated this way 3 times of its 110 uses · Strong’s H3190Verb  ·  Translated: good 14, well 8, pleased 8, go well 6

    Deuteronomy 13:14 then you must inquire, investigate, and interrogate thoroughly. And if it is established with certainty that this abomination has been committed among you,

    Deuteronomy 17:4 and if it is reported and you hear about it, you must investigate it thoroughly. If the report is true and such an abomination has happened in Israel,

    Full study and all 106 verses →
  • מְאֹד meôdmuchness, force, abundance, exceedinglytranslated this way 2 times of its 195 uses · Strong’s H3966Adverb  ·  Translated: greatly 28, very 12, was very 8, exceedingly 8

    2 Samuel 10:5 When this was reported to David, he sent messengers to meet the men, since they had been thoroughly humiliated. The king told them, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then return.”

    1 Chronicles 19:5 When someone came and told David about his men, he sent messengers to meet them, since the men had been thoroughly humiliated. The king told them, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown back, and then return.”

    Full study and all 186 verses →
  • שְׂרֵפָה serêphâhburningtranslated this way 1 time of its 13 uses · Strong’s H8316Noun  ·  Translated: fire 2, burned 2

    Genesis 11:3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.

    Full study and all 12 verses →
  • דָּרַשׁ dârashresort to, seektranslated this way 1 time of its 160 uses · Strong’s H1875Verb  ·  Translated: seek 47, inquire 29, sought 14, search 6

    Judges 6:29 “Who did this?” they said to one another. And after they had investigated thoroughly, they were told, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”

    Full study and all 151 verses →
  • שָׂנֵא sânêhatetranslated this way 1 time of its 143 uses · Strong’s H8130Verb  ·  Translated: hate 65, hated 23, hates 17, enemies 6

    Judges 15:2 “I was sure that you thoroughly hated her,” said her father, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.”

    Full study and all 139 verses →
  • צָרַף tsâraphsmelt, refine, testtranslated this way 1 time of its 30 uses · Strong’s H6884Verb  ·  Translated: refined 5, goldsmith 5, flawless 3, silversmith 2

    Isaiah 1:25 I will turn My hand against you; I will thoroughly purge your dross; I will remove all your impurities.

    Full study and all 29 verses →
  • בָּזַז bâzazspoil, plundertranslated this way 1 time of its 42 uses · Strong’s H962Verb  ·  Translated: plunder 12, plundered 8, carried 3, carry 2

    Isaiah 24:3 The earth will be utterly laid waste and thoroughly plundered. For the LORD has spoken this word.

    Full study and all 38 verses →
  • עָלַל âlalact severelytranslated this way 1 time of its 19 uses · Strong’s H5953Verb  ·  Translated: torture 2

    Jeremiah 6:9 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine. Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer over the branches.”

    Full study and all 18 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

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.