Word study
Thought
7 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: thought, thoughts. 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 “thought” 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)
- אָמַר âmarutter, saytranslated this way 28 times of its 4,555 uses · Strong’s H559Verb · Translated: said 1,531, says 576, say 352, replied 341Full study and all 3,827 verses →
Genesis 20:11 Abraham replied, “I thought to myself, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place. They will kill me on account of my wife.’
Genesis 26:9 Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is really your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.”
- מַחֲשָׁבָה machăshâbâhthought, devicetranslated this way 17 times of its 52 uses · Strong’s H4284Noun · Translated: thoughts 15, plans 10, artistic 3, schemes 3Full study and all 48 verses →
Genesis 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.
1 Chronicles 28:9 As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.
- רַעְיוֹן rayônthoughttranslated this way 6 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H7476Noun · Translated: thoughts 6Full study and all 6 verses →
Daniel 2:29 As you lay on your bed, O king, your thoughts turned to the future, and the Revealer of Mysteries made known to you what will happen.
Daniel 2:30 And to me this mystery has been revealed, not because I have more wisdom than any man alive, but in order that the interpretation might be made known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.
- רֵעַ rêashouting, roartranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H7454Noun · Translated: thoughts 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Psalm 139:2 You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.
Psalm 139:17 How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God, how vast is their sum!
- דָּבָר dâbârspeech, wordtranslated this way 2 times of its 1,244 uses · Strong’s H1697Noun · Translated: word 342, words 299, acts 51, Chronicles 42Full study and all 1,120 verses →
Deuteronomy 15:9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
- עַיִן ayineyetranslated this way 2 times of its 764 uses · Strong’s H5869Noun · Translated: eyes 383, sight 186, eye 38, presence 13Full study and all 731 verses →
Genesis 19:14 So Lot went out and spoke to the sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage to his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
2 Samuel 4:10 when someone told me, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was a bearer of good news, I seized him and put him to death at Ziklag. That was his reward for his news!
- חָשַׁב châshabthink, accounttranslated this way 2 times of its 118 uses · Strong’s H2803Verb · Translated: considered 10, regarded 7, devise 7, devised 6Full study and all 117 verses →
Genesis 38:15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face.
1 Samuel 1:13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. So Eli thought she was drunk
Greek words (New Testament)
- διαλογισμός dialogismósa calculation, reasoning, thought, plottingtranslated this way 7 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s G1261Noun · Translated: thoughts 7, thinking 2Full study and all 14 verses →
Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.
Mark 7:21 For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
- δοκέω dokéōI think, seem, appear, it seemstranslated this way 6 times of its 62 uses · Strong’s G1380Verb · Translated: think 17, thinks 6, thought 5, seems 4Full study and all 61 verses →
Luke 19:11 While the people were listening to this, Jesus proceeded to tell them a parable, because He was near Jerusalem and they thought the kingdom of God would appear imminently.
John 11:13 They thought that Jesus was talking about actual sleep, but He was speaking about the death of Lazarus.
- ἐνθύμησις enthýmēsisinward thought, reflection, thoughtstranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G1761Noun · Translated: thoughts 2, thinking 1, imagination 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Matthew 12:25 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
- ἡγέομαι hēgéomaiI lead, thinktranslated this way 2 times of its 27 uses · Strong’s G2233Verb · Translated: consider 7, leaders 4, ruler 2, thought 2Full study and all 26 verses →
2 Corinthians 9:5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you beforehand and make arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. This way, your gift will be prepared generously and not begrudgingly.
Philippians 2:25 But I thought it necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my needs.
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.