Toward

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

• אֵל êl63
• עַל al16
• עִם im10
• דֶּרֶךְ derek9
• πρός prós8
• מִזְרָח mizrâch6
• פָּנִים pânîm4
• עַד ad3
• יִשְׂרָאֵל Yisrâêl3
• אַחַר achar3
• שָׁמַיִם shâmayim3
• εἰς eis3

Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

• אֵל êlmotion totranslated this way 63 times of its 4,199 uses · Strong’s H413Preposition  ·  Translated: to 1,941, to me 285, to you 149, to him 137

  Genesis 31:5 and he told them, “I can see from your father’s countenance that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me.

  Full study and all 3,455 verses →
• עַל alheighttranslated this way 16 times of its 4,859 uses · Strong’s H5921Preposition  ·  Translated: on 777, over 297, in 218, against 216

  Exodus 9:22 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that hail may fall on all the land of Egypt— on man and beast and every plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt.”

  Exodus 9:23 So Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning struck the earth. So the LORD rained down hail upon the land of Egypt.

  Full study and all 3,996 verses →
• עִם imwithtranslated this way 10 times of its 940 uses · Strong’s H5973Preposition  ·  Translated: with 246, with you 84, with him 61, against 39

  Genesis 31:2 And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed.

  Leviticus 26:21 If you walk in hostility toward Me and refuse to obey Me, I will multiply your plagues seven times, according to your sins.

  Full study and all 838 verses →
• דֶּרֶךְ derekway, road, distance, journey, mannertranslated this way 9 times of its 653 uses · Strong’s H1870Noun  ·  Translated: way 204, ways 166, road 54, journey 35

  Deuteronomy 1:19 And just as the LORD our God had commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites, through all the vast and terrifying wilderness you have seen. When we reached Kadesh-barnea,

  Joshua 8:15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.

  Full study and all 595 verses →
• מִזְרָח mizrâchplace of sunrise, easttranslated this way 6 times of its 70 uses · Strong’s H4217Noun  ·  Translated: east 46, eastward 6, toward the sunrise 5, east side 4

  Exodus 27:13 The east side of the courtyard, toward the sunrise, is to be fifty cubits wide.

  Numbers 2:3 On the east side, toward the sunrise, the divisions of Judah are to camp under their standard: The leader of the Judahites is Nahshon son of Amminadab,

  Full study and all 67 verses →
• פָּנִים pânîmface, beforetranslated this way 4 times of its 1,836 uses · Strong’s H6440Noun  ·  Translated: before 448, face 222, presence 147, before you 123

  Genesis 16:12 He will be a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”

  Genesis 19:28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.

  Full study and all 1,671 verses →
• עַד adas far as, even to, up to, until, whiletranslated this way 3 times of its 1,111 uses · Strong’s H5704Preposition  ·  Translated: until 348, to 278, far 48, forever 43

  Genesis 13:12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

  Full study and all 1,024 verses →
• יִשְׂרָאֵל YisrâêlIsraeltranslated this way 3 times of its 1,998 uses · Strong’s H3478Noun  ·  Translated: Israel 1,807, Israelites 111, caused israel 21, Israel's 19

  Genesis 48:13 And Joseph took both of them— with Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand— and brought them close to him.

  Full study and all 1,817 verses →
• אַחַר acharbehindtranslated this way 3 times of its 556 uses · Strong’s H310Preposition  ·  Translated: after 123, behind 56, and after 22, after that 19

  Deuteronomy 11:30 Are not these mountains across the Jordan, west of the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak of Moreh?

  1 Samuel 8:3 But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside toward dishonest gain, accepting bribes and perverting justice.

  Full study and all 533 verses →
• שָׁמַיִם shâmayimsky, alofttranslated this way 3 times of its 410 uses · Strong’s H8064Noun  ·  Translated: heaven 163, heavens 141, air 43, sky 32

  1 Kings 8:22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven,

  2 Chronicles 6:13 Now Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high and had placed it in the middle of the courtyard. He stood on it, knelt down before the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven,

  Full study and all 392 verses →
• סְדֹם ÇedômSodomtranslated this way 2 times of its 39 uses · Strong’s H5467Noun  ·  Translated: Sodom 31, like sodom 5, toward sodom 2, of 1

  Genesis 10:19 and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

  Genesis 18:22 And the two men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.

  Full study and all 38 verses →
• קֶדֶם qedemfront, east, aforetimetranslated this way 2 times of its 85 uses · Strong’s H6924Noun  ·  Translated: east 35, old 13, eastern 5, east side 4

  Genesis 13:11 So Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan for himself and set out toward the east. And Abram and Lot parted company.

  Ezekiel 8:16 So He brought me to the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east; and they were bowing to the east in worship of the sun.

  Full study and all 82 verses →
• שֵׂעִיר SêîrSe`îrtranslated this way 2 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s H8165Noun  ·  Translated: Seir 36, toward seir 2

  Joshua 11:17 from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon at the foot of Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and struck them down, putting them to death.

  Joshua 12:7 And these are the kings of the land that Joshua and the Israelites conquered beyond the Jordan to the west, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir (according to the allotments to the tribes of Israel, Joshua gave them as an inheritance

  Full study and all 37 verses →
• מִדְבָּר midbârmouthtranslated this way 2 times of its 269 uses · Strong’s H4057Noun  ·  Translated: wilderness 203, desert 49, like a desert 3, open 3

  Judges 20:45 Then the Benjamites turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and Israel cut down 5,000 men on the roads. And they overtook them at Gidom and struck down 2,000 more.

  Isaiah 16:8 For the fields of Heshbon have withered, along with the grapevines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choicest vines, which had reached as far as Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots had spread out and passed over the sea.

  Full study and all 256 verses →
• קָרָא qârâencounter, befalltranslated this way 2 times of its 127 uses · Strong’s H7122Verb  ·  Translated: meet 58, against 11, confront 8, met 6

  1 Samuel 9:14 So Saul and his servant went up toward the city, and as they were entering it, there was Samuel coming toward them on his way up to the high place.

  1 Samuel 25:20 As Abigail came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming down toward her, and she met them.

  Full study and all 124 verses →
• מוּל mûlfront, in front oftranslated this way 2 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H4136Preposition  ·  Translated: front 15, opposite 3, facing 2, toward 2

  1 Samuel 14:5 One cliff stood to the north toward Michmash, and the other to the south toward Geba.

  Full study and all 28 verses →
• בַּיִת bayithhousetranslated this way 2 times of its 1,913 uses · Strong’s H1004Noun  ·  Translated: house 1,132, temple 176, palace 117, household 93Full study and all 1,624 verses →
• אֶסְתֵּר EstêrEsthertranslated this way 2 times of its 53 uses · Strong’s H635Noun  ·  Translated: Esther 41, Esther's 5, she 2, and she 2Full study and all 44 verses →
• אַרְבַּע arbafourtranslated this way 2 times of its 247 uses · Strong’s H702Number  ·  Translated: four 161, fourteenth 20, fourteen 17, fourth 5Full study and all 218 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

• πρός prósto, towards, withtranslated this way 8 times of its 549 uses · Strong’s G4314Preposition  ·  Translated: to 359, with 43, for 32, against 20Full study and all 508 verses →
• εἰς eisinto, in, among, till, fortranslated this way 3 times of its 1,383 uses · Strong’s G1519Preposition  ·  Translated: to 481, into 306, in 179, for 133Full study and all 1,235 verses →
• ἐπί epíon, to, against, on the basis of, attranslated this way 2 times of its 784 uses · Strong’s G1909Preposition  ·  Translated: on 288, to 87, in 83, at 48Full study and all 696 verses →

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.