Word study
Truth
4 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
In brief
The Hebrew emet means firmness and reliability as much as factual truth; it is often translated "faithfulness" and comes from the root behind "amen." The Greek alētheia is truth as what is real and not hidden. When the New Testament speaks of truth, both ideas are usually in view: what is so, and what can be relied on.
Written and reviewed by our editorial team.
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: truth, truths. 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 “truth” 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)
- אֶמֶת emethfirmness, faithfulness, truthtranslated this way 37 times of its 125 uses · Strong’s H571Noun · Translated: truth 37, faithfulness 35, true 20, faithfully 10Full study and all 123 verses →
Genesis 42:16 Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be confined so that the truth of your words may be tested. If they are untrue, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”
Joshua 24:14 Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.
- אֱמוּנָה ĕmûnâhfirmness, steadfastness, fidelitytranslated this way 6 times of its 47 uses · Strong’s H530Noun · Translated: faithfulness 22, faithfully 6, truth 6, faithful 3Full study and all 47 verses →
Psalm 119:30 I have chosen the way of truth; I have set Your ordinances before me.
Proverbs 12:17 He who speaks the truth declares what is right, but a false witness speaks deceit.
- צֶדֶק tsedeqrightness, righteousnesstranslated this way 2 times of its 116 uses · Strong’s H6664Noun · Translated: righteousness 57, righteous 19, honest 6, justice 5Full study and all 111 verses →
Psalm 52:3 You love evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking truth. Selah
Isaiah 45:19 I have not spoken in secret, from a place in a land of darkness. I did not say to the descendants of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in a wasteland.’ I, the LORD, speak the truth; I say what is right.
- אָמֵן âmênverily, trulytranslated this way 2 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H543Adverb · Translated: Amen 28, truth 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Isaiah 65:16 Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the God of truth, and whoever takes an oath in the land will swear by the God of truth. For the former troubles will be forgotten and hidden from My sight.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀλήθεια alḗtheiatruthtranslated this way 89 times of its 107 uses · Strong’s G225Noun · Translated: truth 88, true 5, of 4, truthfully 2Full study and all 97 verses →
Matthew 22:16 They sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are honest and that You teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You seek favor from no one, because You pay no attention to external appearance.
Mark 5:33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him trembling in fear, and she told Him the whole truth.
- ἀληθής alēthḗsunconcealed, truetranslated this way 2 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s G227Adjective · Translated: true 10, valid 5, real 3, honest 2Full study and all 25 verses →
John 7:18 He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is a man of truth; in Him there is no falsehood.
John 19:35 The one who saw it has testified to this, and his testimony is true. He knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.
- ἀληθεύω alētheúōI say, speak truth, I do truthtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G226Verb · Translated: telling you the truth 1, speaking the truth 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Galatians 4:16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
Ephesians 4:15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head.
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.
What the Bible says about truth: 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.