Word study
Two
13 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “two”. 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 “two” 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)
- שְׁנַיִם shenayimtwotranslated this way 379 times of its 642 uses · Strong’s H8147Number · Translated: two 364, twelve 68, both 33, 12 25Full study and all 550 verses →
Genesis 1:16 God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well.
Exodus 2:13 The next day Moses went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your companion?”
- מֵאָה mêâhhundredtranslated this way 17 times of its 292 uses · Strong’s H3967Number · Translated: hundred 137, hundreds 26, two hundred 17, 120 6Full study and all 263 verses →
Joshua 7:21 When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
Judges 17:4 So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into a graven image and a molten idol. And they were placed in the house of Micah.
- שָׁנֶה shânehyeartranslated this way 12 times of its 612 uses · Strong’s H8141Noun · Translated: years 295, year 255, years old 20, two years 7Full study and all 519 verses →
Genesis 11:10 This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad.
Genesis 41:1 After two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile,
- אֶלֶף elephthousandtranslated this way 11 times of its 233 uses · Strong’s H505Number · Translated: thousand 116, thousands 33, two thousand 10, clans 8Full study and all 201 verses →
Numbers 7:85 Each silver platter weighed a hundred and thirty shekels, and each silver bowl seventy shekels. The total weight of the silver articles was two thousand four hundred shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel.
Joshua 3:4 But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between yourselves and the ark. Do not go near it, so that you can see the way to go, since you have never traveled this way before.”
- אַמָּה ammâhell, cubittranslated this way 9 times of its 230 uses · Strong’s H520Noun · Translated: cubits 174, cubit 32, two cubits 5, cubits long 5Full study and all 132 verses →
Exodus 25:10 And they are to construct an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.
Numbers 11:31 Now a wind sent by the LORD came up, drove in quail from the sea, and brought them near the camp, about two cubits above the surface of the ground, for a day’s journey in every direction around the camp.
- יוֹם yômdaytranslated this way 5 times of its 2,013 uses · Strong’s H3117Noun · Translated: day 1,009, days 524, today 141, time 72Full study and all 1,744 verses →
Exodus 16:29 Understand that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day He will give you bread for two days. On the seventh day, everyone must stay where he is; no one may leave his place.”
Exodus 21:21 However, if the servant gets up after a day or two, the owner shall not be punished, since the servant is his property.
- כִּלְאַיִם kilayimtwo kindstranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H3610Noun · Translated: two different kinds 1, two kinds 1, made of two kinds 1, two types of seed 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Leviticus 19:19 You are to keep My statutes. You shall not crossbreed two different kinds of livestock; you shall not sow your fields with two kinds of seed; and you shall not wear clothing made of two kinds of material.
Deuteronomy 22:9 Do not plant your vineyard with two types of seed; if you do, the entire harvest will be defiled — both the crop you plant and the fruit of your vineyard.
- סְאָה seâhse'ahtranslated this way 4 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H5429Noun · Translated: two seahs 4, seah 3, seahs 2Full study and all 6 verses →
1 Kings 18:32 And with the stones, Elijah built an altar in the name of the LORD. Then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed.
2 Kings 7:1 Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: ‘About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel.’”
- כִּכָּר kikkâra roundtranslated this way 3 times of its 68 uses · Strong’s H3603Noun · Translated: talents 35, plain 10, talent 9, loaf 3Full study and all 55 verses →
1 Kings 16:24 He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built a city there, calling it Samaria after the name of Shemer, who had owned the hill.
2 Kings 5:23 But Naaman insisted, “Please, take two talents.” And he urged Gehazi to accept them. Then he tied up two talents of silver in two bags along with two sets of clothing and gave them to two of his servants, who carried them ahead of Gehazi.
- חוֹמָה chômâhwalltranslated this way 3 times of its 128 uses · Strong’s H2346Noun · Translated: wall 75, walls 43, two walls 3, walled 2Full study and all 122 verses →
2 Kings 25:4 Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,
Jeremiah 39:4 When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled. They left the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls, and they went out along the route to the Arabah.
- יְרֵכָה yerêkâhflank, sidetranslated this way 2 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s H3411Noun · Translated: rear 4, ends 3, far 3, two back 2Full study and all 28 verses →
Exodus 26:23 and two frames for the two back corners of the tabernacle,
Exodus 36:28 and two frames for the two back corners of the tabernacle,
- מְלֹא melôfulness, that which fillstranslated this way 2 times of its 33 uses · Strong’s H4393Noun · Translated: everything 6, full 4, fills 4, handful 3Full study and all 31 verses →
Leviticus 16:12 Then he must take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense, and take them inside the veil.
Ecclesiastes 4:6 Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and pursuit of the wind.
- גָּדַע gâdahew, hew down or offtranslated this way 2 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s H1438Verb · Translated: cut 13, chopped 2, cut to pieces 2Full study and all 22 verses →
Zechariah 11:10 Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations.
Zechariah 11:14 Then I cut in two my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
Greek words (New Testament)
- δύο dýotwotranslated this way 126 times of its 130 uses · Strong’s G1417Adjective · Translated: two 124, second 3, two by two 1, twenty to thirty gallons 1Full study and all 119 verses →
Matthew 4:18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
Mark 6:7 Then Jesus called the Twelve to Him and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over unclean spirits.
- διακόσιοι diakósioitwo hundredtranslated this way 4 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G1250Adjective · Translated: two hundred 4, hundred yards 1, 276 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Mark 6:37 But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.” They asked Him, “Should we go out and spend two hundred denarii to give all of them bread to eat?”
John 6:7 Philip answered, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a small piece.”
- διετία dietíatwo yearstranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1333Noun · Translated: two years 1, two full years 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 24:27 After two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. And wishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison.
Acts 28:30 Paul stayed there two full years in his own rented house, welcoming all who came to visit him.
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.