Word study

Unable

2 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

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

  • לֹא lônottranslated this way 16 times of its 4,657 uses · Strong’s H3808Adverb  ·  Translated: no 309, not 269, never 218, will not 156

    Genesis 13:6 But the land was unable to support both of them while they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they were unable to coexist.

    Genesis 45:3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But they were unable to answer him, because they were terrified in his presence.

    Full study and all 3,775 verses →
  • יָכֹל yâkôlbe able, have power, prevail, enduretranslated this way 5 times of its 116 uses · Strong’s H3201Verb  ·  Translated: able 17, could 11, prevail 10, can 9

    Genesis 13:6 But the land was unable to support both of them while they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they were unable to coexist.

    Numbers 14:16 ‘Because the LORD was unable to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

    Full study and all 113 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • δύναμαι dýnamaiI am powerful, am abletranslated this way 14 times of its 205 uses · Strong’s G1410Verb  ·  Translated: can 52, cannot 50, able 21, could 16

    Mark 2:4 Since they were unable to get to Jesus through the crowd, they uncovered the roof above Him, made an opening, and lowered the paralytic on his mat.

    Mark 6:19 So Herodias held a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she had been unable,

    Full study and all 196 verses →
  • ἰσχύω ischýōI am strong, abletranslated this way 5 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s G2480Verb  ·  Translated: able 5, unable 5, could 3, healthy 2

    Mark 9:18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable.”

    Luke 14:6 And they were unable to answer these questions .

    Full study and all 28 verses →
  • ἔχω échōI have, hold, possesstranslated this way 2 times of its 624 uses · Strong’s G2192Verb  ·  Translated: has 63, have 52, with 35, you have 29

    Matthew 18:25 Since the man was unable to pay, the master ordered that he be sold to pay his debt, along with his wife and children and everything he owned.

    Full study and all 560 verses →
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.