Word study
Unless
5 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “unless”. 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 “unless” 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)
- אִם imiftranslated this way 8 times of its 889 uses · Strong’s H518Conjunction · Translated: if 398, but if 95, or 64, and if 36Full study and all 761 verses →
Genesis 44:26 But we answered, ‘We cannot go down there unless our younger brother goes with us. So if our younger brother is not with us, we cannot see the man.’
Deuteronomy 32:30 How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
- כִּי kîburning, brandingtranslated this way 6 times of its 3,991 uses · Strong’s H3588Conjunction · Translated: for 1,770, that 572, because 523, when 194Full study and all 3,583 verses →
Genesis 32:26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
Leviticus 22:6 the man who touches any of these will remain unclean until evening. He must not eat from the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water.
- לֹא lônottranslated this way 4 times of its 4,657 uses · Strong’s H3808Adverb · Translated: no 309, not 269, never 218, will not 156Full study and all 3,775 verses →
Genesis 44:23 But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your younger brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’
Exodus 3:19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless a mighty hand compels him.
- בִּלְתִּי biltînot, excepttranslated this way 2 times of its 104 uses · Strong’s H1115Preposition-l · Translated: not 12, no 8, nothing 4, without 4Full study and all 101 verses →
Genesis 43:3 But Judah replied, “The man solemnly warned us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’
Genesis 43:5 But if you will not send him, we will not go; for the man told us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’”
- לוּלֵא lûlêif not, unlesstranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H3884Conjunction · Translated: had not 5, Unless 2, if i had not 1, if you had not 1Full study and all 11 verses →
Psalm 94:17 Unless the LORD had been my helper, I would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.
Isaiah 1:9 Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐάν eániftranslated this way 33 times of its 256 uses · Strong’s G1437Conjunction · Translated: if 200, unless 33, suppose 4, Even 2Full study and all 238 verses →
Matthew 5:20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Mark 3:27 Indeed, no one can enter a strong man’s house to steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.
- εἰ eiiftranslated this way 4 times of its 441 uses · Strong’s G1487Conjunction · Translated: if 318, except 38, only 13, but 11Full study and all 415 verses →
Luke 9:13 But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.” “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered, “unless we go and buy food for all these people.”
Romans 9:29 It is just as Isaiah foretold: “Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.”
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.