Word study

Upward

5 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

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

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • מַעַל maalhigher parttranslated this way 9 times of its 112 uses · Strong’s H4605Adverb  ·  Translated: older 30, above 21, more 8, upward 6

    Exodus 25:20 And the cherubim are to have wings that spread upward, overshadowing the mercy seat. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the mercy seat.

    Deuteronomy 28:13 The LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you will only move upward and never downward, if you hear and carefully follow the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am giving you today.

    Full study and all 109 verses →
  • גָּבַהּ gâbahhbe high, exaltedtranslated this way 1 time of its 34 uses · Strong’s H1361Verb  ·  Translated: proud 4, high 4, soar 2, haughty 2

    Job 5:7 Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.

    Full study and all 33 verses →
  • אָבַךְ âbakcoiltranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H55Verb  ·  Translated: roll upward 1

    Isaiah 9:18 For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes the thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets, which roll upward in billows of smoke.

    Full study and its 1 verse →
  • מָרוֹם mârômheighttranslated this way 1 time of its 53 uses · Strong’s H4791Noun  ·  Translated: high 20, heights 12, lofty 3, heaven 3

    Isaiah 38:14 I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”

    Full study and all 51 verses →
  • רָמַם râmambe exaltedtranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s H7426Verb  ·  Translated: exalted 2, Get away 1, rose upward 1, wheels ascended 1

    Ezekiel 10:15 Then the cherubim rose upward. These were the living creatures I had seen by the River Kebar.

    Full study and all 6 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἄνω ánōup, above, things above, heaventranslated this way 1 time of its 9 uses · Strong’s G507Adverb  ·  Translated: above 5, brim 1, upward 1, heavenly 1

    John 11:41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus lifted His eyes upward and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.

    Full study and all 9 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.