Word study
Value
6 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: value, valued, values. 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 “value” 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)
- עֵרֶךְ êrekorder, row, estimatetranslated this way 8 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s H6187Noun · Translated: valuation 10, according to your valuation 4, proper value 3, value 2Full study and all 27 verses →
Leviticus 5:15 “If someone acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against any of the LORD’s holy things, he must bring his guilt offering to the LORD: an unblemished ram from the flock, of proper value in silver shekels according to the sanctuary shekel; it is a guilt offering.
Job 28:13 No man can know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living.
- עַל alheighttranslated this way 5 times of its 4,859 uses · Strong’s H5921Preposition · Translated: on 777, over 297, in 218, against 216Full study and all 3,996 verses →
Leviticus 5:16 Regarding any holy thing he has harmed, he must make restitution by adding a fifth of its value to it and giving it to the priest, who will make atonement on his behalf with the ram as a guilt offering, and he will be forgiven.
Leviticus 6:5 or anything else about which he has sworn falsely. He must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value, and pay it to the owner on the day he acknowledges his guilt.
- עָרַךְ ârakarrange or set in ordertranslated this way 4 times of its 75 uses · Strong’s H6186Verb · Translated: arrayed 14, prepared 5, compare 5, set 4Full study and all 71 verses →
Leviticus 27:8 But if the one making the vow is too poor to pay the valuation, he is to present the person before the priest, who shall set the value according to what the one making the vow can afford.
Leviticus 27:12 The priest shall set its value, whether high or low; as the priest values it, the price will be set.
- כֶּסֶף kesephsilver, moneytranslated this way 2 times of its 386 uses · Strong’s H3701Noun · Translated: silver 293, money 58, price 8, like silver 4Full study and all 337 verses →
Leviticus 27:15 But if he who consecrated his house redeems it, he must add a fifth to the assessed value, and it will belong to him.
Leviticus 27:19 And if the one who consecrated the field decides to redeem it, he must add a fifth to the assessed value, and it shall belong to him.
- עַיִן ayineyetranslated this way 2 times of its 764 uses · Strong’s H5869Noun · Translated: eyes 383, sight 186, eye 38, presence 13Full study and all 731 verses →
- סָלָה sâlâhmake light of, toss asidetranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H5541Verb · Translated: valued 2, reject 1, rejected 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Job 28:16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire.
Job 28:19 Topaz from Cush cannot compare to it, nor can it be valued in pure gold.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὠφελέω ōpheléōI help, benefit, do goodtranslated this way 4 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G5623Verb · Translated: value 4, profit 3, received 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Romans 2:25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
Galatians 5:2 Take notice: I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.
- τιμή timḗa price, honortranslated this way 2 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s G5092Noun · Translated: honor 26, price 3, proceeds 3, value 2Full study and all 40 verses →
Acts 19:19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books and burned them in front of everyone. When the value of the books was calculated, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.
Colossians 2:23 Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
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.