Word study
Whole
5 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “whole”. 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 “whole” 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)
- כֹּל kôlthe whole, alltranslated this way 228 times of its 5,107 uses · Strong’s H3605Noun · Translated: all 1,589, and all 471, whole 223, every 196Full study and all 4,112 verses →
Genesis 2:6 But springs welled up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.
Genesis 2:11 The name of the first river is the Pishon; it winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
- כָּלִיל kâlîlentire, whole, holocausttranslated this way 5 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H3632Adjective · Translated: completely 3, whole 3, perfect 3, entirely 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Deuteronomy 13:16 And you are to gather all its plunder in the middle of the public square, and completely burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. The city must remain a mound of ruins forever, never to be rebuilt.
Judges 20:40 But when the column of smoke began to go up from the city, the Benjamites looked behind them and saw the whole city going up in smoke.
- כֹּל kôlthe whole, alltranslated this way 5 times of its 79 uses · Strong’s H3606Noun · Translated: all 19, any 8, and all 7, whole 5Full study and all 62 verses →
Ezra 4:20 And mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem and exercised authority over the whole region west of the Euphrates; and tribute, duty, and toll were paid to them.
Daniel 2:35 Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were shattered and became like chaff on the threshing floor in summer. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that had struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
- שָׁלֵם shâlêmcomplete, safe, at peacetranslated this way 3 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s H8003Adjective · Translated: fully devoted 5, whole 3, accurate 2, uncut 2Full study and all 25 verses →
1 Chronicles 29:19 And give my son Solomon a whole heart to keep and carry out all Your commandments, decrees, and statutes, and to build Your palace for which I have made provision.”
Amos 1:6 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Gaza, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they exiled a whole population, delivering them up to Edom.
- תָּמִים tâmîmcomplete, soundtranslated this way 2 times of its 91 uses · Strong’s H8549Adjective · Translated: unblemished 39, blameless 16, without blemish 11, perfect 6Full study and all 85 verses →
Proverbs 1:12 let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit.
Ezekiel 15:5 Even when it was whole, it could not be made useful. How much less can it ever be useful when the fire has consumed it and charred it!
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὅλος hólosall, the whole, entiretranslated this way 42 times of its 94 uses · Strong’s G3650Adjective · Translated: all 43, whole 42, full 2Full study and all 83 verses →
Matthew 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
Mark 1:28 And the news about Jesus spread quickly through the whole region of Galilee.
- πᾶς pâsall, the whole, every kind oftranslated this way 25 times of its 1,133 uses · Strong’s G3956Adjective · Translated: all 462, everyone 131, every 116, everything 87Full study and all 998 verses →
Matthew 3:5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region around the Jordan.
Mark 5:33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him trembling in fear, and she told Him the whole truth.
- ἅπας hápasall, the wholetranslated this way 3 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s G537Adjective · Translated: all 10, everything 5, whole 3, Everyone 2Full study and all 25 verses →
Luke 19:37 And as He approached the descent from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began to praise God joyfully in a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen:
Acts 25:24 Then Festus said, “King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see this man. The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him, both here and in Jerusalem, crying out that he ought not to live any longer.
- κόσμος kósmosthe world, universetranslated this way 2 times of its 183 uses · Strong’s G2889Noun · Translated: world 163, of 12, whole world 2Full study and all 151 verses →
John 12:19 Then the Pharisees said to one another, “You can see that this is doing you no good. Look how the whole world has gone after Him!”
1 Corinthians 4:9 For it seems to me that God has displayed us apostles at the end of the procession , like prisoners appointed for death. We have become a spectacle to the whole world, to angels as well as to men.
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.