Word study
Wholeheartedly
4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “wholeheartedly”. 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 “wholeheartedly” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- מָלֵא mâlêbe full, filltranslated this way 4 times of its 242 uses · Strong’s H4390Verb · Translated: filled 66, full 34, fill 31, complete 8Full study and all 235 verses →
Numbers 14:24 But because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he has entered, and his descendants will inherit it.
Deuteronomy 1:36 except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly.”
- לֵבָב lêbâbinner man, mind, will, hearttranslated this way 2 times of its 234 uses · Strong’s H3824Noun · Translated: heart 145, hearts 47, mind 9, conscience 2Full study and all 214 verses →
1 Kings 11:4 For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.
2 Chronicles 25:2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not wholeheartedly.
- שָׁלֵם shâlêmcomplete, safe, at peacetranslated this way 2 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 29:9 And the people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given to the LORD freely and wholeheartedly. And King David also rejoiced greatly.
2 Chronicles 19:9 He commanded them, saying, “You must serve faithfully and wholeheartedly in the fear of the LORD.
- לֵב lêbinner man, mind, will, hearttranslated this way 1 time of its 526 uses · Strong’s H3820Noun · Translated: heart 326, hearts 78, mind 30, judgment 11Full study and all 495 verses →
1 Chronicles 28:9 As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὑπακούω hypakoúōI listen, obeytranslated this way 1 time of its 21 uses · Strong’s G5219Verb · Translated: obey 14, obeyed 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Romans 6:17 But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.
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.