Word study
Write
7 Hebrew and 6 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: written, write, wrote, writing, writes, writings. 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 “write” 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)
- כָּתַב kâthabwritetranslated this way 168 times of its 219 uses · Strong’s H3789Verb · Translated: written 104, write 29, wrote 21, recorded 16Full study and all 210 verses →
Exodus 17:14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
Numbers 5:23 And the priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.
- כְּתַב kethabwritetranslated this way 7 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H3790Verb · Translated: wrote 4, read as follows 1, write 1, written 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Ezra 4:8 Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote the letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows:
Daniel 5:5 At that moment the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. As the king watched the hand that was writing,
- מִכְתָּב miktâbwritingtranslated this way 6 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H4385Noun · Translated: writing 3, put it in writing 2, like an inscription 1, written 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Exodus 32:16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
Deuteronomy 10:4 And the LORD wrote on the tablets what had been written previously, the Ten Commandments that He had spoken to you on the mountain out of the fire on the day of the assembly. The LORD gave them to me,
- כָּתָב kâthâbwritingtranslated this way 4 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H3791Noun · Translated: script 3, family records 2, text 2Full study and all 15 verses →
1 Chronicles 28:19 “All this,” said David, “all the details of this plan, the LORD has made clear to me in writing by His hand upon me.”
2 Chronicles 2:11 Then Hiram king of Tyre wrote a letter in reply to Solomon: “Because the LORD loves His people, He has set you over them as king.”
- קֶסֶת qesethcup, ink-standtranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H7083Noun · Translated: writing kit 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Ezekiel 9:2 And I saw six men coming from the direction of the Upper Gate, which faces north, each with a weapon of slaughter in his hand. With them was another man clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. And they came in and stood beside the bronze altar.
Ezekiel 9:3 Then the glory of the God of Israel rose from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side.
- רְשַׁם reshaminscribe, signtranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H7560Verb · Translated: signed 3, sign 2, wrote 1, written 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Daniel 5:24 Therefore He sent the hand that wrote the inscription.
Daniel 5:25 Now this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN.
- כְּתָב kethâbwritingtranslated this way 2 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s H3792Noun · Translated: inscription 7, document 2, according to what is written 1, limit 1Full study and all 12 verses →
Ezra 6:18 They also appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.
Daniel 6:9 Therefore King Darius signed the written decree.
Greek words (New Testament)
- γράφω gráphōI writetranslated this way 181 times of its 186 uses · Strong’s G1125Verb · Translated: written 112, write 34, wrote 16, writing 14Full study and all 177 verses →
Matthew 2:5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
Mark 1:2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way.”
- γράμμα grámmaa letter, writings, learningtranslated this way 4 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s G1121Noun · Translated: letters 3, written code 3, bill 2, learning 2Full study and all 13 verses →
John 5:47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”
Romans 2:27 The one who is physically uncircumcised yet keeps the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.
- ἐπιστέλλω epistéllōI write, send by letter to.translated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G1989Verb · Translated: write 1, written 1, i have 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Acts 15:20 Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.
Acts 21:25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”
- ἐγγράφω engráphōI write, inscribetranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G1449Verb · Translated: written 2, inscribed 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Luke 10:20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
2 Corinthians 3:3 It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
- προγράφω prográphōI write previouslytranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G4270Verb · Translated: written in the past 1, clearly portrayed 1, already written 1, designated 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Romans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.
Ephesians 3:3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.
- γραφή graphḗa writing, passage of scripture, the scripturestranslated this way 2 times of its 50 uses · Strong’s G1124Noun · Translated: Scripture 30, Scriptures 18, writings 2Full study and all 50 verses →
Matthew 26:56 But this has all happened so that the writings of the prophets would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted Him and fled.
Romans 16:26 but now revealed and made known through the writings of the prophets by the command of the eternal God, in order to lead all nations to the obedience that comes from faith —
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.