Word study

Yearns

4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

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

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • כָּלָה kâlâhbe complete, at an end, finished, accomplished, spenttranslated this way 1 time of its 206 uses · Strong’s H3615Verb  ·  Translated: finished 54, fail 12, consumed 9, completed 7

    Job 19:27 I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me!

    Full study and all 200 verses →
  • פּוּחַ pûachbreathe, blowtranslated this way 1 time of its 14 uses · Strong’s H6315Verb  ·  Translated: utters 2, breaks 2, Breathe 2

    Psalm 12:5 “For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”

    Full study and all 14 verses →
  • כָּמַהּ kâmahhfainttranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H3642Verb  ·  Translated: yearns 1

    Psalm 63:1 A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.

    Full study and its 1 verse →
  • הָמָה hâmâhmurmur, growl, roar, be boisteroustranslated this way 1 time of its 33 uses · Strong’s H1993Verb  ·  Translated: roar 6, unease 3, rage 3, laments 3

    Jeremiah 31:20 Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD.

    Full study and all 31 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἐπιποθέω epipothéōI long for, strain after, desire greatlytranslated this way 1 time of its 9 uses · Strong’s G1971Verb  ·  Translated: long 3, longing 3, express their affection 1, yearns 1

    James 4:5 Or do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy?

    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.