Word study

Yes

7 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

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

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • כִּי kîburning, brandingtranslated this way 10 times of its 3,991 uses · Strong’s H3588Conjunction  ·  Translated: for 1,770, that 572, because 523, when 194Full study and all 3,583 verses →
  • גַּם gamalso, moreover, yeatranslated this way 7 times of its 625 uses · Strong’s H1571Conjunction  ·  Translated: even 107, and 100, also 64, too 43

    Genesis 20:6 Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not let you touch her.

    Full study and all 565 verses →
  • אַף aphalso, yeatranslated this way 7 times of its 110 uses · Strong’s H637Conjunction  ·  Translated: and 12, indeed 10, much more 9, much less 7

    Job 32:17 I too will answer; yes, I will declare what I know.

    Proverbs 22:19 So that your trust may be in the LORD, I instruct you today — yes, you.

    Full study and all 102 verses →
  • הִנֵּה hinnêhlo! behold!translated this way 6 times of its 689 uses · Strong’s H2009Interjection  ·  Translated: Behold 175, Look 83, saw 47, indeed 36Full study and all 662 verses →
  • כֵּן kênright, veritable, honesttranslated this way 3 times of its 461 uses · Strong’s H3651Adverb  ·  Translated: Therefore 159, so 111, this 24, way 13

    Genesis 18:5 And I will bring a bit of bread so that you may refresh yourselves. This is why you have passed your servant’s way. After that, you may continue on your way.” “Yes,” they replied, “you may do as you have said.”

    Joshua 2:4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I did not know where they had come from.

    Full study and all 451 verses →
  • שָׁלוֹם shâlômcompleteness, soundness, welfare, peacetranslated this way 2 times of its 223 uses · Strong’s H7965Noun  ·  Translated: peace 135, safely 10, prosperity 8, well 5

    Genesis 29:6 “Is he well?” Jacob inquired. “Yes,” they answered, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with his sheep.”

    1 Kings 2:13 Now Adonijah son of Haggith went to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, and she asked, “Do you come in peace?” “Yes, in peace,” he replied.

    Full study and all 200 verses →
  • אָנֹכִי ânôkîItranslated this way 2 times of its 351 uses · Strong’s H595Pronoun  ·  Translated: i 232, and i 28, i am 18, am i 11Full study and all 330 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ναί naíyes, certainly, even sotranslated this way 33 times of its 34 uses · Strong’s G3483Particle  ·  Translated: Yes 33, so shall it be 1

    Matthew 5:37 Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one.

    Mark 7:28 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

    Full study and all 30 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.