Word study
Young
19 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “young”. 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 “young” 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)
- נַעַר naara shaking, scatteringtranslated this way 89 times of its 227 uses · Strong’s H5288Noun · Translated: boy 48, young men 30, young man 27, servant 25Full study and all 214 verses →
Genesis 19:4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house.
Exodus 10:9 “We will go with our young and old,” Moses replied. “We will go with our sons and daughters, and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the LORD.”
- בֵּן bênsontranslated this way 46 times of its 4,587 uses · Strong’s H1121Noun · Translated: son 1,843, sons 892, Israelites 422, descendants 358Full study and all 3,473 verses →
Genesis 32:15 30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys.
Exodus 29:1 “Now this is what you are to do to consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without blemish,
- בָּחוּר bâchûryoung mantranslated this way 40 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s H970Noun · Translated: young men 33, young man 4Full study and all 43 verses →
Deuteronomy 32:25 Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man.
2 Kings 8:12 “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.”
- כְּפִיר kephîryoung liontranslated this way 23 times of its 32 uses · Strong’s H3715Noun · Translated: young lion 9, young lions 9, lion 4, like a young lion 3Full study and all 32 verses →
Judges 14:5 Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him,
Job 4:10 The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.
- נַעֲרָה naărâhgirl, damseltranslated this way 20 times of its 56 uses · Strong’s H5291Noun · Translated: girl 11, young woman 8, girl's 5, servant girls 4Full study and all 52 verses →
Genesis 34:3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke to her tenderly.
Deuteronomy 22:15 Then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring the proof of her virginity to the city elders at the gate
- יֶלֶד yeledchild, son, boy, youthtranslated this way 15 times of its 88 uses · Strong’s H3206Noun · Translated: child 26, children 25, young men 10, boy 7Full study and all 76 verses →
Genesis 4:23 Then Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my speech. For I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.
1 Kings 12:8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders; instead, he consulted the young men who had grown up with him and served him.
- גְּדִי gedîkidtranslated this way 14 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H1423Noun · Translated: young goat 11, young goats 2, young 1, took 1Full study and all 16 verses →
Genesis 27:9 Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can make them into a tasty dish for your father— the kind he loves.
Exodus 23:19 Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
- פַּר paryoung bull, steertranslated this way 14 times of its 129 uses · Strong’s H6499Noun · Translated: bull 64, bulls 36, young bull 10, bull's 8Full study and all 118 verses →
Exodus 24:5 Then he sent out some young men of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD.
Leviticus 4:3 If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without blemish as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.
- קָטָן qâṭânsmall, young, unimportanttranslated this way 11 times of its 99 uses · Strong’s H6996Adjective · Translated: small 28, younger 14, youngest 13, least 13Full study and all 98 verses →
Genesis 19:11 And they struck the men at the entrance, young and old, with blindness, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the door.
1 Samuel 5:9 But after they had moved the ark to Gath, the LORD’s hand was also against that city, throwing it into great confusion and afflicting the men of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.
- בְּתוּלָה bethûlâhvirgintranslated this way 7 times of its 50 uses · Strong’s H1330Noun · Translated: virgin 26, maidens 7, young women 5, virgins 3Full study and all 50 verses →
Deuteronomy 32:25 Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man.
2 Chronicles 36:17 So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar,
- יֶלֶק yeleqlocusttranslated this way 7 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H3218Noun · Translated: young locust 4, locusts 2, young locusts 1, like a young locust 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Psalm 105:34 He spoke, and the locusts came— young locusts without number.
Joel 1:4 What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.
- בַּת bathdaughtertranslated this way 3 times of its 551 uses · Strong’s H1323Noun · Translated: daughter 255, daughters 218, villages 19, towns 6Full study and all 486 verses →
Numbers 30:16 These are the statutes that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the relationship between a man and his wife, and between a father and a young daughter still in his home.
Judges 11:40 that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
- עֹפֶר ôpheryoung hart, stagtranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H6082Noun · Translated: young 2, fawns 2, young stag 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Song of Solomon 2:9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.
Song of Solomon 2:17 Before the day breaks and shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of Bether.
- גּוֹזָל gôzâlyoung of birdstranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H1469Noun · Translated: young pigeon 1, young 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Genesis 15:9 And the LORD said to him, “Bring Me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a turtledove and a young pigeon.”
Deuteronomy 32:11 As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.
- טַף ṭaphchildrentranslated this way 2 times of its 42 uses · Strong’s H2945Noun · Translated: children 21, little 11, young children 2Full study and all 41 verses →
Genesis 45:19 You are also directed to tell them: ‘Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your young children and your wives, and bring your father and come back.
Joshua 1:14 Your wives, your young children, and your livestock may remain in the land that Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But all your mighty men of valor must be armed for battle to cross over ahead of your brothers and help them,
- גּוּר gûrwhelp, youngtranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H1482Noun · Translated: cubs 4, young 2, cub 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Genesis 49:9 Judah is a young lion— my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?
Lamentations 4:3 Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.
- עֶלֶם elemyoung mantranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H5958Noun · Translated: young man 2Full study and all 2 verses →
1 Samuel 17:56 “Find out whose son this young man is!” said the king.
1 Samuel 20:22 But if I say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, for the LORD has sent you away.
- אֶפְרֹחַ ephrôachyoung onetranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H667Noun · Translated: chicks 2, young 2Full study and all 3 verses →
Job 39:30 His young ones feast on blood; and where the slain are, there he is.”
Psalm 84:3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she places her young near Your altars, O LORD of Hosts, my King and my God.
- נָעוּר nâûryouth, juvenility, youngtranslated this way 2 times of its 46 uses · Strong’s H5271Noun · Translated: youth 41, one's youth 2, since our youth 1, still young 1Full study and all 45 verses →
Lamentations 3:27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
Ezekiel 23:21 So you revisited the indecency of your youth, when the Egyptians caressed your bosom and pressed your young breasts.
Greek words (New Testament)
- νεανίσκος neanískosa young mantranslated this way 11 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G3495Noun · Translated: young man 7, young men 3, young 1Full study and all 11 verses →
Matthew 19:20 “All these I have kept,” said the young man. “What do I still lack?”
Mark 14:51 One young man who had been following Jesus was wearing a linen cloth around his body. They caught hold of him,
- νέος néosyoung, new, freshtranslated this way 4 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s G3501Adjective · Translated: new 11, younger 7, young 3, youngest 1Full study and all 21 verses →
John 21:18 Truly, truly, I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself and walked where you wanted; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”
Acts 5:6 Then the young men stepped forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
- νεανίας neaníasa young man, youthtranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3494Noun · Translated: young man 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Acts 7:58 They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
Acts 20:9 And a certain young man named Eutychus, seated in the window, was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell from the third story and was picked up dead.
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.