Word study
Youth
7 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: youth, youths. 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 “youth” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- נָעוּר nâûryouth, juvenility, youngtranslated this way 44 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 →
Genesis 8:21 When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.
Leviticus 22:13 But if a priest’s daughter with no children becomes widowed or divorced and returns to her father’s house, she may share her father’s food as in her youth. But no outsider may share it.
- נַעַר naara shaking, scatteringtranslated this way 5 times of its 227 uses · Strong’s H5288Noun · Translated: boy 48, young men 30, young man 27, servant 25Full study and all 214 verses →
Judges 8:20 So he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Get up and kill them.” But the young man did not draw his sword; he was fearful because he was still a youth.
Ecclesiastes 10:16 Woe to you, O land whose king is a youth, and whose princes feast in the morning.
- בְּחֻרוֹת bechurôthyouthtranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H979Noun · Translated: youth 2, since youth 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Numbers 11:28 Joshua son of Nun, the attendant to Moses since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”
Ecclesiastes 11:9 Rejoice, O young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment.
- עָלוּם âlûmadolescence, vigortranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H5934Noun · Translated: youth 3, youthful vigor 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Job 33:25 then his flesh is refreshed like a child’s; he returns to the days of his youth.
Psalm 89:45 You have cut short the days of his youth; You have covered him with shame. Selah
- נֹעַר nôaryouth, early lifetranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H5290Noun · Translated: youth 3, like a child's 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Job 36:14 They die in their youth, among the male shrine prostitutes.
Psalm 88:15 From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.
- יַלְדוּת yaldûthchildhood, youthtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H3208Noun · Translated: youth 2, young 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Psalm 110:3 Your people shall be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, to You belongs the dew of Your youth.
Ecclesiastes 11:10 So banish sorrow from your heart, and cast off pain from your body, for youth and vigor are fleeting.
- יֶלֶד yeledchild, son, boy, youthtranslated this way 2 times of its 88 uses · Strong’s H3206Noun · Translated: child 26, children 25, young men 10, boy 7Full study and all 76 verses →
Ecclesiastes 4:13 Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take a warning.
Ecclesiastes 4:15 I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed this second one, the youth who succeeded the king.
Greek words (New Testament)
- νεότης neótēsyouth, youthfulnesstranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G3503Noun · Translated: youth 3, childhood 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Mark 10:20 “Teacher,” he replied, “all these I have kept from my youth.”
Luke 18:21 “All these I have kept from my youth,” he said.
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.