📖 Dictionary
The original-language words this translation has met so far — Hebrew for the Tanakh, Greek for
the New Testament — 1024 terms. Click a term for its full entry — original script,
transliteration, gloss, and a link back to the chapter that first discussed it.
abbaFATHER — and Aramaic, not Greek, which is the point. It survives in the New Testament only three times…abrekhThe herald's cry before Joseph's chariot (41:43) — and nobody knows what it means. Three serious…abyssosTHE ABYSS — without bottom (a-, negative + byssos, 'depth'), the Greek Old Testament's own word for the…acharitThe AFTER-PART — the latter end, the outcome, what a thing finally comes to; and often, in the prophets…acharit ha-yamimTHE LATTER DAYS — literally 'the AFTER of the days': the far end of things, what lies at the horizon of…achuzzahA HOLDING — a permanent, inheritable land-possession, from achaz, 'to grasp, hold fast' (KJV…achyronCHAFF — the husks and broken straw thrown up with the grain when a winnowing fork (ptyon) tosses a…acrosticA poem whose successive lines or stanzas begin with the successive letters of the HEBREW ALPHABET …adamHumankind / the human; a personal name only later. Puns on adamah, 'ground' — the groundling from the ground.adamahThe ground, soil, arable earth — the stuff the human is formed from, cursed in Eden, and blessed through…adokimosUNAPPROVED — failing the test; used of counterfeit coin and of metal that does not pass assay, from…Adonai'My Lord' — a plural-form title of address (literally 'my lords,' the so-called plural of majesty) used…afThe NOSE — and therefore ANGER, because Hebrew locates rage in the flaring, snorting nostril. 'Burning of…afarDust — the stuff humanity is formed from and returns to (2:7, 3:19); the same humble material later…agapeLOVE — the noun this literature is built on. Greek had several words for love and AGAPE was the least…agapētosBELOVED — the adjective in the voice at the baptism, 'this is my beloved Son' (Matthew 3:17). ⚠ Its…ahalimALOES — or TENTS, and the two are spelled the same. ⭐ Numbers 24:6 is where it matters, because the line…ahavTo love — and its FIRST appearance in the Bible is Genesis 22:2, 'your son, your only one, whom you LOVE.'…ainigmaA RIDDLE — the word English borrowed as 'enigma'. 1 Corinthians 13:12 says we see 'in a riddle', which the…airōTo LIFT, or to TAKE AWAY — and the two senses are not always separable. ⚠ At John 1:29 it is 'the Lamb of…aiteōTo ASK, request — one of John's two verbs for asking, and in this Gospel it never swaps places with the…aiōnAn AGE, an era, the whole temper and duration of a time — the root of 'aeon'; distinct from kosmos, the…akriboōTo ASCERTAIN EXACTLY — to learn a thing to the last detail. A rare verb, in the New Testament only in…akrogōniaiosTHE HIGHEST-CORNER-STONE — a rare architectural compound, and scholars of ancient building genuinely…alah (curse)A CURSE — specifically an oath-curse, a formal imprecation invoked to enforce a covenant or an accusation.…alah (go up)To GO UP — and in the books of the return it is the technical word for making the journey from Babylonia…alalētosUNSPEAKABLE — a privative: alpha-negative plus the root of laleo, to speak. So the groanings of Romans…aletheiaTRUTH — and in John's writing far more than accuracy. The word saturates 2 John: five times in the first…allufA CLAN-CHIEF — the head of a 'thousand' (eleph), the leadership title of Edom, repeated like a drumbeat…almahA young woman of marriageable age — Rebekah is called almah at 24:43 in the servant's retelling, though…alēthinosTRUE — but in the sense of GENUINE rather than truthful; the real thing as against the copy or the shadow.…amalTOIL — not work in general but LABORIOUS, wearing effort, often carrying the flavour of trouble or misery…ammiMY PEOPLE — half of the covenant formula, 'I will take you to me for a people, and I will be your God'…ammud ananPILLAR OF CLOUD — with its night form the pillar of fire, the visible presence that goes ahead of Israel…amnosLamb — 'the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,' gathering the Passover lamb of Exodus 12 and…ampelosA VINE. ⚠ The Synoptics use the word only in one phrase — 'the fruit of the vine', at the last supper…amphiblēstronA CASTING NET — from amphi-ballō, to throw around: the circular hand-net, weighted at its rim, that a…anachōreōTo WITHDRAW — to give ground, to retire, to get out of the way. It is the structural verb of Matthew 2…anagennaōTo BEGET AGAIN, to give NEW BIRTH — ana, 'again', + gennaō, 'to beget, bear'. ⚠ It is the great word of 1…anah / innahTo afflict, oppress, humble — and, in the intensive innah, to FORCE, degrade, violate. Prophesied of…anakephalaioōTo GATHER UP UNDER ONE HEAD — and English has no single equivalent. It is built on kephalaion, the SUM at…analambanōTo TAKE UP, lift up and receive — the verb Acts uses four times in one chapter for the ascension (1:2…anathallōTo BLOOM AGAIN, to put out fresh shoots after a dormant season — a plant word, and a New Testament hapax…anathemaA thing DEVOTED TO DESTRUCTION — set apart and handed over to God to be annihilated; the Greek Old…anatoleRISING / DAWN — and, in the Greek Old Testament, the messianic figure this project renders SPROUT.…anavHUMBLE, lowly — and built on the root behind ani, POOR or AFFLICTED, so the word names a person brought…angareuō'To press into service' — a Persian word from the royal courier-post (Herodotus' angaroi), by Roman times…anokhiI, MYSELF — the long, emphatic form of the pronoun (beside the ordinary ANI). Hebrew normally carries the…anomia'Lawlessness' — literally no-Torah-ness (a-nomos). The verdict-word of Matthew 7:23, 'depart from me, you…anypokritosUNFEIGNED, sincere — literally 'un-play-acted': a-, 'not', + hypokritēs, 'an actor, a stage-player' (the…anōthenFROM ABOVE — and also AGAIN. The word carries both, which is the whole engine of John 3: Jesus says a man…aparneomaiTo DENY, disown, refuse to acknowledge — a strengthened form of arneomai. ⚠ In Matthew the compound…apaugasmaRADIANCE, effulgence — the shining-out of a light, the beam thrown from its source; apo, 'from', + augē…apechōTo HAVE IN FULL — and specifically the word written on RECEIPTS in Greek commercial papyri: 'paid in…apeitheōTo DISOBEY, refuse to be persuaded — and pointedly NOT apisteō, 'to disbelieve,' which Greek has and John…aphal / vaya'piluTO SWELL, be puffed up — hence to push on presumptuously. ⚠ The consonants turn up sixteen times in the…apodidōmiTO GIVE BACK — apo ('back, away from') + didōmi ('to give'): to render, repay, return what is owed or what…apokalypsisAn UNVEILING, an uncovering — apo, 'away', + kalyptō, 'to cover': the drawing-back of a veil from what was…apokaradokiaSTRAINING EXPECTATION — and the word is a picture: apo + kara ('head') + dokeuein ('to watch'), the…apokatallassōTo RECONCILE THOROUGHLY, to bring all the way back into relationship — a double-compound (apo + kata +…apokatastasisRESTORATION — a single noun, occurring nowhere else in the New Testament, that has carried more…apokathistēmiTo RESTORE — to set a thing back as it was. Jesus grants the scribes their doctrine with it: 'Elijah does…apolytrōsisREDEMPTION — release secured by a ransom (lytron), the price paid to free a prisoner of war or to buy a…apostolosOne who is SENT — an envoy carrying another man's authority, from apostellō, 'to send off'. In secular…apseudēsOne who DOES NOT LIE, incapable of falsehood — a-, 'not', + pseudēs, 'lying' (the root of 'pseudo-'). It…apsinthosWORMWOOD — a real, bitter plant (Artemisia absinthium), and already the Hebrew Bible's standing image for…aqadTo bind — the verb of Genesis 22:9, 'he BOUND Isaac his son,' and it occurs ONLY this once in all of…aqevThe HEEL — Jacob is born gripping Esau's aqev, 'and his name was called Ya'aqov' (25:26), 'heel-holder.'…aqod · naqod · taluThe FLOCK-MARKINGS at the heart of Jacob's wage-deal, kept distinct: aqod 'streaked / banded,' naqod…aral sefatayim'UNCIRCUMCISED OF LIPS' — Moses' objection in Exodus 6:12, 30: his mouth is unfit, unconsecrated, as if…araphelTHICK DARKNESS — heavy cloud, gloom; not ordinary night (that is laylah) but darkness with weight in it. ⚠…ararTO CURSE — the ordinary Hebrew verb, and the one Balak actually uses. ⭐ Numbers 22:6 is where it matters…aravTo STAND SURETY, go guarantor — a commercial word: to pledge yourself against another's debt, so that if…arbehLOCUST — from a root meaning to be many, so the name is the swarm. The eighth plague (Exodus 10:4-19), and…archēgosFOUNDER, ORIGINATOR, PIONEER — one who goes first and opens a way that others then follow, sometimes a…aretēEXCELLENCE, virtue — THE great word of Greek moral philosophy, the summit of the pagan ideal: the quality…ariri'Childless / stripped' — the sentence on Coniah, 'write this man ariri' (22:30). Not that he had no…armonA CITADEL — the fortified keep or stronghold-palace inside a walled city, the residence of whoever rules…arnionLITTLE LAMB — a diminutive of arēn, lamb, and the word Revelation uses for Christ twenty-nine times, never…aronA CHEST, box, or coffer — and the last noun in the book of Genesis. 'They embalmed him, and he was put…arovSWARM — the name of the fourth plague, and the Hebrew never says a swarm of WHAT. The root suggests…arrabōnA DOWN PAYMENT — a commercial term Greek borrowed from Semitic traders (Hebrew eravon, the very pledge…arsenokoitēsA rare and much-debated compound — arsēn, 'male', + koitē, 'bed, a lying-down' — whose two halves stand…arum / arummim'Crafty' and 'naked' — nearly identical Hebrew words; the pun straddles the Genesis 2/3 chapter break.asafsufTHE RABBLE — a reduplicated form built on asaf, 'to gather,' so roughly 'the collected-collection.' A…aselgeiaLICENTIOUSNESS, unrestrained indecency — sensuality with no shame or brake, flaunted rather than hidden.…ashamGUILT, and by extension the GUILT-OFFERING that answers it — the reparation sacrifice given its own law…ashemGUILTY — culpable, liable, bearing the fault; the root behind asham, the guilt-offering of Leviticus. Not…ashreiHAPPY — the very first word of the Psalter (Psalm 1:1) and one of its favorites. It is a…atarTo ENTREAT, plead — and the same verb, turned around, for GRANTING the plea: 'Isaac ENTREATED (va-ye'tar)…atsarTo restrain, hold back, shut up. Sarai's own word for her childlessness — 'Jehovah has kept me from…attunA FURNACE, kiln. Biblical Aramaic; occurs 10 times, all in Daniel 3, in the fixed phrase attun nura…atzarahA SOLEMN ASSEMBLY — a formal convocation of the whole community, from atsar, 'to restrain, hold back' (so…autarkēsSELF-SUFFICIENT — and the central technical term of STOICISM: the condition of needing nothing outside…automatēAUTOMATICALLY, OF ITSELF — the word behind the English 'automatic', and one of only two uses in the whole…avivThe EAR of grain at the green, ripening stage — barley nearly ready but not yet hard. Exodus 9:31 uses it…avodahService, labor — and, in the same breath, SLAVERY (from eved, 'servant/slave,' the root the exodus turns…avonGUILT, iniquity — from a root meaning to bend or twist; the heaviest of the Hebrew words for wrongdoing…axiosWORTHY — properly weighing as much as, balancing the scale; a commercial and legal word for value before…AzazelThe recipient of the second goat's lot (16:8, 10, 26) — kept transliterated here, matching NIV, NASB, and…azkarahMEMORIAL PORTION — the small handful of flour, oil, and frankincense the priest burns from a grain…ba'al be'amavA genuinely uncertain phrase (21:4). Ba'al ordinarily means either 'lord, master, chief' or, in a marital…Ba'al Zevuv'LORD OF FLIES' — the god of Ekron whom Ahaziah consults (2 Kings 1:2, 3, 6, 16), and almost certainly a…badadALONE, apart, by itself — and the Bible refuses to say whether that is safety or abandonment. ⭐ The exact…balaTo SWALLOW UP — a verb of complete, physical consumption: the ground that swallows Korah's company alive…bamahHIGH PLACE — a raised open-air sanctuary, the ordinary form of worship in Canaan and in Israel before the…baptizōTo DIP, immerse, plunge — an ordinary Greek word used of sinking ships and of dyeing cloth, which every…baqbuqA FLASK, narrow-necked jug — and the Hebrew word is almost certainly onomatopoeic, imitating the buq-buq…bara'Create' — a verb reserved for God alone in the Bible; marks the thresholds: cosmos (1:1), animal life…baradHAIL — the seventh plague, and in the Bible a weapon rather than weather. Exodus 9 describes it with fire…barbarosBARBARIAN — and the word is onomatopoeia. To a Greek ear a foreign language sounded like 'bar-bar-bar', so…basanizōTo TORMENT — originally to test metal on a touchstone (basanos), then to examine under torture, then…basileiaKINGDOM, reign, royal rule — from BASILEUS, king. HE BASILEIA TOU THEOU, 'the kingdom of God,' is the…battalogeō'To babble on' (Matthew 6:7) — a word found almost nowhere before this verse, quite possibly built to…bavat ayinTHE PUPIL OF THE EYE — literally uncertain. Bavat occurs in the Hebrew Bible exactly once, and its own…bazahTo DESPISE — to treat a thing as of no account, the exact opposite of kaved ('honor,' literally to treat…baʿalOWNER, master, lord — and also the perfectly ordinary Hebrew word for a HUSBAND, the way 'lord' once…bdelygma tēs erēmōseōsTHE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION — bdelygma is something that makes you retch (from bdelyssomai, to feel…behemahA BEAST — large land animals collectively, and especially domestic livestock, as against wild animals…bekhorFIRSTBORN — the eldest son, who by right held the birthright, a double inheritance, and the family…bekhorahThe BIRTHRIGHT — the firstborn's (bekhor) privilege: a double share of the inheritance (Deuteronomy…beliyaalWORTHLESSNESS, good-for-nothingness — possibly beli-ya'al, 'without profit / no use.' It brands a person…berakhahThe BLESSING — from barak, 'to bless' (and 'to kneel'), the thing the whole chapter is fought over. In…berikhBLESSED — Biblical Aramaic, the passive participle behind the Hebrew barukh that opens a thousand years of…betsaDishonest gain, unjust profit — from a root meaning 'to cut off (a piece for oneself).' Jehoiakim's 'eyes…biazetai / biastaiTO FORCE, or TO BE FORCED — one of the New Testament's most argued single verses. Matthew 11:12's biazetai…biblaridionA LITTLE SCROLL — a genuine diminutive of biblion, 'scroll, book', and the word for the object John is…binahUNDERSTANDING — from bin, 'to separate, to discern BETWEEN': the faculty that tells one thing from…birahA CITADEL, fortified complex — not a palace in the sense of a residence but the walled acropolis that…BoanērgesSONS OF THUNDER — the name given to James and John at Mark 3:17. ⚠ Mark transliterates something Semitic…bohaqA true HAPAX LEGOMENON — bohaq occurs exactly once in the entire Hebrew Bible, at 13:39, and nowhere else…borA PIT or cistern — a bottle-shaped cut in the rock for collecting rainwater, smooth-sided and impossible…brephosAn INFANT, and also an unborn child — the word covers both sides of birth. ⚠ Luke uses it five times and…britCovenant. First promised at 6:18, first enacted (with all flesh, unconditionally) in Genesis 9 — the word…chaburahA WELT — the raised bruise a blow leaves, from chavar, to bind or join. 'With his stripes we are healed'…chadalTo CEASE, leave off, come to an end. Isaiah 53:3's chadal ishim is strange and strong — not 'rejected of…chafetzTo DELIGHT IN, take pleasure in, desire. It carries the hardest sentence in the Hebrew Bible: 'Jehovah was…chagavA GRASSHOPPER, or locust — the insect the ten scouts compare themselves to: 'in our own eyes we were like…chalalahA PROFANED WOMAN — from chalal, 'to profane, pierce, defile,' the same root behind chillel, 'to profane'…chalilah'Far be it from you!' — literally something close to 'profane be it to you': Abraham's gasp, twice in one…challahA LOAF — the round baked loaf a portion of which is lifted out and given away before the rest is eaten…chalutzARMED, equipped for war — from a root meaning to draw out or off (the same root that gives the…chamadTo DESIRE, covet — desire that reaches toward a thing. It is what the tree was at Genesis 3:6 ('desirable…chamasViolence, lawless wrong — the earth's indictment before the flood, named twice.chamushimIn BATTLE ORDER — 'the sons of Israel went up CHAMUSHIM out of the land of Egypt' (Exodus 13:18), and the…chananTo BE GRACIOUS, show favour freely — the root behind chen ('favour') and behind the names Hannah, Hanan…ChananaiaCANAANITE (feminine) — the Old Testament's own ethnonym for the land's pre-Israelite inhabitants, a…chanukkah / chanakDEDICATION — from chanak, 'to train up, dedicate, initiate into use.' Its most familiar English appearance…chaqarTo SEARCH OUT — to prospect, to reconnoitre a country, to examine a legal case; the noun cheqer is the…charaJOY — and it shares a root with charis, GRACE (and with charisma, a free gift), so that in Greek joy and…charaktērThe EXACT IMPRINT — from charassō, 'to engrave, to cut': first the engraving-tool, then the DIE that…charevIn RUINS, a waste, desolate — from the root ch-r-b (חרב), which carries both 'lie in ruins' and 'be dry.'…charisGrace, favor, gift — paired with 'truth' (alētheia) it renders the Hebrew chesed ve-emet, 'steadfast love…charismaA GIFT freely given — from charis, grace, with the -ma ending that makes a Greek noun mean the RESULT of…chartummimThe Egyptian LECTOR-PRIESTS — not 'magicians' in the conjuring sense but the literate temple specialists…chashaqTo be ATTACHED to, to cling, to be bound by desire. Used of Shechem's longing for Dinah and, startlingly…chashavTo DEVISE, plan, reckon, intend — the verb of deliberate purpose (it is also the word for accounting: to…chashmalA word whose meaning is genuinely LOST. It occurs three times in the Bible, all in Ezekiel (1:4, 1:27…chasidahSTORK — built directly on chesed, covenant loyalty and lovingkindness: the bird's own name means 'the…chatan damim'BRIDEGROOM (or son-in-law) OF BLOOD' — the cryptic phrase Zipporah speaks at the terrifying night-lodging…chatarTO DIG — and, of oarsmen, TO ROW HARD, to 'dig' at the water with the oars. The verb's plain sense is…chatatTO BE SHATTERED, dismayed, broken with terror. In Jeremiah's charge it is a warning built on a pun: 'do…chatta'tSIN — and literally a MISSING: the root is the ordinary verb for an arrow falling short of its mark…chatzerCOURT, courtyard, enclosure — a hundred cubits by fifty, its entire perimeter a single course of 'fine…chatzotzrahA TRUMPET — and specifically NOT the shofar, the curved ram's horn most readers picture. A chatzotzrah is…chayilSTRENGTH, worth, capability — and depending on context: an army, wealth, valor, or plain competence. An…chazaqTO BE STRONG, to STRENGTHEN — and, of a heart, to HARDEN, make firm and unyielding. It opens the Exodus's…chelekA PORTION, a share — the piece that falls to you when something is divided up, from a root meaning to…chelevFAT — specifically the hard SUET packed around the internal organs (kidneys, liver, entrails), not the…chemlahCompassion, pity — 'in the compassion of Jehovah on him' (19:16): the only reason Lot's lingering doesn't…chenFavor, grace. First appearance: 'Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah' — and chen reverses the letters…cheremThe BAN — a thing DEVOTED to God by being placed utterly beyond human use, which in war meant destroyed…cheresCLAY, earthenware — and, in the plural, POTSHERDS: the broken pieces a firing, and a lifetime of use…cherpahREPROACH, disgrace — public shame, the state of being an object of scorn; from charaf, to taunt or revile.…chesedSteadfast love, covenant kindness — one of the Bible's great untranslatables, first here on Lot's lips…chesronA DEFICIT, what is lacking — from chaser, 'to be short of.' It occurs ONLY ONCE in the entire Hebrew…chevel middahA CORD OF MEASURE — literally 'a rope, a measurement': the surveyor's tool for measuring an AREA (a city's…chidahA RIDDLE — something deliberately stated in a form that has to be worked out, not something merely…chinnamFOR NOTHING — gratis, without payment, for no return; from chen, 'favor,' so: as a free gift. It carries…chlōrosGREEN, PALE, SICKLY-YELLOW — the same word used of green grass elsewhere in the New Testament (Mark 6:39)…chodeshNEW MOON, and by extension MONTH — the same word does both jobs, because the Hebrew calendar is lunar and…choinixA QUART, A DRY MEASURE — roughly one adult's daily bread ration, not a modern volume unit. ⚠ The third…chokhmahWISDOM — the master-word, and the head of a family Proverbs keeps carefully distinct (see da'at, binah…cholēGALL, bile — and by extension anything bitter or poisonous. ⚠ At Matthew 27:34 he is offered wine mixed…chomahA WALL — specifically the defensive wall of a city (Jericho's CHOMAH falls flat, Joshua 6:20; Nehemiah…chomerCLAY — wet, workable potter's clay, and by extension mud or mortar (it is the stuff of the Egyptian…chomeshA FIFTH — twenty percent. It appears twice in the Joseph story and the second time is the first one made…choshechDARKNESS — the word that is present in the Bible's second sentence, 'and DARKNESS was over the face of the…choshenBREASTPLATE — the high priest's own name for JUDGMENT: 'breastplate of mishpat' (28:15), the identical…choshev / rokemTwo Hebrew craft-terms for two different textile techniques, per the Talmud (Yoma 72b) and later…chotamA SIGNET — the engraved seal-ring pressed into wax or clay to stamp a document with a king's authority…Christos'Anointed' — the Greek for the Hebrew/Aramaic Messiah (mashiach); a title, not a surname. John glosses the…chronosTime as DURATION — the stretch a calendar or a clock measures; the root of 'chronology' and 'chronic'.…chrēstosKIND, easy, useful — of a yoke that fits well rather than one that galls; a craftsman's word for…chuqqah / choqA STATUTE — and specifically the kind of law given without a reason attached. The root is chaqaq, to CUT…da'atKNOWLEDGE — from yada, 'to know': not only facts held in the head but knowing by acquaintance (the same…dag gadolA GREAT FISH — the two plain Hebrew words of Jonah 2:1 (English 1:17). ⚠ It is NOT a whale: dag is the…damimBLOOD in the PLURAL — and in Hebrew the plural of blood specifically means blood that has been SHED, and…darashTo SEEK, inquire of, consult — the ordinary verb for going to a god, a prophet, or an oracle with a…dashenTo make FAT, rich, greasy — and so to anoint generously with oil. The point of cataloguing it is what it…datLAW, decree, edict — a PERSIAN loanword (data), and the key word of Esther, where it occurs about twenty…davaqTO CLING, cleave, stick fast — the verb of Genesis 2:24, where a man 'clings' to his wife and the two…degelA STANDARD — the banner each of the four camp-divisions marches and camps under (2:2-34), one per compass…deiliaCOWARDICE, timidity — the shrinking, fearful spirit that draws back from danger; from deilos, 'cowardly'.…deiliaōTo BE COWARDLY, be timid — stronger than simple fear. ⚠ The verb occurs ONCE in the New Testament, at John…deilosCOWARDLY, timid. ⚠ The family occurs five times in the New Testament and the distribution is the point…demutLIKENESS, resemblance — one of the two words (with mar'eh, 'appearance') that carry Ezekiel 1, where…dendronA TREE — the ordinary living one, roots and branches. ⚠ Worth knowing mainly for contrast: Revelation…derekhA WAY, road, path — and, by extension, the manner and course of a whole life. It is the master-image of…derorLIBERTY, release — 'you shall proclaim DEROR throughout the land to all its inhabitants' (25:10), the…desmiosA PRISONER, one in bonds — from desmos, 'a chain, a fetter'. ⚠ It is the self-title Paul chooses in…despotesMASTER, sovereign owner — the master of a household SLAVE (our 'despot'), a stronger, more possessive word…devarimWORDS — and the Hebrew name of the fifth book of the Torah, taken as always from its own opening line…deverPestilence — the third leg of Jeremiah's drumbeat triad, SWORD–FAMINE–PESTILENCE, which tolls through the…diabolosTHE SLANDERER — from dia-ballō, to throw across, hence to accuse falsely; the Greek Old Testament's word…diakonos / doulosA TABLE-WAITER, and then any servant, agent or go-between — the root of 'deacon' and of the whole…diaphthoraDECAY, corruption — the rotting of a body, from diaphtheirō, to destroy utterly. ⚠ It carries an argument…diathēkēA COVENANT — and the word that named both halves of this Bible, by a route worth knowing. In ordinary…dibbahA BAD REPORT, whispering, defamation — not neutral news but the word for a campaign of talk. Joseph brings…didrachmon / statērTHE TWO-DRACHMA and THE FOUR-DRACHMA. The didrachmon was the annual half-shekel every Israelite male owed…dikaiosynēRIGHTEOUSNESS / justice — one word in Greek for what English splits into two, and the key term of Romans.…dipsychosDOUBLE-SOULED, of two minds — di-, 'twice', + psychē, 'soul': a person with two inner centres, half-turned…dir'on'Abhorrence' — the dark pole of Daniel 12:2's double waking ('these to everlasting life, and these to...…distazōTO DOUBT, to waver between two — from dis, 'twice' or 'two ways', so the verb itself pictures a mind split…dod / dodimBELOVED — and in the plural, LOVEMAKING. The singular dod is what the woman calls the man all through the…douleBONDSLAVE (female) — the strongest word for a slave, not merely a servant. Mary answers Gabriel, 'Behold…doulosSLAVE — the ordinary Greek word for chattel property, a person owned by another; not a hired servant (that…doxaGLORY — weight, splendour, the visible worth of a thing; the root of 'doxology'. In classical Greek it…dudaimMANDRAKES — a low plant of the nightshade family whose forked, vaguely human root and sweet, heady fruit…dynamisPOWER — capacity, the ability to do a thing; the root of 'dynamic' and 'dynamo'. ⚠ Also of 'dynamite', but…dēmiourgosA MAKER, craftsman — literally one who works (ergon) for the people (demos). A New Testament hapax at…dōreanFOR NOTHING, gratis — the accusative of dōrea, a gift, used as an adverb. ⚠ It occurs fourteen times in…edaThe congregation, community, assembly — the whole gathered people of Israel (Numbers 1:2), from the root…edahTHE CONGREGATION — the community of Israel as a body, from a root meaning to appoint or meet by…ednahDelight — Sarah's word for what age has ended (18:12), almost certainly from the same root as Eden, the…edutTHE TESTIMONY — the tablets, and by extension the ark that holds them and the tent that houses it. From…eferASHES — what is left when something has been burned completely, and the standard material of mourning: Job…egel massekhahA MOLTEN or CAST image — from a root meaning to pour out metal, and the two-word phrase egel massekhah…egō eimiI AM — two ordinary words that can mean simply 'I'm he,' and that are also the Septuagint's phrase for…ehyeh'I WILL BE / I AM' — God's answer at the bush, 'ehyeh asher ehyeh' (3:14), from hayah, 'to be,' in the…eidōlonAn IDOL — but the Greek word first means a PHANTOM, an appearance, a shape with no substance: Homer uses…eikhahHOW…! — the opening cry of a funeral dirge, and the standard first word of Hebrew lament. ⚠ It is the…eikōnAN IMAGE — a likeness or portrait, the root of English 'icon', and not a copy at a distance but the…eiphahAn EPHAH — an ordinary dry-goods measuring basket, roughly a bushel, a tenth of a homer. Amos condemns…eirēnēPEACE — and, in Matthew 10, something almost sent by hand: a disciple's spoken peace 'comes upon' a worthy…ekdikēsisVENGEANCE — but in the precise sense of JUSTICE CARRIED OUT, not private revenge; from ekdikeō (ek, 'out'…ekklēsiaAssembly, the called-out gathering — in secular Greek a city's voting assembly (Acts 19 uses this very…eklogēA CHOOSING, a picking-out — from eklegō, to select (the root of 'eclectic'). ⚠ It is worth seeing the word…ekporeuomaiTo GO OUT, come forth — an ordinary verb of motion. ⚠ It carries more theological weight than any other…El Elyon'God Most High' — the title under which Melchizedek, a Canaanite priest-king, blesses Abram (14:18); Abram…El Olam'The Everlasting God' — the fourth El-name collected at a landmark: El Elyon at Salem (14:18), El Roi at…El Ro'i'God of seeing' — the name Hagar confers at 16:13: 'the God who sees me,' or 'the God whom I have seen'…El ShaddaiThe name God announces at 17:1. 'Almighty' is the Greek-and-Latin guess (LXX pantokrator, Vulgate…El-Bethel'God of Bethel' — the name Jacob gives the ALTAR he raises on his return (35:7): not the place but its…El-Elohe-Israel'El, the God of Israel' — the name Jacob gives the altar he builds at Shechem (33:20), the fifth of the…elachistosLEAST, smallest — the superlative of mikros. ⚠ Everything about Matthew 25:40 turns on it: 'in so far as…elah illayaGOD MOST HIGH — Biblical Aramaic, the title used of the God of Israel by pagan kings and courtiers…elefA THOUSAND — and also a CLAN or a military unit, and the ambiguity is load-bearing. Gideon protests that…elenchosPROOF, the evidence that settles a matter — and in philosophy the cross-examination that exposes what is…eleosMERCY, compassion — the pity that acts, not merely feels; the Greek Old Testament's regular word for the…Elohim'God' — plural in form, singular in verb: standard Biblical Hebrew for the one God. ⚠ The sharpest…elpisHOPE — and in Greek generally a neutral word meaning EXPECTATION, which could just as well be dread…emetTruth, faithfulness, reliability — from aman, 'to be firm, trustworthy' (the root of amen). Its home is…EmmanouēlEMMANUEL — Hebrew 'immanu 'el, 'with us (is) God', quoted by Matthew from Isaiah 7:14. ⚠ Matthew does…emphanizōTo MAKE VISIBLE, show plainly — built on phainō, to shine or appear. It is what Jesus promises at John…endeigmaA PLAIN TOKEN, a piece of EVIDENCE — from endeiknymi, to point at, to show forth; the -ma ending makes it…entoleA COMMANDMENT — a specific charge or instruction, not a body of law (that would be NOMOS). John uses it…entugchanōTo APPEAL TO, plead with, petition — originally just to meet or fall in with someone, and so to approach…epieikesThe quality of NOT INSISTING on the last inch of what you are owed — yieldingness, forbearance, equity.…epignōsisFULL knowledge, recognition — epi, 'upon, in addition', intensifying gnōsis, 'knowledge': not information…epiousiosThe hardest word in the Lord's Prayer — and found NOWHERE else in Greek literature (Origen said the…epiphaneiaAn APPEARING, a manifestation — epi, 'upon', + phainō, 'to shine, appear': a shining-forth. In wider Greek…episkoposAn OVERSEER — a plain compound, epi ('over') + skopos ('watcher'), used in ordinary Greek of a supervisor…episkopēAn OVERSEER'S POST — the office of one who watches over; from episkopos, 'overseer', which travelled…eraunaōTO SEARCH, examine closely — a contract verb whose 2nd-person-plural present form is identical for the…erekhA FIXED VALUATION — not a market price but a flat tariff, scaled only by age and sex, that a person's…erets ha-tsvi'The land of BEAUTY' — Daniel's title for the promised land (11:16, 41; 'the beautiful holy mountain,'…erev ravA MIXED MULTITUDE — a mingled crowd; erev is a mixture, and the phrase names the non-Israelites who walked…ervahNAKEDNESS — shameful exposure, ordinarily of a body. This chapter is the word's literal home: 'uncover the…erōtaōTo ASK — the other of John's two asking-verbs, used both for asking a question and for making a request. ⚠…esek'CONTENTION' — the name Isaac gives the first re-dug well, whose water the herdsmen of Gerar claim: 'he…eshelThe tamarisk — a desert tree that lives for centuries; planting one at a well (Genesis 21:33) is filing a…eskenosen'Tented, tabernacled' (from skēnē, 'tent') — the Word 'pitched his tent among us,' echoing the tabernacle…esoptronA MIRROR — and in the first century a disc of polished BRONZE, never glass. Corinth was a centre of their…ethnosA NATION, a people — and in the plural, in Jewish Greek, THE NATIONS: everybody who is not Israel, the…etnanA HARLOT'S WAGE — the specific fee paid to a prostitute, a word the law singles out: 'you shall not bring…etzba Elohim'THE FINGER OF GOD' — the confession wrung out of Pharaoh's own magicians when they cannot duplicate the…euangelionGOOD NEWS — the word that gives us 'gospel' (Old English GOD-SPELL, 'good story'). In the wider Greek…euchrēstosUSEFUL, serviceable — eu, 'well', + chrēstos, 'usable, good'; the opposite of achrēstos, 'useless'. ⚠ The…eudokiaGOOD PLEASURE, favour, what someone has decided to be pleased with. ⚠ One final sigma at Luke 2:14 decides…eunouchosA EUNUCH — literally 'bed-keeper' (eunē, bed + echō, to hold), from the role of guarding a royal harem; in…eusebeiaGODLINESS, piety — reverence rightly directed, from eu, 'well', + sebomai, 'to worship, revere'. In wider…euthysIMMEDIATELY, at once — Mark's signature word and the engine of his Gospel. It appears about forty times in…evrahThe PINION — the long, strong flight-feather of a wing, not soft down. Psalm 91:4, 'with his evrah he will…exaleiphōTo WIPE OUT, erase — an accounting word before it is a tender one. ⚠ Five occurrences in the New…exousia'Authority' — what astounded the crowds (Matthew 7:29): the scribes taught by citation, rulings in the…ezer kenegdo'A helper corresponding to him' — ezer usually describes GOD helping Israel (strength, not servitude)…ezovHYSSOP — a small bushy plant (probably Syrian marjoram rather than true hyssop), used as a BRUSH wherever…ezrachA NATIVE, home-born — the legal counterpart of the ger, and almost always paired with it. The root is the…ga'alTo defile — 'Daniel set on his heart that he would not DEFILE himself with the king's food' (Daniel 1:8).…gadol / gedolahGREAT, big — an ordinary adjective that becomes the structural drumbeat of Jonah. ⚠ It tolls through all…ganavTo STEAL — the verb that rings through Jacob's flight like an alarm. Rachel ganav-steals her father's…gazam / yeleq / chasilTHE OTHER THREE LOCUST WORDS of Joel 1:4, alongside the common arbeh. ⚠ Nobody knows what distinguishes…geennaGEHENNA — not a Greek word at all but a Hebrew place-name in Greek clothes: ge-hinnom, the Valley of…GehennaThe Greek shape of gei-hinnom, the Valley of Hinnom below Jerusalem — the child-sacrifice valley of the…gemulA DEALING that comes back — a recompense, what one has done returning onto one's own head. From gamal, 'to…genesisORIGIN, birth, coming-into-being — from ginomai, 'to become, to come to be'; the noun that titles the…ger / toshavTwo distinct legal statuses the shelf often merges (KJV 'a stranger and a sojourner,' Genesis 23:4; NWT…geōrgosOne who WORKS LAND — farmer, tenant, vinedresser. ⚠ It appears nineteen times in the New Testament, and in…gibborMighty man, warrior. Used of the Nephilim's era (6:4) and of Nimrod, the first post-flood empire-builder.gid ha-nasheh'The SINEW of the nasheh' — the thigh-tendon (traditionally the sciatic nerve) that the wrestling angel…gleukosSWEET NEW WINE — the barely-fermented juice of a fresh pressing, still sugary; the root behind English…glōssaA TONGUE — the organ, the shape a flame makes, and a LANGUAGE. All three senses are live in Acts 2 and the…gnōsisKNOWLEDGE — from ginōskō, to know; the root of 'diagnosis' and of 'Gnostic'. Paul thanks God the…go'elREDEEMER — one who BUYS BACK. GA'AL is not a religious abstraction but a family obligation in Israelite…golahTHE EXILE — as a collective noun for the deported community itself, not the condition or the place.…golemAn UNFORMED MASS — matter that has not yet been given a shape. ⚠ It occurs ONCE in the Hebrew Bible, at…gophritSulfur — the old Bibles' 'brimstone' — rained with fire on the cities (19:24); afterwards the fixed image…goralA LOT — a marked stone or token drawn or cast to decide a question thought to be in God's hands (the 'let…grammateusA SCRIBE — a professional, trained copyist and interpreter of the Torah, expert enough to render legal and…gulgoletA skull, a head — the census counts 'by their gulgolot,' head by head, each person reckoned singly…gullahA BOWL — specifically the reservoir bowl set atop Zechariah's vision-lampstand, feeding oil down through…gur / gerTo sojourn — the resident-stranger's verb, and his noun. Israel will be gerim in Egypt (15:13), Abraham…gvulA BORDER — and, by extension, the territory inside one. ⭐ Numbers 34 is this word’s own chapter: searched…hadasThe MYRTLE — a low, fragrant, evergreen shrub. Its branches are among the 'boughs of leafy trees' waved at…hadēsHades — the Greek Bible's rendering of the Hebrew Sheol, the grave-realm of the dead; NOT the fiery hell…hagahTo MURMUR, mutter, growl — a concrete sound-word, not the abstraction 'meditate' most versions reach for.…hagiosHOLY, set apart — and in the plural, hagioi, 'the holy ones', which is what Paul calls every member of an…hamartēmaA SIN — specifically a sinful ACT, the deed rather than the condition; hamartia is the wider word. ⚠ It…hamonA multitude, a roaring crowd — the word folded into Abraham's new name: av hamon goyim, 'father of a…hapaxONCE, once for all — a single decisive time, not to be repeated. It is the hinge of Jude's appeal: contend…haphakhTo overturn, overthrow — THE Sodom verb (19:21, 25, 29). In verse 29 the event becomes a noun, 'the…haplous'Single, simple, undivided' — the healthy eye of Matthew 6:22 (KJV 'single'; NWT 'simple'; NIV 'healthy')…haragTo KILL — the ordinary, general Hebrew verb, used of slaying in battle, of Cain killing Abel (Genesis…haskelINSIGHT — prudent skill that SUCCEEDS: from sakal, 'to be prudent, to act wisely and prosper.' 'The…he'emin / amanTo trust, to lean one's weight on — the root behind 'amen.' 'Abram believed Jehovah, and he counted it to…hepta pneumata tou theouTHE SEVEN SPIRITS OF GOD — a phrase unique to Revelation, occurring four times (1:4, 3:1, 4:5, 5:6) and…hetairosCOMRADE, fellow — and in this Gospel never once a warm word. It is not philos, 'friend' in the…heterodidaskaleōTo TEACH A DIFFERENT DOCTRINE — heteros, 'other, different', + didaskō, 'to teach'; a compound almost…hetilTO HURL, fling — a forceful verb, stronger than 'send.' ⚠ It is used three times in Jonah 1 and ties the…hevelVAPOR — a breath, a puff of mist, the cloud you can see on a cold morning and cannot hold. It is a…hieronTHE TEMPLE as a whole complex — courts, porticoes, the Court of the Gentiles, everything inside the walls.…hiflah / palahTo SEPARATE, set apart, make a distinction — and it belongs to the same family as PELE, 'a wonder,' so the…hineh'Look! / Behold' — the attention word; this translation renders it 'look' throughout.hineni'Here I am' — the word of total availability, sounded three times in the Aqedah: to God (22:1), to Isaac…hithalekhTo walk about, back and forth — the walking-WITH-God verb: God in the garden (3:8), Enoch (5:22,24), Noah…hivdilTO SEPARATE, divide, distinguish — root badal, one of the structural verbs of creation itself: God makes…ho astēr ho prōinosThe morning star (Rev 2:28) — Venus at dawn, the promise the book decodes only on its last page: 'I am the…ho huios tou anthrōpouTHE SON OF MAN — Jesus' own name for himself, used about thirty times in Matthew and almost never by…ho nikōn'The one who overcomes' — the victor. Each of the seven letters ends with a promise to ho nikōn (Rev 2:7…ho ōn'The One Who Is' — the Greek Bible's rendering of the divine name's explanation at the burning bush…hodMAJESTY, splendour — the visible weight of an office or a person, closer to bearing than to beauty. ⭐…hodosA ROAD, a way — an ordinary word for a physical road, and then for a manner of life. John 14:6 puts the…homologeōTo CONFESS, acknowledge, agree — literally to 'say the same thing' (homos, 'same', + logos, 'word'): to…homothymadonOf one mind, with one impulse — homou ('together') + thymos ('passion, impulse'), so not merely agreement…hoqaA RARE VERB for what is done to executed bodies — hang, impale, expose, dismember have all been defended…horamaA SIGHT, a thing seen — from horaō, to see. Jesus calls the transfiguration a horama (Matthew 17:9), and…horizōTo MARK OUT a boundary, appoint, determine — the root of English 'horizon', the line that bounds what you…hoyA cry that does double duty in this chapter — and the Hebrew makes both edges sound alike. It is the…huiothesiaADOPTION — literally son-placing, and a LEGAL term rather than a sentimental one. Roman adoption gave an…hydōr zōnLIVING WATER — and in ordinary Greek that simply means RUNNING water, a spring or stream as against the…hygiainōTo be in good HEALTH, to be sound — the ordinary medical word for wellness (it gives English 'hygiene')…hyperauxanōTo GROW BEYOND MEASURE — auxanō, 'to grow', with the intensifying prefix hyper, 'over, above'; a rare…hypokritēsIn ordinary Greek, a STAGE ACTOR — one who speaks from behind a mask, from hypo-krinomai, to answer or…hypomonēENDURANCE — literally a REMAINING UNDER (hypo, 'under' + menō, 'to stay'): staying in place with the…hypostasisThat which STANDS UNDER — hypo, 'under', + stasis, 'a standing': the underlying reality, substance or…hypotypōsisAn OUTLINE, a pattern, a model sketch — from hypotypoō, 'to sketch under, to draft': the first rough form…hypsoōTo LIFT UP — and to EXALT. In John the two senses are never separable: he uses it of Jesus at 3:14, 8:28…hēlikiaAGE, or STATURE — the word will not choose. ⚠ Luke uses it of HEIGHT at 19:3 (Zacchaeus was 'small in…HērōdianoiTHE HERODIANS — supporters or clients of the Herodian dynasty; the ending is Latin (-ianus), the formation…hōraThe hour — 'my hour has not yet come' (2:4): John's clock-word for the cross-and-glory, ticking through…hōsannaSAVE, PLEASE — and it is a cry for help, not a word of praise, though it has become one. The Greek…ide'Behold, look' — the natural Greek heir of the Hebrew hineh this translation renders 'Look —.' The Baptist…inuy nefeshAFFLICT YOUR SOULS — the command (16:29, 31) behind the fast still kept on Yom Kippur, and an idiom…inyanA TASK, occupation, business — found only in Ecclesiastes, eight times. The verb beneath it, anah, can…iota / keraia'Not one iota, not one little hook' (Matthew 5:18) — a GREEK sentence pointing at HEBREW letters: iōta…IoudaismosJUDAISM — and Galatians 1:13-14 is one of the word's EARLIEST appearances anywhere. It was coined in the…ish ha-ElohimMAN OF GOD — the standing title for a prophet in the Elijah and Elisha narratives, used some seventy times…ish ittiA genuinely uncertain phrase (16:21) for the man who leads the live goat into the wilderness. Itti shares…isosEQUAL — the ordinary Greek word for equal shares, equal wages, equal weight, with no theological charge…isotimosOf EQUAL STANDING, of the same value — isos, 'equal', + timē, 'honour, worth, price': holding rank…issarA BOND — from asar, to bind; a self-imposed restriction taken on by oath, distinct from an ordinary vow (a…itsavonPainful toil — the woman's pain and the man's toil in Eden's sentences; the same root reaches God's own…ivri'Hebrew' — its first appearance in the Bible, on Abram (14:13). Most naturally 'a descendant of Eber'…IēsousJESUS — the Greek form of the Hebrew Yeshua (Yehoshua, 'Joshua'), which means 'YHWH is salvation' or 'YHWH…Jehovah-Yireh'Jehovah sees / provides' — the name Abraham gives Moriah after the ram (22:14), sealing the chapter's…k'naʿaniA CANAANITE — and, by ordinary usage, a MERCHANT. The Canaanites (Phoenicians) were the traders of the…kadoshHOLY — and, before it means morally pure, it means SET APART, marked off from ordinary use. The word's…kainosNEW in KIND — of a sort that was not there before, fresh as against worn out; distinct from neos, which is…kairosTime as the DECISIVE MOMENT — the right time, the opening, the hour when a thing can be done; the twin and…kalaRESTRAINED, withheld, shut up — 'the people were kala from bringing' (36:6), and elsewhere this verb…kalahTO FINISH, complete — a different root from kala (כָלָא, 'restrain,' already documented at Exodus 36:6…kalilENTIRE, whole, complete — from a root meaning to finish or perfect something. This chapter uses it for the…kalosGOOD — but a specific flavor of good: sound, fine, admirable, working as it should, closer to English…kapporetThe gold COVER of the ark (25:17-22), from kaphar, 'to cover, wipe away,' with a secondary sense 'to…kardiognōstēsKNOWER OF HEARTS — kardia ('heart') + ginōskō ('to know'). A compound so rare that its only two…karetCUT OFF from his people — a penalty of divine, not human, execution: the wrongdoer is simply excised, by…karphos / dokosThe splinter and the BEAM (Matthew 7:3-5) — karphos is a chip, a fleck of straw (KJV's famous 'mote')…karposFRUIT — literal produce, and then the result of anything. It appears eight times in John 15, three of them…kashaph / mekhashefahTO PRACTICE SORCERY — and its feminine participle, 'a sorceress.' The law's one word for it here is…katabolēA THROWING-DOWN, and so a FOUNDING — usually in the phrase 'the foundation of the world' (Matthew 25:34…katalymaA GUEST ROOM, a lodging-place. ⚠ It occurs three times in the New Testament, and twice it is the UPPER…katapetasmaTHE CURTAIN of the sanctuary — from katapetannymi, to spread out downward; a hanging, not a wall. ⚠…katargeōTo render INOPERATIVE — put out of action, decommission, abolish. Not to destroy a thing but to take it…katathematizōTo CALL DOWN A CURSE — to place something under a katathema, an anathema, a thing devoted to destruction.…kathairōTo CLEAN, and of a plant to PRUNE — the two are one act in Greek, which is the whole point of John 15:2-3.…katharizōTo CLEANSE, purify, make clean — the root of 'catharsis'; used of ritual purification, of healing (Jesus…katharosCLEAN — of things, of ritual purity, and of people. ⚠ In John it lands twice, ten verses apart, and the…katēgōrTHE ACCUSER — not the ordinary Greek word for a prosecutor (katēgoros, which most later manuscripts smooth…kauchaomaiTo BOAST, glory in, take pride in — a favourite Pauline verb (roughly 35 of its ~37 New Testament…kavedHEAVY, weighty — and of a heart, dull and unresponsive. It is one of THREE verbs Exodus uses for Pharaoh's…kavodGLORY — and literally WEIGHT. Built on kaved, 'heavy' (the same root behind 'honor,' which is treating a…kekoniamenosWHITEWASHED, limed — from konia, dust or lime. ⚠ The image at Matthew 23:27 is sharper than 'pretty…kelayotKidneys — Hebrew's seat of the hidden self, the innermost person: 'who sees kidneys and heart' (Jeremiah…kelimVESSELS, implements — the temple's gold and silver service, and one of the few physical objects whose…kemarimIDOL-PRIESTS — a scornful word for PAGAN clergy, always used with disapproval and kept carefully distinct…kephalē gōniasHEAD OF THE CORNER — and what that actually is architecturally is genuinely uncertain, which is why this…KephasAramaic kepha, 'rock,' rendered into Greek as Petros — the new name Jesus gives Simon on sight, a…keremVINEYARD — and in the Song, the book's controlling double meaning. 'They made me keeper of the vineyards…kereshThe structural upright of the tabernacle's walls (26:15-29) — KJV/ASV/NASB translate 'board', a solid…keriA genuine translation crux — occurring nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible in this sense, seven times, only…kesTHRONE — occurring EXACTLY ONCE in the entire Hebrew Bible, and disputed even there. ⚠ Lexicographers are…kesil / evil / letsProverbs' gallery of fools — three distinct kinds, kept distinct in this translation: the EVIL (1:7), the…kesitahAn archaic unit of MONEY or weight — Jacob buys the field at Shechem 'for a hundred kesitah' (33:19; KJV…ketefA SHOULDER — of a person, and then of anything shaped like one. ⭐ At Numbers 34:11 the border of Canaan…ketiv / qere'Written' / 'read' — the Masoretes' double track: where tradition READ a word differently than the…ketonet passimThe most famous garment in the Bible, and nobody is certain what it was (37:3). A ketonet is a plain tunic…kikkarA disc, circle — hence 'plain': the round, well-watered Jordan valley Lot chooses (13:10-12). The same…kilyotKIDNEYS — and in Hebrew physiology the seat of conscience and of the deepest, least accessible self. The…kinnimGNATS — or lice, or mosquitoes; the word is genuinely uncertain (KJV 'lice,' most modern versions…kipperTo make atonement — to cover, wipe away, or ransom (the piel of kaphar). Its plain root is 'to cover'…kisseTHRONE — literally a seat of honor. It is the drumbeat of 1 Kings 1, named some ten times in fifty-three…KittimJavan's son in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10:4) — Cyprus (Kition) first, then the whole Greek west, and…kiyorLAVER, basin — the bronze washstand set 'between the tent of meeting and the altar' (Exodus 30:18, already…klēmaA VINE-SHOOT — specifically the year's growth on a vine, not a tree-limb; the general word for a branch is…klērosA LOT — first the pebble or marked stone that is cast, then the share it assigns you, then the inheritance…koachPOWER, strength, capacity — the general word, paired at Zechariah 4:6 with the sharper-edged chayil ('not…koinosCOMMON — shared, ordinary, in general use; and in the Levitical system that is exactly what makes a thing…koinoōTO MAKE COMMON — built on koinos, 'common, shared, ordinary' (the same root behind koinōnia, 'fellowship,'…koinōniaSHARING, having-in-common — and in everyday papyri a business PARTNERSHIP, the arrangement two men enter…kokhavA STAR — an ordinary noun that acquired a history. ⭐ Numbers 24:17, 'a star steps forth from Jacob, and a…kolasis / aiōniosPUNISHMENT — but not the ordinary word for it. Greek's standard term for retributive penalty is timōria…kopherHENNA — the flowering shrub whose cream-white clusters are heavily scented and whose crushed leaves dye…kophinosA BASKET — specifically the small, sturdy wicker HAND-BASKET a traveler carried, well enough known as…korbanasTHE TEMPLE TREASURY — a Greek form built on Hebrew qorban, an offering, a thing brought near and…kosmosTHE WORLD — but originally 'order, arrangement, ornament' (English 'cosmetic' is the same root: making a…krabattosA MAT, a straw pallet — the bedding of somebody who owns one blanket. It is a Latin loanword (grabatus)…kraspedonFRINGE, tassel — the word the Greek Old Testament uses for the TASSELS the Law commands on the four…kremannymiTO HANG, to be suspended from — an ordinary verb for something on a peg or a hook. ⚠ Matthew 22:40 makes…kumazAn obscure gold ornament, occurring in only two verses of the whole Hebrew Bible — Exodus 35:22 (already…kōnōpsA GNAT — the smallest winged insect, and the smallest unclean creature that could ruin a drink; wine was…la'anahWORMWOOD — the bitter Artemisia shrub of the Near East, the Bible's standing image for a taste that…lamoA poetic pronoun meaning 'to THEM' — normally plural. It sits at the centre of a crux at Isaiah 53:8…lathraSECRETLY, quietly, without publicity — an adverb that takes its moral colour entirely from who is using…laviA LIONESS — Hebrew’s second lion-word, distinct from ari/aryeh, the lion. ⭐ Numbers 23:24 sets the two…lechem panimBREAD OF THE PRESENCE — literally 'bread of the face,' the twelve loaves kept perpetually on the golden…legionA LEGION — a Roman military unit of roughly five to six thousand soldiers, the empire’s own standing…leil shimmurimA NIGHT OF WATCHING — from shamar, to keep or guard, and Exodus 12:42 uses it in BOTH directions in a…leitourgosA public SERVANT, a minister — from leitos (of the people, public) + ergon (work): first one who performed…lekh-lekha'Go — you yourself': the emphatic doubled call of Abram; the third parashah takes its name from it.leprosA LEPER — and the ancient category is wider than the modern disease. Greek lepros and the Hebrew tsara'at…logA LOG — the smallest liquid measure named in the Hebrew Bible, roughly the volume of six eggs by later…logizomaiTo RECKON — an accounting verb: to enter in a ledger, to charge to an account, to compute. At 1…logosWord, reason, account — John's term for the pre-existent Christ, fusing the Hebrew 'word of Jehovah' by…lytron / antilytronA RANSOM — the price paid to release a slave, a captive or a debtor; from lyō, 'to loose.' It is the Greek…lytroōTo RANSOM, to redeem by paying a price — from lytron, 'a ransom', the sum paid to free a slave or a…lēstēsA BANDIT — an armed robber or brigand, not a pickpocket and not a swindler. Josephus uses it of…ma'alTRESPASS, treachery — an act of unfaithfulness against a trust, most often used of a breach against…ma'aserA tenth, a tithe — the Bible's first, given by Abram to Melchizedek (14:20). Leviticus 27:30-33 (already…ma'galA WHEEL-TRACK, a rut — from agol, round. Not an abstract 'path' but the groove worn into ground by traffic…mabulTHE flood — a technical term used only of this event (plus Psalm 29:10), never of ordinary flooding.machahTo WIPE OUT, blot, erase — what you do to WRITING. It is used of erasing a name from under heaven…machairaA SWORD, a short blade — the ordinary New Testament word, in twenty-six passages: what Peter draws in the…machalatzotFINE ROBES — a rare word, built on a root meaning 'to strip off' or 'to change,' so literally something…machashavahA THOUGHT, plan, design — from chashav, to reckon or devise. Jeremiah 29:11's machshevot shalom, 'plans of…machsehA REFUGE — the place you RUN INTO, from chasah, to seek shelter (the verb in Psalm 91:4, 'under his wings…machtahA CENSER — a fire-pan for carrying live coals with incense on them. The same object, and the same three…maddaKNOWLEDGE, understanding — from yada, 'to know.' ⚠ A LATE word: it occurs only a handful of times in the…magenA shield — 'I am a shield to you' (15:1), echoing the root of 'delivered' (miggen) in Melchizedek's…maggefahA STRIKING-BLOW, plague — from nagaf, to strike or smite, so the picture is of a blow landing rather than…magoiMAGI — a hereditary PRIESTLY CASTE of the Medes and Persians: keepers of ritual, interpreters of dreams…Magor-Missaviv'Terror all around' — magor (dread) + missaviv (from every side): the name Jeremiah gives his jailer…mahpekhetThe stocks — literally 'the TWISTER,' a frame that bent the prisoner's body (Jeremiah 20:2; paired with…makarios'Happy, fortunate' — the Beatitude word (Matthew 5:3-11, nine times), and the Greek Bible's standing…makh'ovPAIN — a body's ache, the hurt of a wound, not sadness in the abstract; from ka'av, to be in pain. It is…makrothymiaPATIENCE, long-suffering — literally 'long-temperedness' (makros, 'long', + thymos, 'anger, passion'): the…mal'akhMessenger — human or heavenly; 'angel' is simply the Greek for it (angelos). 'The angel of Jehovah' first…malkuKINGDOM, kingship, reign — the Aramaic word that governs Daniel 2 and 7. It is kept the same across the…MammonAramaic mamona, 'wealth, property' — from the same root as amen: that in which one trusts. Left…manMANNA — the bread from heaven, named by a pun the text stages on itself. ⚠ When Israel first sees it, they…maraBITTER — the name Naomi gives herself on her return: 'Do not call me Naomi [sweet]; call me MARA, for the…marahTO REBEL, to be defiant — to refuse an order rather than merely to complain. ⚠ It supplies the two words…martyreōTo BEAR WITNESS, testify — and the root of MARTYR, a word whose meaning shifted from 'one who testifies'…martysWitness — Jesus 'the faithful witness' (Revelation 1:5). In Revelation the word begins its migration…masFORCED LABOUR, corvée — conscripted, unpaid work owed to a ruler or state; a levy paid in bodies rather…masaA STAGE, a leg of a journey — from nasa, 'to pull up (a tent peg), to set out.' It is the chapter's own…mashalProverb — the book's own title is its plural, Mishlei, 'the proverbs of Solomon' (1:1). A mashal is a…mashchitTHE DESTROYER — 'Jehovah will pass over the door and will not allow THE DESTROYER to come into your…mashiachANOINTED — one smeared with oil at his installation, so that the office belongs to God and not to the man…mashqehA CUPBEARER — literally 'one who gives drink.' The KJV's 'butler' has shrunk over four centuries into a…maskilim'The wise' — those with insight, who 'give understanding to many' and fall by sword and flame (Daniel…maskitA FIGURED STONE — from a root for seeing or picturing, an object carved or set with an image meant to be…massaBURDEN — or utterance. Built on nasa, 'to lift,' so it can mean either a LOAD lifted onto the shoulders or…Massah / MeribahTESTING and STRIFE — a double place-name built from two different roots, one event named twice over.…mat'ammimSAVORY FOOD — 'tasty things,' a delicacy (from ta'am, 'taste'): the dish of game Isaac craves and the…mathēteuōTo MAKE A DISCIPLE of somebody — a transitive verb built on mathētēs, a learner or apprentice, and not the…matsevahA standing STONE, a pillar set upright (from natsav, 'to stand') as a memorial or marker of a holy…mattehA tribe — but the word's plain meaning is a STAFF, a rod, a branch (from natah, 'to stretch out, extend').…matzah / matzotUNLEAVENED BREAD — flat cakes made without leaven, and the sign of a departure too fast for dough to rise…mayim chayimLIVING WATER — literally, not idiomatically: chayim is the ordinary Hebrew word for ‘alive’, the same root…mechoqeqTHE RULER’S STAFF — or the ruler who holds it; the word is a participle of chaqaq, to inscribe or decree…megurimSOJOURNINGS — the time spent living somewhere as a resident alien, from GUR, 'to reside as a stranger.' A…meizōnGREATER — a comparative, not a superlative. 'The greatest of these' at 1 Corinthians 13:13 would be…mekhesTRIBUTE — a war-levy word that occurs six times in the whole Hebrew Bible, and all six are in this one…melachSALT — first named as the fate of Lot's wife, who 'looked back… and became a pillar of SALT' (Genesis…melechet avodahLABORIOUS WORK — the work-category this chapter bans on ordinary festival days (23:7-8 and elsewhere)…melitsAn INTERPRETER, go-between, spokesman — from lits, to mediate. It appears in Genesis exactly once, in the…menachemA COMFORTER — one who consoles, from nacham. 'There is no comforter' is the refrain of Lamentations 1…menoTo REMAIN, abide, stay put — John's favourite verb and the hinge of 2 John. The letter sets it directly…menorahLAMPSTAND — a single stem of hammered gold branching into six arms, seven lamps total, built to Moses's…merkavahCHARIOT — the name readers gave Ezekiel 1, though the word never appears in the chapter. Ma'aseh Merkavah…metamelomaiTO REGRET, to have a change of feeling — and NOT the standard word for repentance, which is metanoeō, 'to…metamorphoōTo CHANGE FORM — meta ('change') + morphē ('form'); the root of English 'metamorphosis.' Matthew 17:2 puts…metanoeō / metanoiaTo CHANGE THE MIND — meta ('after, differently') + noeō ('to think'): to think again, and so to turn.…metoikesiaDEPORTATION, removal to another home — meta ('change') + oikos ('house'): a forced change of dwelling, the…metron'Measure' — 'with the measure you measure, it will be measured out to you' (Matthew 7:2): the rabbis' own…metrētēsA liquid measure, roughly 39 liters. Six stone jars 'of two or three measures each' (2:6) — KJV's…metzarimNARROW PLACES, straits — from tsar, narrow or tight; the same root gives tsarah, 'distress,' and tsar…mevasserONE WHO BRINGS GOOD NEWS, a herald of good tidings — from basar, 'to announce good news' (the runner who…mezimmahDISCRETION, discernment — shrewd forethought, the ability to think a matter through to its end (1:4). From…michyahPRESERVATION OF LIFE, sustenance — from CHAYAH, to live: literally 'a means of staying alive.' It is the…miknehLIVESTOCK, and by extension the wealth held in it — from QANAH, 'to acquire': cattle as the thing you buy…mille et-yadamFILL THEIR HAND — the standard Hebrew idiom for ordination to priestly office (28:41), almost certainly…mimētēsAn IMITATOR — the root of 'mimic', 'mime' and 'mimesis', and in the ancient world an unembarrassed word…minKind, sort — a farmer's word, not a taxonomy; behind every 'of its own kind.'minchahGIFT, tribute, offering — the broadest of the offering-words, and not necessarily a sacrifice: it is…miqrehWhat HAPPENS to someone — an occurrence, a lot, a fate, from qarah, to befall. It carries no implication…miqvehA gathering (of water) — the word behind the seas' naming, and later Judaism's ritual bath. ⚠ The bridge…mirmahDECEIT, treachery — 'your brother came with mirmah and took your blessing' (27:35; KJV 'subtilty,' NWT…mishkanTABERNACLE — literally DWELLING-PLACE, from shakhan, 'to dwell, settle down.' The word names the whole…mishmeretA CHARGE — a duty kept, a post guarded, from shamar, 'to watch, keep, guard.' Chapter 3 repeats it more…mishpachahA CLAN — the middle unit of Israel's social arithmetic, between the TRIBE above it and the fathers' HOUSE…mishpat / shaphatJustice — and the verb to judge. Sarai invokes it in anger (16:5), a desert spring is named for it…mishtehA BANQUET — literally a DRINKING, from shatah, to drink. It is the structural unit of Esther: the book…mizbeachALTAR — from zavach, 'to slaughter, sacrifice.' This chapter's bronze altar (27:1-8) stands OUTSIDE the…mizmorA PSALM — strictly, a song sung to a plucked instrument (root zamar, to pluck strings), which is why the…mo'adimAppointed times — the festival-calendar word; what the sun and moon are installed to mark.mo'ed'Appointed time' — Genesis 1:14's word: the lights are hung 'for appointed times' (mo'adim), this…mofetA WONDER, portent, marvel — the heavier partner of OT ('sign'). Pharaoh demands one ('give a MOFET for…moharThe BRIDE-PRICE — the sum a groom's household paid to the bride's family for the marriage (distinct from…mokeshA SNARE — specifically the trigger-stick or bait-piece of a bird trap, the small thing that springs the…moledetNative land, kindred, birthplace — 'the land of his birth (erets moladto)' that exiled Shallum will never…monogenes'One of a kind, an only child' (mono-, 'only,' + genos, 'kind/kin') — NOT 'only-begotten,' which came…monēA PLACE TO STAY — the noun from menō, to remain. ⚠ It occurs TWICE in the whole New Testament and both…morashahA POSSESSION, inheritance held by grant — the last of the seven 'I will' promises: 'I will give it to you…Mosheh (Moses)The NAME — given a Hebrew reason, 'because I DREW HIM OUT (meshitihu) of the water' (2:10), from mashah…moshia (pl. moshi'im)A DELIVERER, rescuer, saviour — the active participle of yasha, 'to save,' the same root behind the names…motzCHAFF — the dry, papery husk and broken straw left when grain is threshed, so light that the evening wind…mul / himmolTo circumcise — the covenant's sign cut into the flesh (17:10-14), at eight days old, house-born and…mumA BLEMISH — the chapter's own technical umbrella term for any physical condition disqualifying a priest…musarDISCIPLINE — this translation's rendering, with the ASV and NWT, over the KJV/NIV's softer 'instruction'…myeoTo INITIATE — the verb of admission into the MYSTERY CULTS, and the root behind mysterion and so behind…mystērionA MYSTERY — but emphatically not a puzzle or something unknowable. In Paul it is an OPEN SECRET: something…mōriaFOLLY, idiocy — from mōros, the root of English 'moron' (and of 'sophomore', literally a wise-fool). It is…na'arA YOUTH, boy, young man — also a servant or attendant. Jeremiah objects to his call with it: 'I do not…nachalahAn INHERITANCE — specifically a heritable landholding, ground that passes down a family and is not…nachamComfort — and regret. Noah's name-hope (5:29) returns as God's regret (6:6): one root, opposite moods. ⚠…nachamTo COMFORT, console — and, in other stems, to relent or be sorry. It is the root behind the name NOAH…nachashSERPENT — the ordinary Hebrew noun, from the crafty one of Genesis 3:1 to the bronze one Moses raises at…nachashTo PRACTISE DIVINATION — to read omens. Joseph's steward says of the silver cup that his master 'indeed…nagidLEADER, designated ruler — the older, less grand word Israel's tradition prefers for the man God appoints…nakarTo RECOGNIZE, identify, acknowledge — the verb on which two of Genesis's cruelest scenes turn, and the…nakhonFIRMLY SET, steady, established — the passive of kun, to fix in place; it is what a throne or a mountain…naos / hieronTwo temple-words: hieron, the whole precinct with its courts (where the traders sat, 2:14), and naos, the…naphalTO FALL — and, of land, to be allotted. ⭐ Numbers 34:2 says the land of Canaan shall FALL to you as an…naqahTo be FREE, clear, exempt from guilt or penalty — a legal-forensic word, not an emotional one. This…naqamVENGEANCE — the root behind both the command and the verb Moses gives the people three times in two verses…naqav ha-ShemPIERCED THE NAME — the startling verb behind 'blasphemed' (24:11). Naqav ordinarily means 'to pierce, bore…nasaTo carry, bear, lift — one root doing three jobs in Genesis 13: the land 'could not bear' Abram and Lot…nasa roshTo LIFT UP THE HEAD — a court idiom for singling a man out of the crowd: to review him, reckon him, take…nasiA prince, chief — 'one lifted up' (from nasa, 'to lift, carry'). The Hittites call Abraham nesi Elohim, 'a…natsalA root that runs both ways in this chapter — TO RESCUE, snatch away (hifil, hitsil): 'I have come down to…navehA PASTURE-ABODE — the grazing ground a shepherd keeps his flock in, and so also a settled dwelling. It is…naviProphet — its FIRST occurrence in the Bible is Abraham (20:7), and note what defines the office there: not…nazirA NAZIRITE — one 'separated,' set apart to God by a vow, marked by abstaining from wine, avoiding…ne’umTHE UTTERANCE — the formula that marks a saying as an oracle rather than an opinion. In the prophets it is…ne'esaf el amavTO BE GATHERED TO ONE'S PEOPLE — the Torah's own idiom for dying, from asaf, to gather in, the verb used…ne'esaf el-ammav'And he was GATHERED to his people' — the death-formula, spoken over Abraham (25:8) and Ishmael (25:17)…nedavahA FREEWILL OFFERING — a gift given because the giver chose to, as distinct from anything owed or…nederA VOW — a binding promise made to God, often conditional ('if you will… then I will'). Hannah 'vowed a…nediv levWILLING OF HEART, literally 'noble of heart' — the phrase this chapter reaches for three separate times to…nefesh chayahA living creature/being — fish, birds, animals, and humans alike; not an immaterial 'soul' inside a body.…negaAN AFFLICTION, a mark, a blow — the general word Leviticus 13 uses for whatever the priest is examining…nekharFOREIGN, strange, other — the 'foreign gods' (elohei nekhar) Jacob orders his household to bury before…neosNEW in TIME — young, recent, the newer of two. Twenty-seven occurrences in the New Testament, mostly of…NephilimBeings 'on the earth in those days' (6:4); meaning unknown (possibly 'fallen ones', from naphal, to fall)…ner tamidCONTINUAL LAMP — literally 'lamp of regularity.' The command (27:20-21) is the chapter's only instruction…nerdNARD, spikenard — an aromatic oil pressed from the root of a plant growing in the HIMALAYAS, carried to…nesA RAISED SIGNAL — a banner, standard or signal-pole: something lifted high specifically so that it can be…nesekhA DRINK OFFERING — wine poured out beside a sacrifice, from nasakh, to pour. With the minchah (grain…neshekh / tarbitTwo Hebrew words for INTEREST, always paired in the law (25:36-37; Exodus 22:25, already on these pages…nesherThe great EAGLE or griffon-VULTURE — the huge soaring bird of the crags, and the same Hebrew word for both…netekA SCALE — tzaraat's own subtype for the scalp and the beard, diagnosed by a different tell than the rest…nevalahAn OUTRAGE — not ordinary wrong but the fixed, heavy term for a disgraceful act that tears the fabric of a…nevelahA CARCASS — specifically an animal that died on its own rather than being slaughtered, from a root meaning…niddah / nidahRITUAL IMPURITY, specifically menstrual (Leviticus 15:19-24, now on these pages) — and by extension…niflaot'Wondrous works' — the Exodus-wonder word (pele, wonder): the sea, the plagues, Sennacherib's melted army.…nirdafThe PURSUED — a passive participle of radaph, to chase or persecute. ⚠ Ecclesiastes 3:15's closing clause…no'ashHOPELESS, desperate, given up — a rare word, and in Jeremiah 18:12 it is the people's ENTIRE answer to…nogsim / shotrimTASKMASTERS and FOREMEN — the two ranks between Pharaoh and the slaves. The NOGSIM (from a root for…noqedA SHEEP-BREEDER — and one of the most argued-over words in the prophets, because it occurs exactly TWICE…nuachTo REST, settle, come to a stop — the verb behind NOACH (Noah, 'rest') and the noun MENUCHAH, a…nurFIRE. Biblical Aramaic (cognate to Hebrew or/light and to Akkadian nuru). ⚠ Occurs 14 times in Daniel 3…nymphēA BRIDE, and also a daughter-in-law — the young wife, seen from the household she is joining. ⚠ Revelation…nēpios / nēpioiINFANT, BABE — literally 'not-speaking' (nē-, negative + epos, 'word'), the ordinary Greek word for a…ofan / ofannimWHEEL — the wheels beside the living creatures in Ezekiel 1, gleaming like beryl, 'a wheel within a…oikonomiaThe management of a HOUSEHOLD — oikos, 'house', + nomos, 'law, order'; the running of an estate by a…oikoumenēTHE INHABITED [LAND] — a participle used as a noun, and in Roman mouths a piece of self-description: the…olahBurnt offering — literally an 'ascending' offering (from alah, 'to go up'): unlike every other sacrifice…olamA remote or unbounded stretch of TIME — 'forever', 'of old', 'the age'; in later Hebrew it drifts toward…olethrosRUIN, DESTRUCTION — from ollymi, to destroy: a total undoing rather than mere damage. ⚠ At 2 Thessalonians…oligopistoi'Little-faiths' — one Greek word, Matthew's pet name for disciples (6:30; the storm, 8:26; the water…oligopistosLITTLE-FAITH — one Greek word, oligos ('little') + pistis ('faith'), and as far as we can tell Matthew's…omerOMER — a dry measure, roughly two liters, a tenth of an ephah (v36). ⚠ The same word, from the same root…opheilōTo OWE, to be UNDER OBLIGATION — the verb of a debt, financial first (what is owed on a loan) and then…ophthalmos ponērosTHE EVIL EYE — a fixed Semitic idiom, and not about eyesight or the folk-magic of a curse. A 'good eye' is…orgēWRATH — settled anger, not a flare of temper (that is thymos); the root of English 'orgy' only by a long…ormahShrewdness, prudence — the survival-craft Wisdom gives the naive (1:4). Its root is the serpent's: the…orphanosORPHAN — the ordinary word for a child with no parents, and the source of the English word. It appears…ot / ototA SIGN — a mark, token, or wonder that points beyond itself to authenticate a word or a promise. The word…ot u-mofetSIGN AND PORTENT — the technical pair for a prophet's ACTED message, where the man himself, or his family…otzevPAIN, hurt, grief — the noun of atsav, to hurt or grieve; it is the word for the pain of childbirth at…ouranosHEAVEN, sky — and in Matthew almost always PLURAL, 'the heavens', because Hebrew shamayim is plural. ⚠…ovnayimTHE TWO STONES — the potter's wheel, and one of the most informative words in the Hebrew Bible, because it…Pachad Yitzchak'The FEAR of Isaac' — a rare divine title, found only in this chapter (31:42, 53): the God of Isaac named…padahTo REDEEM by paying a price — to buy back something that has fallen under another's claim. It is the verb…pagaʿTo MEET, encounter, fall upon — and in the causative, to make something meet someone. It frames Isaiah 53…paidionA LITTLE CHILD — the diminutive of pais, used of an infant or a young child. It is what Jesus is called…paisCHILD, or SERVANT — a word Greek never fully separates, and the New Testament's translators have never…palaWonder — what only God does. 'Is anything too wondrous for Jehovah?' (18:14) — the shelf's 'too hard'…palingenesiaREBIRTH, of everything — palin ('again') + genesis ('origin, birth'). Not an individual's conversion but…pandocheionAN INN — literally 'the all-receiving place', a commercial establishment with a keeper (pandocheus) who…panimFACE — grammatically plural in form even for one face (like 'waters,' mayim), and one word doing three…pantokratōr'The Almighty' — literally 'the all-holding.' The Greek Bible's rendering of El Shaddai and 'Jehovah of…paqadTo visit, attend to — for good or for ill: 'Jehovah VISITED Sarah' with a son (Genesis 21:1; KJV…paradTo separate — Genesis 13's hinge verb: Abram proposes it (13:9), Lot enacts it (13:11), and the renewed…paradeisosParadise — a Persian loan-word for a walled garden, and the very word the Greek Bible chose for EDEN…paradidōmiTo HAND OVER, deliver up — a judicial word: what a magistrate does when he hands a prisoner to the…parahA COW — a mature female of the herd. Hebrew keeps it distinct from eglah, a HEIFER, the young animal Abram…paraklēsisCOMFORT, encouragement, consolation — from parakaleō, 'to call alongside' (para + kaleō); the drawing-near…paraklētosONE CALLED ALONGSIDE — from para + kaleō. Comforter, Helper, Advocate, Counselor, Paraclete: no English or…parathēkēA DEPOSIT — something placed alongside for safe-keeping, from paratithēmi, 'to set beside, to entrust'. In…parepidēmosA RESIDENT ALIEN, a sojourner — para, 'beside', + epidēmos, 'staying in a place'; one who lives abroad…parochet / masakhTwo Hebrew nouns for two distinct tabernacle hangings, easily conflated in translation and in the Greek…parousiaPRESENCE — or an arrival that results in a presence; from pareimi, 'to be alongside.' ⚠ In ordinary Greek…parthenosA VIRGIN — and also, in ordinary usage, simply an UNMARRIED YOUNG WOMAN; which sense is live depends…pat-bagThe king's food-portion (Daniel 1:5) — a PERSIAN loanword sitting in a Hebrew sentence (patibaga…patahTo persuade — entice — seduce — deceive: the whole scandalous range of Jeremiah 20:7, 'You enticed me…patzahTO OPEN WIDE — used of a mouth, and in the narrative books almost only of the ground. ⚠ The form patzetah…pechahGOVERNOR — a loan-word (Akkadian pihatu, later Persian) for the imperial official set over a province, NOT…pegerA CARCASS — the word for a dead body when the point is that it is meat, not a person. It is used of…peirasmosA TRIAL — and a TEMPTATION: the one Greek word covers both, an outward testing (hardship, persecution) and…peirazōTo TEST — and to TEMPT. One Greek word covers both English ones: to put to the proof (as metal is assayed…pelachTo SERVE, worship — Biblical Aramaic, paired throughout Daniel with sgad (bow down); the two verbs…peletahESCAPE, DELIVERANCE — and by extension those who escape, the survivors; from PALAT, to slip away to…peninimCORALS, or possibly pearls — the red coral of the Mediterranean is the likelier identification, and the…pentēkostēPENTECOST — Greek for FIFTIETH, and simply the Greek name for the Hebrew feast of Shavuot, Weeks: counted…pereThe wild donkey of the steppe — untamable, masterless, at home in the wilderness (Job 39:5-8 sings its…perekhCrushing harshness — pitiless, breaking labor (Exodus 1:13, 14). KJV 'with rigour'; NWT 'under tyranny.' A…peretsA BREACH — a gap burst through a wall; from parats, to break out. The midwife's cry at the birth of…pesach / pasachPASSOVER — the name of the night, the rite, and the lamb. ⚠️ The verb's meaning is genuinely uncertain and…peselA CARVED IMAGE — from pasal, to hew or chisel; the KJV's 'graven image' is exact. ⚠ Whether Exodus 20:3…peshaREVOLT, rebellion — usually flattened in English to 'transgression', which loses the courtroom. Its plain…petiThe simple one — from a root meaning 'open': the wide-open, gullible, un-made-up mind, easily persuaded…petraBEDROCK, a rock formation — as distinct from Petros, 'a stone,' the name Jesus gives Simon in the very…pharmakosA DEALER IN DRUGS AND POTIONS, and so a sorcerer — the two trades were not separated. It is the word…pharmakōnA DRUG, POTION — and by extension SORCERY. One Greek word covers medicine, poison, and magic potion at…phatnēA FEEDING TROUGH, and by extension the stall it stands in. Four occurrences in the New Testament, all in…phaulosWORTHLESS, shoddy, of no account — a milder word than ponēros, actively evil, and John 3 uses both one…philadelphiaBROTHERLY LOVE — philos, 'loving', + adelphos, 'brother': affection between kin, and in the New Testament…philosA FRIEND — the noun behind phileō, to love or be fond of. ⚠ John 15 uses it three times in three verses…phimoōTO MUZZLE — literally, to put a muzzle on an animal; Paul quotes the law about not muzzling a threshing ox…phrearA DUG SHAFT — a well in the sense of a hole sunk to the water table, which you lower a vessel into; also a…phronimosSENSIBLE, prudent — practical shrewdness about how things actually work, not intelligence and not…phronēmaA MINDSET — what one is minded toward, from phroneo, to set the mind on. Romans 8:6-7's 'mind of the…phroureōTo GARRISON, to mount a guard over — a MILITARY word; a phrouros is a sentry. Philippians 4:7 says the…phylaktērionA PHYLACTERY — the small leather case holding Torah texts, bound on the arm and forehead in obedience to…phylē kai glōssa kai laos kai ethnosTRIBE AND TONGUE AND PEOPLE AND NATION — a four-part formula for the whole of humanity, first sung of the…physioōTo INFLATE, puff up, swell — from physa, a bellows. Paul's private word for the Corinthians: six of its…physisNATURE — the way a thing grows or is constituted, from phyō, 'to grow'; the root of 'physics' and…phōsLIGHT — the ordinary word for light, and one of the great Johannine images; the root of 'photograph' and…phōsphorosLIGHT-BRINGER, the MORNING STAR — phōs, 'light', + pherō, 'to bring, bear': the bringer of light, the name…piggulTAINTED MEAT, ritually spoiled — a technical term for an otherwise-legitimate offering that fails PURELY…pilegeshCONCUBINE — a secondary wife, of lower standing than an ishah but genuinely a wife, whose children could…pishra / pesherINTERPRETATION — the Aramaic word for the meaning of a dream, sign, or oracle, paired all through Daniel…pitronAn INTERPRETATION — specifically of a dream, and the word is almost confined to the Joseph story (with its…planosA DECEIVER, an impostor — from planaō, to lead astray, to cause to wander; the root behind English…plynōTo WASH — of cloth and objects rather than of people (that is louō or niptō). Three occurrences in the New…plērophoriaFULL ASSURANCE — from plērophoreō, to carry something all the way to full measure, to fill right up. The…plērōmaFULLNESS — that which fills, or the state of being full, or the full measure/complement (a ship's full…pneumaBREATH, WIND, SPIRIT — one Greek word for all three, exactly as Hebrew ruach is. John 3:8 builds a…poiēmaA THING MADE — a work of craftsmanship, composed rather than assembled; the direct ancestor of English…politeuomaiTo LIVE AS A CITIZEN — to discharge one's duties in the public life of a city, from politēs, citizen (the…porneiaSEXUAL IMMORALITY — the general word, and deliberately wider than adultery, which Greek has its own term…potērionA CUP — the ordinary drinking vessel, and in the prophets a standing image for the portion God assigns.…prausMEEK, gentle — the identical word this translation has already met once: 'Happy the MEEK, for they shall…presbyterosAn ELDER — literally an 'older man' (comparative of presbys, 'old'), then a title of office: the senior…presbytēsAn OLD MAN, an elder in years — distinct from presbyteros, the church office, though the roots are shared.…prizōTo SAW — a New Testament hapax at Hebrews 11:37, 'they were sawn in two'. It is almost certainly an…proorizōTo MARK OUT BEFOREHAND — pro ('before') + horizō ('to set a boundary'), the same verb behind 'horizon' and…propempoTo SEND ON THE WAY — a semi-technical word in the early church for equipping a traveller for the next leg…prophētisA PROPHETESS — the feminine of prophētēs. The Greek Old Testament uses it of Miriam (Exodus 15:20)…proskyneōTo BOW DOWN, to prostrate oneself, to do homage — a body-word before it is a theological one. Greek used…prosōpolēmpsiaPARTIALITY, favoritism — literally 'receiving the face,' judging by appearance, status, or favor rather…prothesisA SETTING-OUT, a placing before — and in the phrase artoi tēs protheseōs, the loaves of the PRESENCE…prōinosOF THE MORNING, early. ⚠ It occurs twice in the New Testament and both are in Revelation, at the two ends…prōtotokosFIRSTBORN — and the most fought-over word in the New Testament after logos. ⚠ At Colossians 1:15…psychēSOUL — and, just as often, LIFE; one Greek word doing two jobs English keeps separate. Matthew 10 uses it…psēlaphaōTo FEEL, grope, HANDLE — to touch by feeling for, the verb of a blind man's hands or of groping in the…psēphos leukēThe white stone — literally a pebble (NWT's 'white pebble' is exact), with uses all over ancient life: a…pēgēA SPRING — water that moves by itself, as against a cistern or a dug shaft. ⚠ John 4 sets it against…pōrōsisA HARDENING — and the word is medical before it is moral: pōros is a callus, the bony deposit that forms…qababTO CURSE — a second, rarer verb, distinct from arar and concentrated almost entirely in the Balaam story.…qadashTo make holy, set apart — its first biblical object is a day, the sabbath.qahalTHE ASSEMBLY — a body summoned and standing together, from a root meaning to convoke. Distinguish it from…qannaJEALOUS, zealous — an adjective used in the Hebrew Bible ONLY of God. The root is about ardour and about a…qaranSHONE, sent forth beams — 'the skin of his face qaran' (34:29), and the verb shares its root with keren…qaravTO COME NEAR, draw near — and in the causative, to BRING near, which is the ordinary verb for presenting…qatonti'I am too SMALL' — literally 'I have become small' (from qaton, 'to be little'), Jacob's word at the head…qavA MEASURING LINE — the surveyor's cord, stretched to lay out a building. Its direction is the whole point…qedeshahA CONSECRATED WOMAN — from qadosh, 'holy,' the same root as sanctuary and saint. Traditionally understood…qedosh YisraelTHE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL — Isaiah's signature title for God, about twenty-five times in this book and only a…qeloqelWORTHLESS, of no weight — the people’s word for the manna at Numbers 21:5, and the only occurrence of this…qenA NEST — and, at Numbers 24:21, a pun no version on either shelf can print. Balaam looks at the KENITE…qerenA HORN — literally an animal's horn, and by extension a standing symbol of STRENGTH or POWER, especially…qesemDIVINATION — the professional reading of the future, and in Numbers 22:7 the FEE paid for it: the elders…qesheh-orefSTIFFNECKED — literally 'hard of neck,' the image of a stubborn ox refusing the yoke or the goad. Jehovah…qeshetA bow — the weapon; Hebrew has no separate word for 'rainbow.' God hangs his war-bow in the clouds.qetevDESTRUCTION, a scourge — a rare noun for a devastating blow, and the fourth of Psalm 91's terrors, 'the…qets'End' — from a root meaning CUT OFF: the drumbeat of Daniel 12. 'The time of the end' (et qets, 12:4, 9)…qin'ahJEALOUSY — and, depending on who feels it, also zeal or envy; one Hebrew noun covers a jealous husband, a…qinahA LAMENT, a formal dirge — both the poem and the act of chanting it ('David chanted this QINAH,' 2 Samuel…qodeshHOLY, holiness — the root sense is 'set apart, cut off from the common.' 'The place on which you stand is…qomemiyutUPRIGHT, erect — a rare word occurring only once in the Hebrew Bible, at 26:13: 'I broke the bars of your…qoneh'Maker, creator, possessor' (from qanah) — 'Maker of heaven and earth' (14:19); the same root Eve punned…qorbanOffering — literally 'that which is brought near' (from qarav, 'to draw near, approach'). The Bible's…qorchahBALDNESS — specifically a bald patch made by SHAVING the head as a mourning rite. Deuteronomy 14:1 forbids…qosemA DIVINER — a professional class, distinct from the verb nachash (see that entry): where nachash describes…qubbahA CHAMBER of some kind — and nobody can say what kind. It stands in one verse, Numbers 25:8, where…ra'ahEVIL, calamity, harm — a word that covers both moral wickedness AND the disaster it brings, since Hebrew…ra'yahMY COMPANION — the man's name for the woman, nine times in the Song and in this form nowhere else in the…RacaAramaic rēqa, 'empty-head' — the insult Matthew 5:22 makes actionable, transliterated (not translated) by…rachamimCOMPASSION, mercy — and the word is built on RECHEM, the WOMB. Hebrew's ordinary term for mercy is…radamTO FALL INTO A DEEP SLEEP — the heavy, often God-sent stupor, not ordinary rest. The noun tardemah is the…radaphTo PURSUE, chase, hunt down — a hostile verb. It is what Egypt does to Israel at the sea and what Saul…ragalTO SPY OUT — literally to go about on FOOT (regel, a foot), the ordinary Hebrew word for reconnaissance…ragazTo TREMBLE, be stirred up, be agitated — and, by an easy extension, to QUARREL. Joseph's last words to his…rakkot'Leah's eyes were rakkot' (29:17) — and the shelf cannot agree what that means, because the word runs from…raqiaThe vault of the sky — from a root meaning 'hammered out'; LXX stereōma → Vulgate firmamentum → 'firmament.'ratzach⚠ The verb of the sixth commandment, and NOT the general word for killing — that is harag, which does not…rav lakhem'YOU HAVE TOO MUCH' — two words, an idiom of enough-already: you have taken more than your share, you have…razMYSTERY, secret — an Aramaic word borrowed from Persian, the theme-word of Daniel 2, where it sounds eight…re’emTHE WILD OX — the aurochs, the huge wild cattle of the ancient Near East, hunted by Assyrian kings and…regalim / chagPILGRIMAGE FESTIVALS — literally 'foot-festivals,' from regel, 'foot': the three annual occasions…regelFOOT — and, in the plural, an OCCASION: ‘three regalim’ means three times. ⭐ Numbers 22:28 is where the…rehovot'BROAD PLACES, room' — the name of the third well, the one no one fought over: 'he called it Rehoboth, and…reyach nichoachA soothing aroma — the 'restful, pleasing smell' of an offering (nichoach shares the root nuach, 'to…rhomphaiaA LONG SWORD — the two-handed Thracian sabre, not the ordinary blade. ⚠ Seven occurrences in the New…rib / merivahTO QUARREL, to bring a case — a legal-flavoured word: a rib is a dispute, and in the prophets it is God's…rishahWICKEDNESS — the feminine abstract noun, built on the same root as rasha, 'the wicked (one),' the Psalms'…ro’ehA SHEPHERD — the ordinary word for someone who keeps sheep, and the Bible's standard picture of a ruler. ⭐…rokeachA PERFUMER, blender of spices — from the verb rakach, 'to compound, blend.' Exodus 30 leans on the whole…rovaA FOURTH PART — a rare noun built on arba, four. ⭐ The phrase rova Yisrael stands in exactly one verse of…ruachWind, breath, spirit — hovering at creation (1:2), sent to end the flood (8:1); one word, three English…ruqqamEMBROIDERED — needlework in coloured thread, from raqam. The related noun names the craftsman who wove the…sabbatonTHE SABBATH — a Greek spelling of Hebrew shabbat, from a root meaning to CEASE. ⚠ Mark 2:27 carries the…sachaqTo LAUGH — real laughter, and the root behind the name Isaac (Yitzchaq, 'he laughs'). It covers laughter…safunPANELED, ceiled — roofed and lined inside with wood, the mark of a finished, costly house. It is Solomon…sakakTo SCREEN, cover over, hedge in — and by extension to weave a covering; the same root gives the sukkah…sakalTo ACT WITH INSIGHT, and so to SUCCEED — the two senses are one in Hebrew, because to this literature…sakharWAGES — the ordinary commercial word for a hired man's pay, from sakhar, to hire. Not a reward, not a…salachTO FORGIVE, pardon — and in the Hebrew Bible it has only ever had one subject. People forgive one another…samakhTo lean, press, lay firmly — the worshipper 'lays his hand upon the head' of the offering (1:4), pressing…sapar / sipperTo COUNT, and so to RECOUNT — to tell a thing through in order. The two senses stay joined: the same root…saqSACKCLOTH — coarse, dark goat-hair cloth, worn against the skin as the dress of mourning and repentance.…sarafTHE BURNING ONE — the creature Jehovah sends against Israel at Numbers 21:6, and the being Isaiah sees…saridA SURVIVOR, one left over — from a root meaning to escape or be left. Isaiah 1:9 is the book's first touch…sarisEunuch — or simply 'court official': the word covers both (Potiphar, a married saris, shows the broader…sarxFLESH — and ⚠ not 'body'. Paul has soma for body and uses it four times in Romans 8 alone (vv10, 11, 13…satahTO GO ASTRAY, to turn aside — the verb behind the whole ordinance of Numbers 5:11-31, though the word most…satan / ha-satanACCUSER, adversary — one who opposes, obstructs, or brings a charge. ⚠ In Job it always appears as…schismaA TEAR, a rip — from schizō, 'to split' (the root of 'schism' and, by a long road, 'schizophrenia'). It is…se'irimGOAT-DEMONS — the plural of sa'ir, 'he-goat' (the same word Leviticus 16 uses for the two ordinary goats…se'or / chametzLEAVEN, sourdough starter — and the thing Passover requires be actively hunted out of the house: 'seven…seferBOOK, scroll — from a root meaning to count or recount. Its first use naming a portion of the Torah itself…sefer ha-yasharTHE BOOK OF JASHAR — literally 'the Book of the Upright,' a collection the Bible quotes and we no longer…segullahA TREASURED POSSESSION — a rare word, used elsewhere of a king's own private wealth, the personal fund a…seismosA SHAKING — from seiō, to shake; the ordinary Greek word for an EARTHQUAKE, and the root of English…selaA CRAG — a rock-face, a cliff, a stone outcrop you could stand on or hide in; distinct from tzur, the…selēniazomaiTo be MOONSTRUCK — from selēnē, the moon: afflicted, as antiquity supposed, by its phases, which is how…senehThe BUSH — a thornbush or bramble, the one Moses sees burning unconsumed (3:2). Rare (almost only this…senuah'HATED' — literally, from sane, 'to hate'; but Hebrew uses it for the LESS-loved of two, so 'unloved'…seterA HIDING-PLACE, a covert — the concealed spot you get behind, from satar, to hide. Psalm 91 opens there…sgadTo BOW DOWN, prostrate oneself, worship. Biblical Aramaic. ⚠ Occurs 11 times in Daniel 3 (the refrain of…sha'agTO ROAR — specifically the roar of a LION, and in Hebrew usage most often the roar over prey, the sound…sha'alTO ASK, request — and, in a special sense, to LEND or give on loan. The verb generates the whole naming of…shabbatSABBATH — the noun, not merely the rest. ⚠ It is not in Genesis: Genesis 2:2-3 has God RESTING (the verb…shachatTo slaughter ritually — the precise verb for killing an offering (1:5, 11), the root of shechitah, kosher…shachatTo ruin — the flood's boomerang verb: the earth ruined itself; God completes the ruin (6:11-13). ⚠ It…shalachTO SEND — and, in the intensive form, to SEND AWAY, let go, release. It is the exodus refrain: 'SHALACH my…shalalSpoil, plunder — and the grimmest idiom built on it: nefesh li-shalal, 'his life as SPOIL' (Jeremiah 21:9…shalomPEACE-OFFERINGS — first named when Moses' young men sacrifice oxen alongside burnt offerings at the…shalomPEACE — but far wider than the absence of conflict: wholeness, soundness, welfare, everything being as it…shalsheletNot a word but a MUSICAL MARK — the rarest cantillation sign in the Torah (four occurrences), a zigzag…shamarTo keep, guard, watch over — the human's garden vocation (2:15), disowned by Cain ('my brother's keeper?'…shamayimThe heavens / the sky — one Hebrew word for both English registers.shani / tolaSCARLET and CRIMSON — the two words for the ancient world's costliest red. ⚠ tola literally means WORM…shaqed / shoqedALMOND — and, one letter's sound away, WATCHING. Jeremiah sees 'a branch of an almond tree' (SHAQED), and…sharatsTo SWARM, teem — the creation-word for life multiplying (Genesis 1:20, the waters 'swarm with swarms'…shavarTo BREAK — what happens to pottery, to bones, to a bow. ⚠ Psalm 51 uses it twice and the pairing is the…she'eritA REMNANT — what is LEFT OVER, from a root meaning to remain. Joseph uses it of a family of seventy…shechinA BOIL, an inflamed ulcerating sore — the sixth plague, 'a SHECHIN breaking out in blisters on man and on…shegagahTHROUGH ERROR, unintentionally — the word that bounds the whole sin-offering system (Leviticus 4:2, 22…shemName — what Babel grasps at ('let us make a name,' 11:4) and God gives ('I will make your name great,'…SheolThe Hebrew realm of the dead — down, dark, silent — appearing here for the FIRST time in the Bible, in…shephatimJUDGMENTS — from shaphat, 'to judge,' and here specifically the fixed phrase asah shephatim, 'to EXECUTE…shephiA BARE HEIGHT — a windswept, treeless ridge or scarp, the kind of open high ground where nothing grows and…sheqelA WEIGHT — not yet, at this point in the story, a coin: Israel would strike no currency of its own for…sheqerFALSEHOOD, the Lie — and in Jeremiah it is nearly a proper noun. Not merely an untrue statement: a whole…sheqetsA DETESTABLE THING — and NOT a synonym for tame, though most modern versions blur the two. Where tame is a…sheretsSwarming things — the cognate behind 'swarm with swarms' (1:20).shetumA WORD NOBODY CAN CONSTRUE — it stands in exactly two verses of the Hebrew Bible, Numbers 24:3 and 24:15…sheva / nishbaSeven — and the oath: Hebrew's verb 'to swear' (nishba) is literally 'to SEVEN oneself.' So Be'er Sheva…shevetA ROD — and a TRIBE, exactly like matteh, which is the other word that does both jobs. Hebrew has two…sheyzavTo DELIVER, rescue, save. Biblical Aramaic. ⚠ Occurs 4 times in Daniel 3 (the famous 'able to…shibboletAn EAR of grain — the head of a stalk of wheat or barley, and, by the same root, a flowing stream. Judges…shilohThe most disputed word in Genesis. 'The sceptre shall not depart from Judah… AD KI YAVO SHILOH' (49:10).…shiphchahA female slave — the word the shelf renders 'handmaid.' Hagar's title, used insistently through Genesis 16…shiqquts meshomem'The abomination that desolates' (Daniel 11:31) — shiqquts, the standing slur-word for an idol, plus…shir la-ma'alotA SONG OF ASCENTS — the title heading fifteen psalms in a row, 120-134, from ALAH, to go UP; the only run…sho'ahRUIN, devastation, a sudden roaring catastrophe — from a root meaning to crash into waste, to lie…shufTo crush / strike at — the rare verb (3× in the Bible) of the serpent's head and the offspring's heel.shuvTo RETURN, turn back, repent — the central verb of the prophets, and the engine of Zechariah 1. 'Return…sikkelHe CROSSED his hands — KNOWINGLY. The word every translation renders 'crossed' is the piel of SAKAL, whose…sikkimBARBS, thorns — paired at Numbers 33:55 with the near-synonym tzeninim: 'those you leave remaining of them…sitnah'ENMITY, opposition' — the name of the second contested well (26:21). From the verb satan, 'to oppose…sivlotBURDENS, forced labors — the specific word for Egypt's imposed toil. It runs through the opening of Exodus…skandalizōTO CAUSE TO STUMBLE, OFFEND — from skandalon, the trigger-stick of a trap, so: to set a snare for, to trip…skandalon / skandalizōTHE TRIGGER OF A TRAP — the baited stick that springs it, and so anything set in a person's way that…sklērokardiaHARDNESS OF HEART — sklēros ('hard, dry, stiff') + kardia. Not a classical Greek word: it was built for…skēnopēgiaTABERNACLES — literally 'tent-pitching' (skēnē, tent, + pēgnymi, to fix/pitch). The autumn pilgrimage…skēnoōTo PITCH A TENT, to encamp — the verb from skēnē, the wilderness tabernacle. ⚠ It occurs five times in the…skēnēA TENT — and, in the Greek Old Testament, THE tent: skēnē is what the Septuagint calls the tabernacle, and…sodA CLOSED CIRCLE — the confidential session, the inner deliberation, and by extension the secret discussed…sokhenetATTENDANT, carer — a rare feminine form from a root meaning 'to be of use, of benefit.' Used of Abishag…sophiaWISDOM — skill, and then the reasoned understanding a Greek education existed to produce; the root of…sparganooTo WRAP IN STRIPS OF CLOTH — what was done to any newborn. ⚠ It occurs twice in the New Testament, both in…sphragisA SEAL — the impression a signet ring leaves in wax, stamped on a document or a jar of goods to mark it as…spilasA HIDDEN REEF (plural spilades) — a rock just under the surface that tears the hull out of a ship that…splanchnaThe INWARD PARTS — bowels, entrails; and in both Greek and Hebrew idiom the seat of the deepest feeling…splanchnizomaiTO HAVE COMPASSION, at the gut — built on splanchna, the inward organs (English 'splanchnic' descends from…spyrisA large provisions HAMPER, big enough (Acts 9:25, not yet on these pages) to lower a grown man — Paul …stadionA STADE — a Greek unit of about 185 metres, some 600 feet, and also the racecourse of that length (whence…staurosCROSS — in older Greek simply an upright stake or pale, and by Roman times the instrument of crucifixion…stegōTo COVER — from stege, a roof. Hence both to shelter something and to keep something in, and hence the…stephanosThe victor's wreath — the laurel of the games, not a monarch's diadem: 'the crown of life' (Rev 2:10)…stolēA ROBE — a long garment, the formal or distinguishing kind: what the scribes walk about in (Mark 12:38)…suachA rare verb — Isaac 'went out la-SUACH in the field toward evening' (24:63), and no one is quite sure what…sukkah (pl. sukkot)A BOOTH — a light, temporary shelter woven from branches, as opposed to an OHEL (tent, sturdier and…sullamThe famous 'LADDER' of Jacob's dream — a word that appears only ONCE in the whole Bible (28:12), so its…suphREEDS — the papyrus-marsh growth of the Nile's edge, where the baby's ark is set (2:3, 5). The same word…symballōTo THROW TOGETHER — to compare, to put side by side, to work out; also to confer with someone, and to…synalizomaiA genuine crux, and one of the more entertaining ones. Parsed as syn + halizomai (from hals, SALT) it…synantilambanomaiA TRIPLE compound: syn (with) + anti (facing, over against) + lambanomai (take hold). To get under the…synchraomaiTo HAVE DEALINGS WITH — or, on a narrower reading, to USE VESSELS IN COMMON. John 4:9's aside ('for Jews…syndoulosA FELLOW SLAVE — doulos with syn-, and not 'fellow servant': the same owned condition, shared. ⚠ John…syneidēsisCONSCIENCE — literally 'knowing together with' (syn + oida), a mind's awareness of itself measured against…synergeōTo WORK TOGETHER — syn + ergon, the root behind 'synergy'. Famous for one clause: 'all things work…synteleia tou aiōnosTHE COMPLETION OF THE AGE — syn ('together') + teleia (from telos, an end or goal): a…syzygosYOKEFELLOW — one under the same yoke, from syn + zygos. ⚠ At Philippians 4:3 Paul asks his 'genuine…sēmeionSign — John's own word for the miracles: a deed that points past itself. Cana is 'the beginning of the…sōtērSAVIOUR, DELIVERER — one who rescues or preserves, from sōzō, 'to save'. ⚠ It was a loaded political word…sōtēriaRESCUE, deliverance, coming through alive — an everyday Greek word long before it was a religious one. A…sōtērionTHE SAVING THING — a NEUTER noun, the means of rescue, distinct from sōtēria (salvation, feminine) and…sōzōTO SAVE — and, in the same breath, TO HEAL; Greek does not force a choice between the two senses the way…ta'arogTO PANT, long for — a rare verb occurring only THREE times in the Hebrew Bible. Twice in Psalm 42:2, in…ta'avahCRAVING, desire, appetite — morally neutral in itself (it is the ordinary word for wanting something), and…taahTO MARK OUT a line — a surveyor’s verb, and one of the rarest in the Hebrew Bible. ⭐ It exists only in…tachashA genuinely uncertain word for the outer covering-skins of the tabernacle (25:5) — the leading candidates…tachat ha-shemeshUNDER THE SUN — twenty-nine times in Ecclesiastes and nowhere else in the Bible. It is a frame and a limit…tachlitCOMPLETION, the end or limit of a thing — from kalah, to finish. Psalm 139:22's tachlit sinah is hatred…tachyQUICKLY, soon — an adverb of SPEED, not of certainty. ⚠ 'I am coming tachy' is said eight times in…tahorCLEAN, pure — the opposite of tame, and the DEFAULT state rather than an achievement. Nothing has to be…talanton / dēnarionTHE LARGEST UNIT AND THE SMALLEST. A dēnarion was a labourer's day-wage (Matthew 20:2 sets the rate). A…talitha koumLITTLE GIRL, GET UP — Aramaic, the language Jesus actually spoke, transliterated directly into the Greek…tameUNCLEAN — and almost everything an English reader hears in that word is wrong. It is not dirt, not sin…tamidCONTINUAL, regular — not a sacrifice-word originally, but an ordinary adverb of unbroken repetition.…tamimWhole, sound, blameless — integrity of a piece, not sinless perfection. Noah's word (6:9); asked of…tanninSea-beast; elsewhere serpent or dragon — the 'chaos monsters' listed as ordinary day-five creations. ⚠…tapeinosisLOW ESTATE, lowliness, humiliation — a lowly CONDITION, not humility as a virtue. In the Magnificat God…tarafTO TEAR, rend — what a predator does to a carcass. The noun terefah is the torn animal that a shepherd had…tarassōTo STIR UP, agitate, trouble — used of water being disturbed and of people being shaken. ⚠ In John it…tardemahA deep, God-sent sleep — laid on Abram at the covenant of the pieces (15:12), the same word as the sleep…tavnitPATTERN, model, blueprint — from banah, 'to build.' Moses is shown a tavnit of the tabernacle and all its…tebenSTRAW — chopped stubble mixed into Nile mud to bind sun-dried bricks, a technique well attested in…tehomThe deep — the primeval ocean of 1:2, whose springs burst open again at 7:11.tekheletBLUE — specifically a blue-violet dyed wool, and one of the three coloured yarns of the tabernacle (with…tekmērionA DEMONSTRATIVE proof — not a hint but the kind of sign that settles a case. Aristotle separates it from…tektōnA CRAFTSMAN, builder — broader than English 'carpenter' suggests, covering work in wood, stone, or both…teleiosPERFECT, COMPLETE — from telos, 'end, goal': not flawless but FINISHED, having reached its intended end…teleioōTo COMPLETE, bring to its end or goal — from telos. ⚠ In Hebrews 11 it occurs only once, in the chapter's…telōnēsA TAX COLLECTOR — more exactly a toll-farmer: not a salaried official but a man who bought the right to…temunahA FORM, a shape, a likeness — the noun of the image clause of the Ten Words: ‘you shall not make for…tenu'ahOPPOSITION, refusal — one of the rarest nouns in the Hebrew Bible, occurring in exactly two verses…tenufahWAVING — a priestly gesture named by a noun built directly from the verb that performs it, the same figure…teraphimHousehold GODS — small domestic idols or figurines (KJV 'images'), used for luck and divination and, in…terefPREY — torn flesh, what a predator brings back. It is what the young lions seek from God at Psalm 104:21…teru'ahA SHOUT or BLAST — the loud collective noise made by a crowd or by a ram's horn. It is the war-cry of an…terumahA LIFTING-OUT, contribution — rendered 'contribution' throughout this translation; from a root meaning to…teshuqahDesire — paired with mashal ('rule/master') at both 3:16 and 4:7, three verses apart in the text's own logic.tetraarchēsA TETRARCH — literally 'ruler of a fourth part', the Hellenistic title for one of several client-princes…tevahThe ark — a box or chest, not a ship (no sail, rudder, or helm); its only other use is Moses' basket…tevelPERVERSION — a rare word (Leviticus 18:23; 20:12, both already on these pages), from a root meaning 'to…tharseiTAKE HEART, take courage — the imperative Jesus uses to both the paralyzed man and the bleeding woman in…therapeiaHEALING, treatment, the care a doctor gives — the word behind THERAPY; it also means the household staff…thlipsisAFFLICTION — and the underlying picture is PRESSURE: thlibō means to press, squeeze or crush, and is used…thrēskeiaRELIGION as OBSERVANCE — the outward practice of worship: ritual, ceremony, cult, the visible acts of…thērionTHE BEAST — this book's own word for its central antagonist, and it arrives already wearing the definite…ti emoi kai soi'What to me and to you?' — a Hebrew idiom in Greek dress (mah-li valakh, Judges 11:12; 2 Samuel 16:10)…tiflahSomething UNSAVORY — from a root meaning tasteless, unseasoned (Job 6:6 asks whether what is taphel can be…tikvahHOPE — and concretely a CORD. The root qavah is to twist or stretch a line, so the noun is the same word…tiqqun soferim'CORRECTION OF THE SCRIBES' — a short traditional list of passages where Jewish tradition itself reports…to'evahAn ABOMINATION — something detestable, ritually or socially intolerable to a particular group. Genesis…todahTHANKSGIVING, praise — from the same root as Judah's own name (Leah names her fourth son 'this time I will…tohuFORMLESSNESS, chaos, emptiness — the earth's condition before the first day, 'formless and empty' (tohu…tohu vavohu'Formless and empty' — the rhyming pair describing the pre-creation earth.toldot'Generations' — Genesis's own structural marker; ten toldot headings organize the book (2:4; 5:1; 6:9…toledotGENERATIONS, descendants, 'the account of' — from yalad, 'to bear.' It is the load-bearing beam of…tomIntegrity, wholeness — the noun of tamim (17:1's 'blameless'). Abimelech pleads it ('in the integrity of…torahINSTRUCTION, teaching, direction — from YARAH, to throw or shoot, and so to point the way (the same root…totafotFRONTLETS — a rare word of uncertain origin, probably a band or ornament worn on the head. It appears in…trefahTORN — an animal killed by a predator rather than properly slaughtered, from taraf, 'to tear.' Its partner…trōgōTO GNAW, MUNCH — a coarser, more physically concrete verb for eating than the ordinary phagein/esthiō…tsachaqTo laugh — Abraham's face-down laugh at 17:17 mints the name Isaac (Yitschaq, 'he laughs'); Sarah's laugh…tsadaqTo BE IN THE RIGHT, be righteous — the root of tsedaqah, 'righteousness,' the noun 'counted' to Abram when…tsalachTo SUCCEED, prosper, be made to go well. Genesis 39 uses it as the drumbeat of Joseph's slavery — 'Jehovah…tsalmavetDEEPEST DARKNESS — the word behind 'the shadow of death.' The Masoretes pointed it tsal-mavet, which reads…tsamadTO BE YOKED — the verb built on tsemed, a PAIR of draught animals harnessed together (Elisha ploughing…tsarahTROUBLE, DISTRESS, ANGUISH — narrow, tight, constricted at its root, the same consonants that give Hebrew…tsavaAn army — massed ranks for war (Numbers 1:3, 'all who go out to the tsava'). The census is a military…tselSHADE, shadow — and in this climate, protection. To stand in someone's tsel is to be under their cover…tselaSide — everywhere else a structural side (tabernacle, ark, temple), never a rib bone; this translation's…tselem / demutImage / likeness — a king's image stood for his authority in his provinces; humanity bears God's. Restated…tsemachA SPROUT, a shoot — what comes up out of the ground; from tsamach, 'to sprout.' The image is a cut stump…tsitsitA TASSEL — the twisted fringe commanded at the four corners of a garment (Numbers 15:38-39), and repeated…turTO SCOUT OUT, explore, reconnoitre — the governing verb of Numbers 13 (already on these pages), where it…tympanizōTo STRETCH OVER A DRUM — from tympanon, a drum or drumhead: to be spread on a frame and beaten, the way a…typosThe mark left by a BLOW — from typtō, to strike: the dent of a hammer, the print of the nails John's…tzaddiqRIGHTEOUS — and not first as a moral compliment but as a COURTROOM verdict: the one who is in the right…tzaraatA SCALY DISEASE — traditionally ‘leprosy’, and the tradition is where the trouble starts. Around the 2nd…tze'akah / za'aqAn OUTCRY — not a prayer but the raw shout of someone being crushed, and in the Bible God is depicted as…tzedaqahRighteousness, right standing — reckoned to Abram on account of his trust (15:6), granted rather than earned.tzelemIMAGE, statue — Biblical Aramaic, the same root as the Hebrew word for the divine image in Genesis…tzeva'otARMIES — the plural in the divine title YHWH TZEVA'OT, 'Jehovah of Armies,' which makes its FIRST…tzitzA BLOSSOM — and, in the sanctuary, a PLATE of gold. The same noun does both jobs, and the overlap is not a…tzo'imFILTHY — one of the crudest words in Biblical Hebrew, built on a root elsewhere connected with human…tzovaHOST, ARMY — the same root behind Adonai Tzevaot, 'the LORD of Hosts,' God's own title as commander of a…tzurROCK — one of the oldest divine titles, the immovable crag you shelter behind or stand on. Distinct from…tzviBEAUTY, glory, ornament — and also GAZELLE, and the Bible plays on both. The lament opens 'the TZVI, O…urimTHE PRIESTLY ORACLE — an object or pair of objects kept in the high priest's breastpiece, used to put a…Urim and ThummimTwo objects placed inside the high priest's breastplate (28:30) and never once described — no shape, no…vayinafashTo BE REFRESHED — a rare verb from the same root as nefesh, 'soul, life-breath': literally 'to be…xenosA STRANGER, and also a GUEST — the same word for the unknown outsider and for the visitor you take in…xylonWOOD, timber — the cut thing, not the ordinary word for a living tree (that is dendron). ⚠ It is what the…yabbemTo DO THE DUTY OF A BROTHER-IN-LAW — one Hebrew verb, built from yabam, 'a husband's brother.' When a man…yachamTo BE HOT — and so, of animals, to be in heat and to conceive; Genesis 30:38-39 and 31:10 use it of…yachid'Only one, only child' — 'take your son, your ONLY ONE' (22:2, 12, 16). Ishmael was sent away one chapter…yad ramahA HIGH HAND — the raised arm, the gesture of somebody doing a thing openly and meaning it. ⚠ The phrase is…yadaTo know — including Hebrew's own euphemism for intimacy ('the man knew his wife,' 4:1). ⚠ Distinct from…YahThe SHORT form of the divine name, one syllable rather than the full four consonants of YHVH — the form…yakachTO ARGUE A CASE OUT, to reach a judgment between parties — a LEGAL verb (it is what a judge, an arbiter or…yaradTO GO DOWN, descend — the verb that tracks Jonah's flight like a plumb line. ⚠ He goes DOWN to Joppa, DOWN…yare / yir'ahTO FEAR — and, in the same word, TO REVERE, to worship. Hebrew does not split the terror from the…yarekhThe THIGH / loins — under which the servant puts his hand to swear (24:2, 9). Not an idle gesture: the…yashaTO SAVE, deliver, bring into a wide open place (the opposite of tsar, 'narrow, hemmed in'). It is the root…yatsarTO FORM, shape, fashion — the potter's verb. It is the word for God forming the man from the dust of the…ye'orThe NILE — Egypt's OWN word for its river (Egyptian itrw), used in Hebrew almost only of the Nile (KJV…yemimA one-off word (a hapax legomenon) that has defeated every translator: 'this is the Anah who found the…yeshuahSALVATION — but concretely: rescue, being got out of danger, victory. 'Stand firm and see the YESHUAH of…YHVHThe personal name of God (יהוה), first here at 2:4. Most English Bibles hide it behind the title 'the…yirat Jehovah'The fear of Jehovah' — the motto and refrain of Proverbs: 'the beginning of knowledge' (1:7), 'the…Yisrael'He STRIVES with God' (or 'God strives / God rules') — the new name wrestled out of Jacob at the Jabbok…yitronPROFIT, surplus — what is left over when the reckoning is done; from yatar, 'to remain over.' A commercial…yitzharFRESH, pressed oil — the harvest word, third of the standing grain-wine-oil triad (dagan, tirosh, yitzhar)…yomDAY — one of the most elastic words in the Hebrew Bible, and the reason the length of the creation 'days'…yom YHWHTHE DAY OF JEHOVAH — the day God acts decisively in judgment and vindication. ⚠ Joel is where it becomes a…yovelJUBILEE — the fiftieth year, proclaimed after seven cycles of seven sabbatical years (25:8-10). The word…za’amTO DENOUNCE, to curse with indignation — the third of the Balaam story’s curse-verbs, alongside arar and…za'aqah / tse'aqahThe outcry — the legal scream of the wronged. Abel's blood 'cries out' from the ground (4:10), the outcry…zadonINSOLENCE, presumptuous arrogance — not ordinary pride but the overreaching kind that thinks itself…zakharTo remember — divine remembering that acts: 'God remembered Noah' turns the flood (8:1); God looks at the…zakharTo REMEMBER — and in Hebrew never merely 'to recall.' It means to act on behalf of, to take up someone's…zakhorREMEMBER — and in Hebrew far more active than recollection: to remember is to act on. ⚠ Exodus 20:7…zanahTO PROSTITUTE oneself, to whore — the ordinary verb for selling sex, which the prophets then made the…zarAN OUTSIDER — anyone outside the priestly household, without regard to origin or citizenship. The word…zaraTO SOW — the ordinary farmer's verb, and the root behind zera, seed or offspring. It runs through the…zarahFOREIGN, unauthorized, illegitimate — the old sense of 'strange' (alien, not-belonging), not the modern…zavA DISCHARGE — and the Hebrew that names it is itself a euphemism. Zav mibsaro literally reads ‘flows from…zavat chalav u-devash'Flowing with milk and honey' — the land-promise's signature phrase, first spoken here (3:8, 17) and…zemanA SEASON, an appointed time — a late word borrowed from Persian, rare in the Hebrew Bible and confined to…zenunimPROMISCUITY, harlotries — an abstract plural from zanah, and NOT the same as zonah, 'a prostitute.' Hosea…zenutWHOREDOM, faithlessness — the noun, as distinct from the common verb 'to prostitute oneself'. ⚠ Checked…zeraSEED — grain sown, offspring, descendants; from zara, to scatter seed. ⚠ It is the root of JEZREEL…zero'imSeed-food, vegetables — a word found only in Daniel 1 (vv 12, 16), the diet of history's first recorded…zeroa netuyah'Outstretched arm' — the redemption formula: 'a mighty hand and an outstretched arm' is how Deuteronomy…zeroaʿAn ARM — and idiomatically, power exerted. 'The arm of Jehovah' opens Isaiah 53 as a question: to whom has…zevachA SACRIFICE — specifically a slaughtered animal offered to God, and usually a shared FEAST: most of a…zimahDEPRAVITY — deliberate, premeditated sexual wrongdoing, from a root meaning 'to plan, devise'; the word…zohar'Radiance, shining' — Daniel 12:3's wise 'shine like the SHINING of the vault' (yazhiru ke-zohar, the…zonahA PROSTITUTE — the plain, ordinary word (from zanah, to be unfaithful, to whore), used both literally and…zygosYOKE — the wooden crossbar laid across a paired team's necks so two animals pull one load together; by…zōaLIVING CREATURES — the plain, unremarkable plural of zōon, a living thing, animal. ⚠ KJV alone on the…ōdinA LABOUR PAIN — specifically the pangs of childbirth, not pain in general. ⚠ At Matthew 24:8 the wars…