Browse biblical Hebrew words

By first letter

The 100 most frequent Hebrew words

Learn these and you have covered a large share of every Hebrew sentence in the Bible.

• etאֵת[Obj.]not studied yet
• yahwehיהוהthe personal name of the God of Israel: his own name, the name he gives himself, by which his people are to call on him and know him as the God who is with them.
• alעַלuponnot studied yet
• elאֶלto(wards)not studied yet
• asherאֲשֶׁרwhichnot studied yet
• kolכֹּלthe totality of something: the whole of it, or each and every one of its members
• amarאָמַרto say: to speak words, and so to think them or to declare them
• loלֹאnotnot studied yet
• benבֵּןa son: a male child, and by extension a descendant or a member of a group
• kiכִּיbecause, for: it attaches the reason or the grounds behind what has just been said
  +3 more meanings

  • that: it introduces the content of what someone sees, knows, hears, or says
  • when, if: it frames the circumstance or the case the main statement answers to
  • but rather, except, only: after a denial, it names what holds instead
• hayahהָיָהto be: to exist, be present, become, or come to pass
• asahעָשָׂהto do or make: to bring something about by acting, whether shaping a thing or carrying out a deed
  +1 more meaning

  • to press or squeeze: a separate, rare word that happens to share this spelling
• elohimאֱלֹהִיםGod, or a god: any being that belongs to the divine realm. Most often it names the one God of Israel, but the same word also names foreign gods, members of the heavenly court, and even the spirits of the dead.
• boבּוֹאto come, go, or enter: to arrive at a destination or move into it
  +1 more meaning

  • to bring, lead in, or carry in: to cause a person or thing to come
• melekhמֶלֶךְa king: the single supreme ruler at the head of a people, city, or land
• yisra'elיִשְׂרָאֵלIsrael: the name given to Jacob, and then to the covenant people and nation descended from him
• eretsאֶרֶץthe ground at any scale: the dirt underfoot, a country with borders, or the whole earth beneath the sky
• yomיוֹםday: a bounded stretch of time seen as a whole, whether the daylight hours, one date on the calendar, or a whole span of living
• panehפָּנֶהthe face: the front of a person's head, the look it carries, and the presence of the one who turns it toward you
  +2 more meanings

  • the front or surface of a thing: the outer side it turns toward you
  • the position words built on this noun: before, in front of, away from, and so because of
• bayitבַּיִתhouse: a bounded, enclosed space and, by extension, the people, the family line, the temple, or the place it holds together.
• natanנָתַןto give: to hand something over so it passes from one person or place to another, whether as a gift, into a position, or into someone's power
• huהוּאhe/she/itnot studied yet
• amעַםa people: a body of persons bound together as one community by shared descent, land, and loyalty
  +1 more meaning

  • kinsman, blood relative: the members of one's own family or clan
• ishאִישׁa man: one human being singled out, most often a grown male, but just as readily a husband, a person of a certain kind, or simply "each one".
• yadיָדthe hand: the part of the body that grasps and works, and by extension the power, the doing, and the reach that a hand stands for
• halakhהָלַךְto go or walk: to move along on foot, and by extension to live a life headed in a particular direction.
• davarדָּבָרa word, or the matter that word is about: anything said, and equally the affair, event, or thing being spoken of
• ra'ahרָאָהto see: to take something in with the eyes, and from there to perceive, understand, experience, look into, provide for, or (turned around) be seen and shown.
• adעַדtillnot studied yet
• avאָבfather: the man who begets a child, and by extension anyone who stands as a father to others
• minמִן־fromnot studied yet
• zehזֶהthisnot studied yet
• shamaשָׁמַעto hear: to take in what reaches the ear, and from there to listen, understand, heed, and answer.
  +1 more meaning

  • to summon, to muster troops together for war.
• davarדָבַרto speak: to put thought into words and aim them at a hearer
  +1 more meaning

  • to subdue: to bring peoples under someone's rule
• attahאַתָּהyou(m.s.)not studied yet
• irעִירa settled place where people live together: the everyday word for a town of any size, marked off from open country and from lone farmsteads.
  +1 more meaning

  • agitation: a rush of rage, panic, or anguish, in a rare word written with the same letters as the word for a town.
• yashavיָשַׁבto sit, to dwell, or to stay: to settle into a fixed place and remain there, whether for a moment, a lifetime, or a reign.
• davidדָּוִדDavid: Israel's second king, son of Jesse, and founder of the royal line God promised would endure forever.
• imאִםif: it sets a condition, so that what follows depends on whether that thing is so
  +3 more meanings

  • in an oath: a flat denial, or, when the word for "not" is added, a flat promise
  • or, whether: it opens the second half of a two way question, or names the thing being asked about
  • except, but rather: joined to the word for "that", it carves out the one case a denial does not cover
• yatsaיָצָאto go out: to move from inside a place to outside it, or to come forth from a source into view
  +1 more meaning

  • to bring out: to cause a person or thing to come out, to lead or carry something out from where it was
• shuvשׁוּבto turn back: to reverse a movement and retrace the way already taken, whether going home, sending something back, or turning toward or away from God
• imעִםwithnot studied yet
• eḥadאֶחָדone: the cardinal number one, with the everyday senses that grow out of counting a single thing
• laqaḥלָקַחto take: to lay hold of someone or something and bring it into your hand, your possession, or your keeping
• yadaיָדַעto know: to have or come to have a firm hold on something, whether a fact, a skill, or a person.
• etאֵתwith: alongside, in the company of, or in dealing with someone or something
• alahעָלָהto go up: to move, or to carry something, from a lower place to a higher one
• ayinעַיִןthe eye: the organ of sight, and by extension how a person sees, judges, wants, and is looked upon.
  +1 more meaning

  • a spring or well: a place where water comes up out of the ground.
• shanehשָׁנָהa year: one full turn of the seasons, the standard unit for counting time, age, and reigns
• aniאֲנִיInot studied yet
• shemשֵׁםa name: the word a person, place, or thing is called by, which in the Bible stands for who that person really is and how they endure in the world.
• shalaḥשָׁלַחto send: to make a person or thing go out from you toward a destination, a target, or freedom
• hinnehהִנֵּהbehold, look: a pointing word that grabs the listener's attention and directs it at what comes next.
• mutמוּתto die: for a living thing to lose its life and stop living.
  +1 more meaning

  • to put to death, to kill: to be the cause of someone's death.
• shamשָׁםthere: the place already named, pointed at instead of named again
• yehudahיְהוּדָהJudah: a man's name, borne above all by Jacob's fourth son, the brother from whom David's royal line descends
  +1 more meaning

  • Judah: the tribe descended from Jacob's son, and the territory, southern kingdom, and Persian province that carried its name
• akhalאָכַלto eat: to take something in and use it up, whether food into a body or anything into a force that destroys it
• evedעֶבֶדa servant or slave: a person whose identity is defined by subordination to another, ranging from an owned slave to a royal official to a worshipper chosen by God.
• ayinאַיִןthere is not: the word that denies that something exists or is present
• ishshahאִשָּׁהan adult female human being: a woman, and, when the sentence ties her to a man, his wife.
• kenכֵּןso, thus: pointing back to a manner, situation, or statement just named
  +1 more meaning

  • right, honest, true: correct in fact or upright in character
• shenayimשְׁנַיִםtwo: the cardinal number that counts a set of exactly two
• gamגַּםalso: a small word that adds one more thing to what was just said, or leans on it for emphasis
• moshehמֹשֶׁהMoses: the prophet who led Israel out of slavery in Egypt and received the law from God at Mount Sinai.
• nepheshנֶפֶשׁthe living self: a person or creature as a breathing, needy, feeling whole, and so by extension their life, their longing, and their very self.
• mahמָהwhat?not studied yet
• kohenכֹּהֵןpriest: a person who officiates at a sanctuary for a god, standing between worshipers and that god by handling sacrifice, ruling on what is holy and clean, and teaching the god's instruction
• ellehאֵלֶּהthesenot studied yet
• qaraקָרָאto raise the voice toward someone: to call, summon, invoke, name, proclaim, or read aloud
• alאַלnotnot studied yet
• aḥarאַחַרbehind or after: the place at the back of something, or the time that comes later
• derekhדֶּרֶךְa way: the road you travel, and by extension the path your whole life takes
  +1 more meaning

  • possibly, dominion or power: rule or might, in a few disputed poetic lines
• raרַעbad: failing the standard of what it should be, whether defective, harmful, or unpleasant, with no question of sin
  +2 more meanings

  • calamity: disaster, ruin, or affliction that falls on a person or nation, the trouble that is the opposite of well-being
  • morally evil: conduct, intent, or persons that are wrong in the sight of God, the opposite of what is good
• nasaנָשָׂאto lift or raise something up: to take it from where it rests and hold it higher
  +3 more meanings

  • to carry or bear a load: to hold up what has been lifted and move it
  • to bear guilt or its punishment: to carry the weight of a wrong
  • to forgive: to lift guilt off a person so it no longer rests on them
• yerushalaimיְרוּשָׁלִַם, יְרוּשְׁלֵםJerusalem: the walled hill city of Judah that became the seat of Israel's kings and the one place chosen for worship, and whose name comes to stand for its people and their promised future as well as its streets
• mitsrayimמִצְרַיִםEgypt: the country along the Nile southwest of Canaan, together with its people and its kingdom
  +1 more meaning

  • Mizraim: a son of Ham in the lists of the nations, the ancestor whose name is also the name of Egypt
• aḥאָחa brother: a male tied to you by birth, and by extension anyone bound to you by blood, nation, or loyal kinship
• qumקוּםto rise up, stand, and stay standing, and to raise up or make something stand, the whole arc from getting to one's feet to bringing a covenant or kingdom into lasting force
• zotזֹאתthisnot studied yet
• roshרֹאשׁhead: the head on a body, and from that picture the top of a thing, the person in charge, the start of something, the choicest part, and the total of a count.
• levלֵבthe heart: the hidden inner center of a person, where one thinks, decides, feels, and stands answerable to God
• batבַּתdaughter: a female child in relation to her parents
• sumשׂוּםto put something in a position: to set it down somewhere, turn it into something, assign it to a role, or fix it in place so it stays
• me'ahמֵאָהa hundred: the cardinal number 100
• mayimמַיwater: the substance itself and any quantity of it, from a cupful to a river to the sea
• kohכֹּהthus, in this way; also here and now: a pointing word that draws attention to a particular manner, place, or moment
• enoshאֱנוֹשׁa human being; a person, especially in poetry, where the word often hints at how small and short-lived a person is.
• goyגּוֹיa nation: a people group seen as a political and territorial body, with its own land, government, and identity
  +2 more meanings

  • the nations: the peoples other than Israel, the gentiles, often pictured as hostile to God and his people
  • Goyim: used as a proper name, a place or political grouping called "Nations," not the common word for a people
• avarעָבַרto move across or past something: to cross over, pass by, pass through, or move on
  +3 more meanings

  • to overstep what God commanded: to break a covenant, command, or oath
  • to make something cross over: to bring across, hand over, remove, or send through
  • to be furious or overbearing: anger that boils over its limits
• hemmahהֵמָּהthey(masc.)not studied yet
• adamאָדָםhumankind: the human being as a creature of the ground, used both for people as a whole and for any single person
• harהַרa mountain or hill: raised, high ground, from a single peak to a whole range or the upland region a people settles in
• tovטוֹבgood: fittingly answering to what a thing, a person, or a relationship is meant to be, so that it is sound, pleasing, right, or beneficial
• gadolגָּדוֹלgreat: large in size, high in degree, or high in rank, depending on what it describes
• amadעָמַדto stand: to be on one's feet and in place, and so to take up a position, come to a halt, or wait there on someone
  +3 more meanings

  • to remain: to keep standing over time, and so to last, to hold one's ground, or to be valid rather than fall
  • to arise: to come onto the scene and take one's place, as a king coming to power
  • to set up: to make something or someone stand, and so to erect, station, appoint, present, or confirm
• elephאֶלֶףthe number one thousand, the round figure used to count people, soldiers, animals, time, and value
  +1 more meaning

  • a clan or troop: the subdivision of a tribe that supplied its fighting men, and the contingent it sent
• qolקוֹלa sound that reaches the ear: most often a voice, but also any noise a thing makes, and the words a voice carries.
• taḥatתַּחַתunder, beneath: the lower position relative to something above
  +2 more meanings

  • in place of, instead of, in exchange for: one thing standing where another would be
  • because, in return for the fact that: a reason given as the price of an action
• nakhahנָכָהto deliver a blow: to strike someone or something, whether a single hit, a fatal stroke, a battlefield rout, or an affliction sent from God
• pehפֶּהthe mouth: the opening in the face used to eat and drink and above all to speak, and so, by a natural step, the speech, words, or command that come out of it
  +3 more meanings

  • the mouth of a thing: the opening of a well, sack, cave, or pit, the edge of a sword that devours, and the reach from one end of a place to the other
  • a fixed relating phrase in which the word stops meaning a body part: in proportion to, or at the command of
  • a measured portion or share, above all the double portion that names the firstborn's part of an inheritance