Study the Hebrew and Greek words behind your English Bible

You don’t need to read Greek or Hebrew to begin a Greek and Hebrew word study. In Scripture Deck’s Bible reader, turn on Original language and tap a word. You’ll see the Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek word behind the English, with its transliteration, grammar, Strong’s number, and a short gloss. One more tap opens a page listing every verse where that word appears.

Start a free word study See John 3:16 word by word

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Study a word in John 3:16, step by step

Here is one word study from start to finish, on “loved” in John 3:16.

Open John 3 in the reader and choose the Berean Standard Bible (BSB) as your translation.
Choose Original language. The Greek words appear beneath each verse, and English words linked to a Greek word are underlined.
Tap or click “loved” in verse 16. A panel opens with the Greek word behind it.
Read the panel, then choose Open word study to see the word’s other verses.
Come back to John 3:16 and read it again with the verses around it. To keep what you found, select the verse and choose Note.

For “loved,” the panel is headed ἠγάπησεν, with ēgapēsen · Koine Greek beneath it, and shows:

Lemma: ἀγαπάω
Gloss: to love
Rendered in the BSB as: loved
Parsing: V-AIA-3S
Grammar: Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong’s number: G0025
Occurrences: 143 in 110 verses

Below them is a longer entry, labeled Lexical range (Abbott-Smith, via STEPBible).

The public John 3:16 verse page lists the same Greek words with their transliteration, BSB English, Strong’s numbers, and short definitions. You can open it without an account.

Choose how much of the original you see

The reader can show a chapter three ways:

English only: the reader’s usual view, with the original language off.
Original language: the English stays, and each verse’s Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek words appear beneath it in order, each with a transliteration and English. This is the reader’s interlinear view.
Original only: the source words take the place of the English, still with a transliteration and English under each word. Genesis 1:1 becomes seven Hebrew words, reading right to left.

Choose Original language again to return to English. On a phone, that button shows just its icon.

In the BSB, KJV, and YLT, pointing at an underlined word, or moving to it with the keyboard, shows a quick hint: the source word, its transliteration, its gloss, and its grammar. Tapping or clicking a word opens the full panel, on the right of a larger screen and from the bottom on a phone.

You can also begin with a verse. Select a verse or a range and choose Original from the verse actions. The panel lists every source word in your selection; tap one to see its details.

Read the grammar, gloss, and Strong’s number

Here is what each part of the panel tells you.

Lemma is the word’s dictionary form. ἠγάπησεν is one form of ἀγαπάω, and every form shares that lemma.
The transliteration under the heading writes the word in English letters, so you can read it without the Greek or Hebrew alphabet.
Parsing is the source’s grammar code, and Grammar spells it out. V-AIA-3S is a verb in the aorist indicative active, third person singular.
Strong’s number identifies the lemma, with G for Greek and H for Hebrew and Aramaic. ἀγαπάω is G0025, often written G25. Many concordances and lexicons use the same numbers.
Gloss is a short dictionary definition of the lemma. Rendered in the BSB as is how the Berean Standard Bible translated the word in this verse. In John 3:16, μονογενῆ has the gloss “unique,” and the BSB renders it “one and only.”
Occurrences counts how many times the word appears in the Bible, and in how many verses.

Greek words also have a lexical range from Abbott-Smith’s Greek lexicon. Hebrew and Aramaic words have the short gloss only.

These are aids, not answers. As the panel itself says, glosses and grammar don’t establish the contextual or theological meaning of a passage. Compare a few other verses where the word appears, and let the verse and the passage around it have the last word. For a simple routine that starts with observation, see Bible study for beginners.

Follow one word through the BSB, KJV, and YLT

Three translations link their English words to the original: the Berean Standard Bible, the King James Version, and Young’s Literal Translation. With Original language on, their linked words are underlined, and tapping one opens the source word behind it.

Genesis 1:1 shows why this helps. In the BSB and the KJV, “created” is linked to the Hebrew verb בָּרָא (bā·rā, H1254). Young’s Literal Translation has “preparing the heavens and the earth,” and links “preparing” to the same verb.

Each translation’s links follow its own wording, so one source word can link to several English words. In John 3:16, the KJV links “only begotten” to μονογενῆ, which the BSB renders “one and only,” and the YLT links both “did” and “love” in “God did so love the world” to ἠγάπησεν.

A word that no English word renders, such as the object marker אֵת before “the heavens” in Genesis 1:1, has no link and appears only beneath the verse. The other translations in the library, including the World English Bible, show the source words beneath each verse without underlined links. In the reader’s parallel view, the original language follows the first column; for more on reading translations side by side, see comparing Bible translations.

See every verse where a word appears

Open word study takes you from the panel to the word’s own page, headed Koine Greek word study, Biblical Hebrew word study, or Biblical Aramaic word study. The page for ἀγαπάω shows:

the lemma with its transliteration and Strong’s number, and counts of its occurrences, verses, and forms across the whole Greek New Testament;
Lexical information: the gloss and, for Greek, the Abbott-Smith lexical range;
Grammatical forms: each form of the word with its grammar and how often it occurs, up to the 40 most frequent;
Scripture occurrences: every verse that uses the word, printed in the World English Bible, 25 verses to a page. Choose More verses to keep going, and open any verse in the reader.

Hebrew and Aramaic word pages count across the whole Hebrew and Aramaic Old Testament. Each page also lists your own notes and mind maps on the verses shown, under Notes on these passages and Mind maps using these passages.

You can also start from Search. Type a Greek or Hebrew word (λόγος), a Greek transliteration (theos), an English gloss (create), or a Strong’s number (H1254 or G25). Matching words appear in their own group, Greek and Hebrew words, each with its Strong’s number, transliteration, and gloss, and each opens its word page. A search for “create” finds Greek κτίζω (G2936) and Hebrew בָּרָא (H1254), the verb in Genesis 1:1.

The lexicon writes Hebrew transliterations in syllables, such as ba.ra, so a gloss or a Strong’s number is the easiest way to find a Hebrew word.

The Greek word page for ἀγαπάω (G0025): 143 occurrences in 110 verses, the gloss “to love” with its range of meaning, and its grammatical forms.

Where the words and definitions come from

The library holds 443,625 Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words across the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, from these sources:

Words, parsing, transliteration, Strong’s numbers, and BSB renderings: the Berean Standard Bible translation tables, dedicated to the public domain on April 30, 2023. They also supply the BSB word links. The Hebrew follows the Westminster Leningrad Codex, and the Greek a Nestle 1904 base text, with readings from other editions marked.
Lemmas, glosses, and Greek lexical ranges: STEPBible’s TBESH and TBESG brief lexicons, data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge, under CC BY 4.0. The Greek ranges follow Abbott-Smith. The Hebrew definitions column is not included.
KJV word links: the Strong’s numbers tagged in eBible.org’s King James Version text, public domain outside the United Kingdom.
YLT word links: “Bible alignments by Clear Bible / Biblica, Inc.” under CC BY 4.0, placed with Clear Bible’s WLCM Hebrew data (© Clear Bible, Inc., CC BY 4.0) and the Greek word numbering of STEPBible’s TAGNT (CC BY 4.0).

Where a source leaves a field empty, the app leaves it empty too. Full notices are on the Sources page and in the app under Settings → Sources and attribution.

Questions

Greek and Hebrew word study questions

Do I need to know Greek or Hebrew?

No. Words come with a transliteration, their English, a short gloss, and their grammar written out in English, so you can follow them without reading the alphabet. If you are learning a language, Original only puts the Greek or Hebrew text first.

Is Scripture Deck free?

Yes. There is no charge to create an account or to study the original words, open word pages, or search the lexicon, and no subscription or card. If optional paid features are added later, the tools you use today will stay free. Many popular verses also have public pages, such as Genesis 1:1, that show the original words without an account.

Is this an interlinear Bible?

The reader’s Original language view works as one: each verse’s Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek words appear in order beneath the English, with a transliteration and English under each word. Original only shows the source words without the English verse.

Which translations link English words to the original?

The Berean Standard Bible, the King James Version, and Young’s Literal Translation. The other translations in the library show the source words beneath each verse instead. The word library covers the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments; the deuterocanonical books in the Catholic editions are not part of it.

Does it include the Aramaic in Daniel and Ezra?

Yes. Daniel 2:4–7:28, Ezra 4:8–6:18 and 7:12–26, and Jeremiah 10:11 carry their Aramaic words, labeled Biblical Aramaic. Aramaic words have H numbers, like Hebrew, and their word pages count across the Hebrew and Aramaic Old Testament.

Can I save what I learn about a word?

Yes, in a note on the verse. Word pages don’t hold notes themselves, so open one of the word’s verses, select it, and choose Note to write a passage-linked note. The word page then lists that note under Notes on these passages whenever it shows that verse.