בִּין
to understand
‘to understand’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Hiphil verb in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘perceive’
- Hiphil
- The causative active stem (“he caused / brought about”). Here: ‘understand’
- Niphal
- Usually the simple passive or reflexive of the Qal (“he was written”).
- Hithpolel
- The reflexive counterpart of the Polel. Here: ‘shew oneself attentive’
- Polel
- A stem of hollow/geminate roots functioning like the Piel — intensive active. Here: ‘shew oneself attentive’
- Hithpael
- The reflexive or reciprocal stem (the subject acts on itself).
Form
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Jussive
- A third- or second-person volitional form expressing wish or command (“let him write”).
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Cohortative
- A first-person volitional form expressing wish or resolve (“let me / let us write”).
- Participle Passive
- A verbal adjective expressing action received (“written”).
- Infinitive Absolute
- An unbound verbal noun, often intensifying or standing in for a finite verb.
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
1 verse where H995 appears in the Qal stem in the Book of 2 Chronicles. Filtered view — show all forms. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
2 Chronicles
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
The Hebrew verb בין centers on the idea of “to understand.” The King James Version usually renders it “understand,” while modern versions prefer “discerning” (Berean Standard Bible) — see the renderings breakdown. Spanning 162 verses in 18 books, it ranks among the common words of the Hebrew Bible. Debuting at Genesis 41:33, it then recurs through the corpus. Read the stem: it spans 4 stems, including Qal and Niphal. Dig into 162-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H995 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 162
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 162 distinct verses.
- 18 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 18 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #270
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 270 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 162 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 162 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 118 verses · 73%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 37 verses · 23%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 7 verses · 4%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Understand 17×, Consider 9×, Understanding 7×
- American Standard Version: Understand 13×, Consider 11×, Understanding 8×
- Berean Standard Bible: Discerning 15×, Understand 15×, Understanding 12×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Understand 35×, Understanding 10×, Understanding one 10×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H995 across 169 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 90 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H995 across 167 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 91 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H995 across 166 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 80 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 3 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H995 across 203 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 76 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
40 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each. This entry also uses one or more reduplicated stems (the Pōlēl/Pilpēl type), which for hollow or geminate roots behave much like Piel — often intensive or iterative.
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 40 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
Qal
- Pf. בִּין Dn 10:1; בַּנְתָּה ψ 139:2; בִּינֹתִי Dn 9:2; Impf. יָבִין ψ 19:13 + 25 times; וְיָבֵן Je 9:11 + 2 times; וַיָּבֶן 1 S 3:8 + 2 times; אָבִינָה ψ 73:17 + 4 times; יָבִינוּ Pr 28:5 + 12 times; Imv. בִּין Dn 9:23; בִּינָה ψ 5:2; בִּינוּ Dt 32:7 + 2 times; Inf. abs. בִּין Pr 23:1; Pt. בָּנִים Je 49:7;— e.g. Daniel 10:1
- 1. perceive (with the senses):—
- a. eyes, acc. Pr 7:7, with לְ Jb 9:11; 14:21; 23:8 Pr 14:15. e.g. Proverbs 7:7
- b. ears, acc. Pr 29:19, with reflex. לְ Jb 13:1. e.g. Proverbs 29:19
- c. touch, acc. ψ 58:10. e.g. Psalms 58:10
- d. taste, acc. Jb 6:30. e.g. Job 6:30
- 2. understand, know (with mind):—
- a. abs. Jb 18:2; 38:20; 42:3 ψ 49:21; 82:5 Pr 24:12 Is 6:9, 10; 44:18 Dn 12:10 Ho 4:14; 14:10; שׁמעתי ולא אבין I heard but I could not understand Dn 12:8. e.g. Job 18:2
- b. acc. Jb 15:9; 23:5; 36:29 Pr 2:5, 9; 20:24; 28:5 ψ 19:13; 92:7 Je 9:11; יבין משׁפט Jb 32:9 Pr 28:5; יבין דעת Pr 29:7. e.g. Job 15:9
- c. with כִּי 1 S 3:8 2 S 12:19 Is 43:10. e.g. 1 Samuel 3:8
- d. with inf. & לְ, יבין לָדָ֑עַת Is 32:4. e.g. Isaiah 32:4
- 3. observe, mark, give heed to, distinguish, consider (with attention):—
- a. acc. Dt 32:7 ψ 5:2; 50:22; 94:7, 8 Pr 23:1; 21:29 (Qr) Dn 9:2; 10:1. e.g. Deuteronomy 32:7
- b. with לְ, ψ 73:17; 139:2 Dt 32:29. e.g. Psalms 73:17
- c. with בְּ, Ezr 8:15 Ne 13:7 Dn 9:23. e.g. Ezra 8:15
- d. with אל, ψ 28:5. e.g. Psalms 28:5
- e. with עַל, Dn 11:30, 37. e.g. Daniel 11:30
- 4. have discernment, insight, understanding Je 49:7. e.g. Jeremiah 49:7
Niphal
- נְבֻנוֹתִי Is 10:13; Pt. נָבוֹן Gn 41:33 + 15 times; pl. נְבוֹנִים Je 4:22, elsewhere נְבֹנִים Dt 1:13 Is 5:22 (Baer) Ec 9:11; נְבֹנָיו Is 29:14; be intelligent, discreet, discerning, have understanding 1 S 16:18 Pr 1:5; 10:13; 14:6; 16:21; 17:28; 19:25 Ec 9:11 Is 3:3; 5:21; 10:13; 29:14 Je 4:22 Ho 14:10; לֵב נָבוֹן intelligent mind Pr 14:33; 15:14; 18:15; נָבוֹן וְחָכָם Gn 41:33, 39; חכם ונבון Dt 4:6 1 K 3:12; חכמים ונבנים Dt 1:13. Poʿl. יְבוֹנֲנֵהוּ he attentively considereth him Dt 32:10. e.g. Isaiah 10:13
Hiphil
- Pf. הֵבִין Jb 28:23 + 5 times; Impf. יָבִין Is 28:9 + 4 times; וַיָּבֶן 2 Ch 11:23 Dn 9:22; Inf. הָבִין ψ 32:9 + 9 times; Imv. הָבֵן Dn 8:16 + 12 times; Pt. מֵבִין Pr 28:7 + 26 times;— e.g. Job 28:23
- 1. understand:—
- a. abs. Is 29:16; 40:21; 56:11 1 K 3:11 ψ 32:9 Dn 8:17; 10:12. e.g. Isaiah 29:16
- b. acc. 1 Ch 28:9 Jb 28:23 Pr 1:2, 6; 8:5; 14:8 Is 28:19 Dn 8:23 Mi 4:12; מֵבִין one with understanding Pr 8:9; 17:10, 24; 28:2, 7, 11; מְבִינֵי מַדָּע Dn 1:4; able to understand (i.e. old enough) Ne 8:3; 10:29, cf. 8:2 (sq. לִשׁמֹעַ). e.g. 1 Chronicles 28:9
- 2. give heed to, attend to, observe, discern, abs. Is 57:1 2 Ch 11:23 Dn 8:5; c. בְּ Ne 8:12 Dn 9:23; 10:11; מֵבִין בְּ skilled in 2 Ch 26:5; 34:12; c. אֶל ψ 33:15; בין טוב לרע 1 K 3:9. e.g. Isaiah 57:1
- 3. give understanding, make understand, teach:—
- a. abs. Dn 8:27; 9:22. e.g. Daniel 8:27
- b. with acc. pers. ψ 119:34, 73, 125, 130, 144, 169 Jb 32:8 Ne 8:7, 9 Is 40:14. e.g. Psalms 119:34
- c. with לְ pers. 2 Ch 35:3 Dn 11:33; with לְ pers. & acc. rei Jb 6:24 Dn 8:16. e.g. 2 Chronicles 35:3
- d. בְּ rei Ne 8:8, + acc. pers. Dn 1:17. e.g. Nehemiah 8:8
- e. double acc. Is 28:9 ψ 119:27 Dn 10:14; מֵבִין teacher 1 Ch 15:22; 25:7, 8; 27:32 Ezr 8:16. e.g. Isaiah 28:9
Hithpoʿl
- Pf. הִתְבּוֹנָ֑ן Is 1:3 + 6 times; Impf. אֶתְבּוֹנֵן Jb 23:15 + 3 times; אֶתְבּוֹנָ֑ן Jb 32:12 + 5 times; יִתְבּוֹנְנוּ ψ 107:43 + 2 times; יִתְבּוֹנָ֑נוּ Is 14:16; 43:18. e.g. Isaiah 1:3
- 1. shew oneself attentive, consider diligently:—
- a. abs. Jb 11:11; 23:15 Is 1:3 Je 2:10; 9:16. e.g. Job 11:11
- b. acc. Jb 37:14 ψ 107:43; 119:95 Is 43:18; 52:15. e.g. Job 37:14
- c. with אֶל 1 K 3:21 Is 14:16. e.g. 1 Kings 3:21
- d. with עַל Jb 31:1 ψ 37:10. e.g. Job 31:1
- e. with עד Jb 32:12; 38:18. e.g. Job 32:12
- f. with בְּ Jb 30:20 Je 30:24. e.g. Job 30:20
- 2. get understanding, understand Je 23:20 Jb 26:14 (sq. acc.) ψ 119:104. e.g. Jeremiah 23:20
- 3. shew oneself to have understanding ψ 119:100. e.g. Psalms 119:100
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
vb. discern (Nö ZMG 1883, 532 f.; Arabic بَانَ become separated, be distinct, iv. speak perspicuously; Ethiopic በየነ: i. 2 consider, perceive, Aramaic ܒܰܝܶܢ make to understand, cf. Sab. בין (the) wise, as epith., Mordt ZMG 1876, 37)—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive root
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
בִּין
- , v. בוא) to pierce, split, penetrate; whence, to discern, understand; v. Hif.
- (cmp. בֵּין) to cause to penetrate, to saturate. Sifra Vayikra, N’dab., Par. 12, ch. XIV (ref. to Lev. II, 13) יכול תְּבוֹנֵּהוּ from bammelaḥ I might judge, ‘thou must thoroughly saturate it, ת"ל תמלח therefore it says, ‘timlaḥ’ (thou shalt strew). Men. 21ᵃ (quoting Sifra l. c.) מאי תבונהו what does the word t’bonnehu mean? Said R. b. U. ה"ק יכול יִתְבֹּונֶנּוּ כתבן (taking ת as radical, as if imperat. of a verb תבן, denom. of תֶּבֶן) it means, I might suppose, he must mix it up like straw in clay (v. infra). Said A. to him א"ה יתבוננו מיבעי ליה if so, then it ought to read (in the Sifra) yithbonennu (third person). But said A. (taking it fr. בנה) יכול יעשנו כבניין I might suppose, he shall heap the salt upon it like a building (a pile). Said R. to him, א"ה יבננו מיבעי ליה then it ought to read yibnennu. But said R. (you must correct the Sifra so as to read) יכול תבוניהו (corr. תָּבִינֵיהוּ) thou shalt make it savory … יתן בו טעם כבינה he shall put a taste into it as does understanding into a man, v. טַעַם. [Yalk. Lev. 454: מאי יתבנהו … יכול יתבלנו כתבן וטיט … תבלנו מ"ל … יכול יעשנו כבנין … א"ה.יבנהו מ"ל … יכול תבינהו … יכול יתן בו טעם בבינה—Ar. ed. Koh.: יכול תבניהו … מאי תבניהו … יכול יתבלנו (הרבה במלח) כתבן בטיט … יכול יתן בו טעם, correct: יכול תבינהו יתן וכ׳.] e.g. Leviticus 2:13
- (cmp. הוֹבִיר, s. v. בּוּר) (denomin. of בֵּין) to mediate, to be interpreter. Ab. Zar. III, 5 (45ᵃ) אני אוֹבִין לפניך (v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note 8) let me be thy interpreter (let me explain what you mean) כל מקום וכ׳ (the words על ההרים וכ׳, Deut. XII, 2, are explanatory) wherever thou findest a high mountain &c., know there must be an idol. [In the version אני אהיה אובין וכ׳, אוֹבֵין is used as a part. of a verb אָבֵין, denomin. of בֵּין, to act as a mediator or interpreter.] 2) הֵבִין (b. h.) to perceive, make intelligible, esp. to find analogies (between two cases). ה׳ דבר מתוך דבר prop. to bring out one thing from between another, i.e. to form a conclusion by analogy. Sabb. 31ᵃ הֵבַנְתָּה וכ׳ hast thou cultivated thy mind to conclude &c. (ref. to דעת Is. XXXIII, 6). Snh. 93ᵇ; a. fr. Ḥag. II, 1 (11ᵇ) חכם מֵבִין מדעתו (not ומבין, v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note) a student able to speculate by himself, a thinker.—Ib. 13ᵃ bot. היה מֵבִין בהשמל speculated over the ḥashmal (Ezek. I, 27); a. fr. e.g. Deuteronomy 12:2
- to understand one’s self, to be careful, to reflect. B. Kam. 27ᵇ להתבונן בדרכים to look around on roads (to be prepared for something in their way against which they might strike). Gen. R. s. 34 ויבן כתי׳ נתבונן the word ויבן (he built, Gen. VIII, 20) may be read vayaben, i.e. he reflected, argued. e.g. Genesis 8:20
בִּין ²
- ; v. infra.—Pa. בַּיֵּין, בַּיֵּן to teach, make wise. Targ. Ps. CXIX, 27. Targ. Job XXXII, 8. Ib. v. 9 יְבַיְּנוּן דינא explain the law (ed. Vienn. יְבִינוּן, Pe., understand).
- to reflect upon, to understand. Targ. Job XXXII, 12. Ib. XXVIII, 23; a. fr.
- to be considerate, cautious. Lam. R. to I, 16, beg., v. בְּחִי.
בַּיִן
- , only in constr. בֵּין, בינת־ (b. h.; preced., cmp. ביין, באיין) something split, or placed between; prep. between, among.—אין בין … ל there is no difference betw. … and … Meg. I, 5; a. fr.—בין השמשות (abbr. בה"ש) at twilight, dusk; v. בֵּי. Ab. V, 6; a. fr.—… ב׳ … ב׳ both … as well as … B. Kam. IV, 3; a. fr.—Yeb. 23ᵃ ב׳ אומרים לו וכ׳ whether the law says to thy father …, or &c. Koh. R. to VII, 11 בין ווי לוה וכ׳ owing to the difference between vay (woe) and vah (ah), R. J. escaped.—דברים שֶׁבֵּינוֹ לְבֵינָהּ private affairs concerning him (the husband) and her (the wife). Ned. 79ᵇ; a. fr.—Du. בֵּינַיִים, בֵּנַיִים, בֵּינְתַּיִים, בֵּנְתַּיִם (for בֵּינוֹתַיִם) between two, among, amid. Gen. R. s. 4 ביניים ובינתיים in the very centre. Y. Ber. II, 5ᵇ top. Y. Maasr. I, beg. 48ᶜ טול מבנת׳ take from what is between the two, i.e. qualifications common to both; a. fr.—Constr. בֵּינֵי־. Nidd. 67ᵇ מפסקת בֵּינֵיהֶן intervening between; a. fr.
בֵּין
- usu. pl. בֵּינֵי ch. same. Targ. Gen. I, 6; a. fr.—Ḥull. 114ᵃ; Sabb. 132ᵇ אתיא מִבֵּינַיָּיא from between the two (from both cases combined) it may be concluded.—מאי בֵינַיְיהוּ (abbr. מ"ב) wherein do they differ? איכא בינייהו (abbr. א"ב) they differ as to … B. Mets. 15ᵇ; a. v. fr.—ביני וביני a) in the meantime. Yeb. 71ᵇ; a. fr.—b) the difference between (these and other goods). Bets. 7ᵃ; a. fr.—Ḥull. 47ᵃ ההוא ב׳ וב׳ a case (of an abnormal lobe) between the normal lungs. [Targ. Am. IX, 9 מִבֵּינָהּ, Var. מבינא, read מִבֵּינֵיה from between its meshes.]
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 133 distinct written forms H995 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 73 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H995, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
- בין bêyn H996 between
- בינה bîynâh H998 understanding
- מבון mâbôwn H4000 ones who taught, ones who gave
- תבון tâbûwn H8394 understanding
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 7 — not the complete family. 2 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 139 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 162 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 41:33
- Deuteronomy 1:13
- 1 Samuel 3:8
- 2 Samuel 12:19
- 1 Kings 3:9
- 1 Chronicles 15:22
- 2 Chronicles 11:23
- Ezra 8:15
- Job 6:24
- Psalms 5:1
- Proverbs 1:2
- Ecclesiastes 9:11
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
