ana · answer

What it means

ana (עָנָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “answer”.

Reply; also speak up, testify, or sing in response.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To reply to what was said.
2. God answers the one who calls on him: with a word, or with an act such as fire.
3. To speak before a judge as a witness, for or against someone.
4. To sing in turns, so that one choir answers the other.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Answer. BDB: to answer, to respond, and also to sing or to testify. It is distinct from עָנָה, “afflict” (H6031), written with the same letters.

• To answer someone who speaks Genesis 18:27
• God answers the one who calls on him 1 Kings 18:241 Kings 18:37
• To testify against someone Exodus 20:16
• To sing in turns, answering one another Exodus 15:211 Samuel 18:7

How we translate it

“Answered” 180 times, “answer” 99, “answers” 11, “testify” 9. In the commandment of Exodus 20:16 the verb is translated by its sense: “You shall not testify against your neighbor as a false witness”. When two groups sing alternately, “answered” (1 Samuel 18:7).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• answered ×180
• answer ×99
• answers ×11
• testify ×9
• will respond ×6
• Sing ×4
• answering ×4
• testifies ×4
• has testified ×3
• brought low ×1
• others ×8

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×19
• Exodus×10
• Numbers×7
• Deuteronomy×12
• Joshua×5
• Judges×7
• Ruth×3
• 1 Samuel×38
• 2 Samuel×11
• 1 Kings×19
• 2 Kings×10
• 1 Chronicles×3
• 2 Chronicles×3
• Ezra×3
• Nehemiah×1
• Esther×2
• Job×60
• Psalms×37
• Proverbs×7
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Song of Songs×2
• Isaiah×19
• Jeremiah×13
• Ezekiel×2
• Hosea×9
• Joel×1
• Amos×1
• Jonah×1
• Micah×3
• Habakkuk×2
• Haggai×3
• Zechariah×14
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 18:27

  Abraham answered and said, “Look, I have ventured to speak to Adonai, though I am dust and ashes.

• Genesis 23:5

  The sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him,

• Genesis 23:10

  Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth, of all who went in at the gate of his city, saying,

• Genesis 23:14

  Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,

• Genesis 24:50

  Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The matter has come from YHWH; we cannot speak to you bad or good.

• Genesis 27:37

  Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Look, I have made him master over you, and all his brothers I have given to him as servants, and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. So for you, then, what can I do, my son?”

• Genesis 27:39

  Isaac his father answered and said to him, “Look, away from the richness of the earth will be your dwelling, and away from the dew of the heavens from above.

• Genesis 30:33

  So my righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when you come to look over my wages before you: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, or dark among the lambs, if it is with me, will be counted as stolen.”

• Genesis 31:14

  Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there still for us a portion or an inheritance in the house of our father?

• Genesis 31:31

  Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said to myself, ‘You might take by force your daughters from me.’

• Genesis 31:36

  Then Jacob became angry and quarreled with Laban. Jacob answered and said to Laban, “What is my transgression? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?

• Genesis 31:43

  Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the sons are my sons, the flock is my flock, and all that you see is mine. But to my daughters what can I do to these today, or to their children whom they have borne?

• Genesis 34:13

  The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit and spoke, because he had made Dinah their sister unclean.

• Genesis 35:3

  Let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to El who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me on the way that I have gone.”

• Genesis 40:18

  Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days.

• Genesis 41:16

  Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; Elohim will answer with peace for Pharaoh.”

• Genesis 42:22

  Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin against the child’? But you did not listen. And look, his blood too is being required.”

• Genesis 45:3

  Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were terrified before him.

• Exodus 4:1

  Moses answered and said, “Look, they will not believe me and will not listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘YHWH did not appear to you.’”

• Exodus 15:21

  And Miriam answered them, “Sing to YHWH, for he is highly exalted; horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.”

• Exodus 19:8

  All the people answered together and said, “All that YHWH has spoken we will do.” And Moses brought back the words of the people to YHWH.

• Exodus 19:19

  As the sound of the horn grew louder and louder, Moses would speak, and Elohim would answer him with a voice.

• Exodus 20:16

  You shall not testify against your neighbor as a false witness.

• Exodus 23:2

  You shall not follow a majority to do evil, nor testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a majority to pervert justice.

• Exodus 24:3

  Moses came and told the people all the words of YHWH and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that YHWH has spoken we will do.”

• Exodus 32:18

  But he said, “It is not the sound of the shout of victory, and it is not the sound of the cry of defeat; the sound of singing I hear.”

• Numbers 11:28

  And Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant from his youth, answered and said, “My lord Moses, stop them.”

• Numbers 21:17

  Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Sing to it!

• Numbers 22:18

  But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of YHWH my Elohim, to do anything small or great.

• Numbers 23:12

  And he answered and said, “Must I not take care to speak what YHWH puts in my mouth?”

• Numbers 23:26

  But Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘All that YHWH speaks, that I must do’?”

• Numbers 32:31

  The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, saying, “What YHWH has spoken to your servants, so we will do.

• Numbers 35:30

  Anyone who strikes down a person: one shall kill the manslayer on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness shall not testify against a person that he die.

• Deuteronomy 1:14

  You answered me and said, “The thing that you have spoken is good to do.”

• Deuteronomy 1:41

  You answered and said to me, “We have sinned against YHWH. We will go up and fight, according to all that YHWH our Elohim commanded us.” Each of you girded on his weapons of war, and you considered it easy to go up into the hill country.

• Deuteronomy 5:20

  Nor shall you give vain testimony against your neighbor.

• Deuteronomy 19:16

  If a violent witness rises up against a man to testify against him of turning aside,

• Deuteronomy 19:18

  And the judges shall inquire thoroughly, and look, if the witness is a false witness, if he has testified falsely against his brother,

• Deuteronomy 20:11

  And if it answers you with peace and opens its gates to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be yours for forced labor and shall serve you.

• Deuteronomy 21:7

  and they shall answer and say, “Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see it.

And 289 more times.