Understanding

Source: Understand, Understanding; IDB, Vol. 4, p. 732-33

It is a word that translate several Hebrew and Greek words with varying degrees of
meaning on the intellectual level, either “to grasp the full meaning of something said or done,”
or “to have the knowledge and skill essential to accomplishing a desired end.” Its meaning later
developed to the pre-eminent characteristic of the activity of God (Job 26.12; Pr. 3.19); and all
understanding ultimately has its source in Him (Pr.2.6; 2Tim. 2.7). The most common Hebrew
words ‫ שמע‬literally means “to hear.” The Hebrew word ‫ ידע‬which literally means “know” or
“knowledge” may also be translated as “understanding,” since the concept of understanding is
very fluid. The Hebrew words ‫ ביך‬and ‫ שכל‬are roots which often are translated “understand”
or “understanding.” The root ‫ ביך‬primarily means “to discern with the senses,” or “to perceive
distinctions,” which later came to mean “to give close attention to,” and finally meant “to gain
comprehension,” or “give” it to others. The root ‫ שכל‬also expresses the idea of “paying close
attention to;” although later on, it has come to mean “to have insight” or “to be prudent,” thus
consequently to mean “wise” or “wisdom.”
There are other Hebrew words for understanding that regards to the matters of the
heart, ‫ לב‬and ‫לבב‬. They are used more in the figurative sense to denote the deepest recesses
of the human personality where man’s being centers and the where issues of his life are
determined. These Hebrew words were translated by the translators of the LXX with a Greek
word denoting “understanding” or the absence of it. This use is perhaps best understood in
light of such English idiomatic expression—“a deep person,” “a shallow person,” “a person
lacking in depth”—which are closely parallel in meaning to the Hebrew phrases: “a man of
heart” (Job 34.10) or “(a man) deficient in heart.”
In the New Testament (NT), the English verb “understand” is used to translate a large
variety of Greek words with varying shades of meaning: συνίημι, meaning specifically “to
understand” (Matt. 16.12); νοέω, “to think or consider” thereby “to arrive at understanding”
(Matt. 15.17, KJV); γινώσκω, properly “to know, to be cognizant of” (Jn. 8.27); ἐπιγινώσκω, “to
recognize” (1Cor. 13.12; RSV-KJV “know”); εἰδον, “to see or perceive” (i.e., with the mind; 1Cor.
13.2). The following Greek verbs are each translated once in the English NT by “understand:”
ἀκούω, “to hear” (1Cor. 14.2); γνωρίζω, “(to make) to know” (1Cor. 12.3); επισταμαι, “to
know, or know about” (Mark 14.68); and φρονέω (1Cor. 13.11 KJV; the RSV more accurately
translates it “to think”). The Greek noun σύνεσις (Col. 2.2) or νους (Phil. 4.7) are translated
with the English noun “understanding.”