Bible Dictionary
VERY
“Very” means true, real, or actual when used as an adjective, and greatly or exceedingly when used as an adverb. Biblical translations sometimes use “surely,” “truly,” or “exceeding” instead.
Definition
Very means true, real, or actual when used as an adjective, and greatly or exceedingly when used as an adverb. Its precise force depends on whether it identifies something as genuine or intensifies a description.
Biblical Usage
The word describes an actual son, a particular day, or the true Christ, and it intensifies expressions such as sorry or great. Revised translations sometimes replace it with truly, exceeding, or sore.
Historical Background
The adjective derives from Latin for true. Biblical translation uses several Hebrew and Greek words for its adjectival and adverbial senses.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ver'-i: As adjective (from verus, "true"), "true," "real," "actual," etc. (Ge 27:21,24, "my very son Esau"; Jos 10:27, "this very day"; Joh 7:26, "the very Christ," etc.); chiefly as adverb, "in a high degree," "extremely." As ab adverb it is commonly in the Old Testament the translation of me'odh, and in the New Testament represents, as adjective and adverb, several Greek words, as alethos, "truly" (Joh 7:26, above), autos (Joh 14:11, "the very works' sake"; Ro 13:6), sphodra (Mt 18:31, "very sorry," the Revised Version (British and American) "exceeding sorry"; Mr 16:4, "very great," the Revised Version (British and American) "exceeding"), huper- (in composition 1Th 5:13), etc. the Revised Version (British and American) frequently omits "very," and also substitutes other words for it, as "exceeding" (2Ch 16:8; Mt 26:7; compare above), "sore" (Zec 9:5), etc.</p><p>W. L. Walker</p>