Word study
Apparel
4 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “apparel”. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “apparel” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- חֲלִיצָה chălîtsâhwhat is stripped offtranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H2488Noun · Translated: apparel 1, equipment 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Judges 14:19 Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave their clothes to those who had solved the riddle. And burning with anger, Samson returned to his father’s house,
- לָבַשׁ lâbashput on (a garment), wear, clothe, be clothedtranslated this way 1 time of its 109 uses · Strong’s H3847Verb · Translated: clothed 28, put 22, wear 13, clothe 12Full study and all 102 verses →
Ezra 3:10 When the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their positions to praise the LORD, as David king of Israel had prescribed.
- מַלְבּוּשׁ malbûshraiment, attiretranslated this way 1 time of its 8 uses · Strong’s H4403Noun · Translated: attire 3, garments 1, wardrobe 1, clothes 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Zephaniah 1:8 “On the Day of the LORD’s sacrifice I will punish the princes, the sons of the king, and all who are dressed in foreign apparel.
- בֶּגֶד begedtreacherytranslated this way 1 time of its 213 uses · Strong’s H899Noun · Translated: clothes 76, garments 61, clothing 16, garment 13Full study and all 189 verses →
Zechariah 14:14 Judah will also fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected — gold, silver, and apparel in great abundance.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐσθής esthḗsclothing, raimenttranslated this way 1 time of its 7 uses · Strong’s G2066Noun · Translated: clothes 3, robe 1, apparel 1, dressed 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Luke 24:4 While they were puzzling over this, suddenly two men in radiant apparel stood beside them.
- καταστολή katastolḗgarb, dress, attiretranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G2689Noun · Translated: apparel 1Full study and its 1 verse →
1 Timothy 2:9 Likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves with respectable apparel, with modesty, and with self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.