Word study

Armor

4 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “armor”. 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 “armor” 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)

  • כְּלִי kelîarticle, utensil, vesseltranslated this way 7 times of its 282 uses · Strong’s H3627Noun  ·  Translated: articles 59, utensils 32, weapons 20, furnishings 15

    1 Samuel 14:1 One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man bearing his armor, “Come, let us cross over to the Philistine outpost on the other side.” But Jonathan did not tell his father.

    2 Samuel 18:15 And ten young men who carried Joab’s armor surrounded Absalom, struck him, and killed him.

    Full study and all 255 verses →
  • שִׁרְיוֹן shiryônbody-armourtranslated this way 5 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H8302Noun  ·  Translated: armor 5, coat 1, arrow 1, like a breastplate 1

    1 Samuel 17:38 Then Saul clothed David in his own tunic, put a bronze helmet on his head, and dressed him in armor.

    1 Kings 22:34 However, a certain man drew his bow without taking special aim, and he struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. So the king said to his charioteer, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am badly wounded!”

    Full study and all 8 verses →
  • סִרְיֹן siryônarmourtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H5630Noun  ·  Translated: armor 1, put on his armor 1

    Jeremiah 46:4 Harness the horses; mount the steeds; take your positions with helmets on! Polish your spears; put on armor!

    Jeremiah 51:3 Do not let the archer bend his bow or put on his armor. Do not spare her young men; devote all her army to destruction!

    Full study and all 2 verses →
  • 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 12

    Ezekiel 38:4 I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws, and bring you out with all your army — your horses, your horsemen in full armor, and a great company armed with shields and bucklers, all brandishing their swords.

    Full study and all 102 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • πανοπλία panoplíacomplete armortranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3833Noun  ·  Translated: full armor 2, armor 1

    Luke 11:22 But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted, and then he divides up his plunder.

    Ephesians 6:11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes.

    Full study and all 3 verses →
  • ὅπλον hóplonan instrument, arms, weaponstranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s G3696Noun  ·  Translated: weapons 3, instruments 2, armor 1

    Romans 13:12 The night is nearly over; the day has drawn near. So let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

    Full study and all 5 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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.

What the Bible says about armor: passages by topic →

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.