Word study

Bag

3 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: bag, bags. 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 “bag” 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 6 times of its 282 uses · Strong’s H3627Noun  ·  Translated: articles 59, utensils 32, weapons 20, furnishings 15

    Genesis 42:25 Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return each man’s silver to his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. This order was carried out,

    1 Samuel 17:40 And David took his staff in his hand, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag. And with his sling in hand, he approached the Philistine.

    Full study and all 255 verses →
  • צְרוֹר tserôrbundle, parcel, pouch, bagtranslated this way 5 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H6872Noun  ·  Translated: bag 4, pebble 2, bags 1, Zeror 1

    Genesis 42:35 As they began emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his bag of silver! And when they and their father saw the bags of silver, they were dismayed.

    Job 14:17 My transgression would be sealed in a bag, and You would cover over my iniquity.

    Full study and all 9 verses →
  • כִּיס kîsbag, pursetranslated this way 4 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H3599Noun  ·  Translated: bag 2, bags 2, purse 1, cup 1

    Deuteronomy 25:13 You shall not have two differing weights in your bag, one heavy and one light.

    Proverbs 16:11 Honest scales and balances are from the LORD; all the weights in the bag are His concern.

    Full study and all 6 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • πήρα pḗraa sack, wallettranslated this way 6 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G4082Noun  ·  Translated: bag 6

    Matthew 10:10 Take no bag for the road, or second tunic, or sandals, or staff; for the worker is worthy of his provisions.

    Mark 6:8 He instructed them to take nothing but a staff for the journey — no bread, no bag, no money in their belts —

    Full study and all 6 verses →
  • γλωσσόκομον glōssókomonbag, purse, box, chesttranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1101Noun  ·  Translated: money bag 2

    John 12:6 Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to take from what was put into it.

    John 13:29 Since Judas kept the money bag, some thought that Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the feast, or to give something to the poor.

    Full study and all 2 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 bag: 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.