Word study
Base
4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: bases, base, based. 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 “base” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- אֶדֶן edenbase, pedestaltranslated this way 45 times of its 46 uses · Strong’s H134Noun · Translated: bases 44, per base 1, foundations 1Full study and all 39 verses →
Exodus 26:19 with forty silver bases under the twenty frames — two bases for each frame, one under each tenon.
Numbers 3:36 The duties assigned to the sons of Merari were the tabernacle’s frames, crossbars, posts, bases, and all its equipment— all the service for these items,
- יְסוֹד yesôdfoundation, basetranslated this way 9 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H3247Noun · Translated: base 9, foundations 6, Foundation 2, secure 1Full study and all 19 verses →
Exodus 29:12 Take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; then pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar.
Leviticus 4:7 The priest must then put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the LORD in the Tent of Meeting. And he is to pour out the rest of the bull’s blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
- תַּחַת tachaththe under parttranslated this way 4 times of its 465 uses · Strong’s H8478Preposition · Translated: place 126, under 106, for 34, beneath 29Full study and all 421 verses →
Exodus 24:4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Early the next morning he got up and built an altar at the base of the mountain, along with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.
Deuteronomy 4:11 You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.
- יָרֵךְ yârêkthigh, loin, side, basetranslated this way 3 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s H3409Noun · Translated: thigh 11, side 9, hip 3, base 3Full study and all 28 verses →
Exodus 25:31 Then you are to make a lampstand of pure, hammered gold. It shall be made of one piece, including its base and shaft, its cups, and its buds and petals.
Numbers 8:4 This is how the lampstand was constructed: it was made of hammered gold from its base to its blossoms, fashioned according to the pattern the LORD had shown Moses.
Greek words (New Testament)
- κατά katádown from, against, according to, throughout, duringtranslated this way 3 times of its 381 uses · Strong’s G2596Preposition · Translated: according 65, against 46, in 41, by 38Full study and all 349 verses →
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.