Word study
Bed
9 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: bed, beds. 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 “bed” 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)
- מִשְׁכָּב mishkâbplace of lying, couch; act of lyingtranslated this way 29 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s H4904Noun · Translated: bed 23, beds 5Full study and all 33 verses →
Genesis 49:4 Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.
Exodus 21:18 If men are quarreling and one strikes the other with a stone or a fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed,
- מִטָּה miṭṭâhcouch, bedtranslated this way 22 times of its 27 uses · Strong’s H4296Noun · Translated: bed 21, couch 2, funeral bier 1, couches 1Full study and all 27 verses →
Genesis 47:31 “Swear to me,” Jacob said. So Joseph swore to him, and Israel bowed in worship at the head of his bed.
Exodus 8:3 The Nile will teem with frogs, and they will come into your palace and up to your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls.
- מִשְׁכַּב mishkabcouch, bedtranslated this way 6 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H4903Noun · Translated: bed 6Full study and all 6 verses →
Daniel 2:28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Your dream and the visions that came into your mind as you lay on your bed were these:
Daniel 2:29 As you lay on your bed, O king, your thoughts turned to the future, and the Revealer of Mysteries made known to you what will happen.
- עֶרֶשׂ erescouch, divantranslated this way 5 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H6210Noun · Translated: bed 5, couch 2, couches 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Deuteronomy 3:11 (For only Og king of Bashan had remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed of iron, nine cubits long and four cubits wide, is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)
Job 7:13 When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,
- יָצוּעַ yâtsûacouch, bedtranslated this way 4 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H3326Noun · Translated: bed 4, couch 1, chambered structure 1, floor 1Full study and all 8 verses →
1 Chronicles 5:1 These were the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. Though he was the firstborn, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, because Reuben defiled his father’s bed. So he is not reckoned according to birthright.
Job 17:13 If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,
- עֲרוּגָה ărûgâhgarden terrace or bedtranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H6170Noun · Translated: bed 2, like beds 1, beds 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Song of Solomon 5:13 His cheeks are like beds of spice, towers of perfume. His lips are like lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh.
Ezekiel 17:7 But there was another great eagle with great wings and many feathers. And behold, this vine bent its roots toward him. It stretched out its branches to him from its planting bed, so that he might water it.
- שָׁכַב shâkablie downtranslated this way 2 times of its 207 uses · Strong’s H7901Verb · Translated: lie 46, rested 35, lies 25, lay 21Full study and all 190 verses →
Genesis 19:4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house.
Genesis 39:10 Although Potiphar’s wife spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be near her.
- כָּנָף kânâphwing, extremitytranslated this way 2 times of its 96 uses · Strong’s H3671Noun · Translated: wings 53, wing 12, corners 4, corner 3Full study and all 79 verses →
Deuteronomy 22:30 A man is not to marry his father’s wife, so that he will not dishonor his father’s marriage bed.
Deuteronomy 27:20 ‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he has violated his father’s marriage bed.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- יַצַע yatsalay, spreadtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H3331Verb · Translated: lay 1, make my bed 1, bed 1, spread 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Psalm 139:8 If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.
Isaiah 14:11 Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket.
Greek words (New Testament)
- κλίνη klínēa couch, bed, mat, biertranslated this way 5 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s G2825Noun · Translated: bed 4, mat 3, couches for dining 1, bed of sickness 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Mark 4:21 Jesus also said to them, “Does anyone bring in a lamp to put it under a basket or under a bed? Doesn’t he set it on a stand?
Luke 8:16 No one lights a lamp and covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he sets it on a stand, so those who enter can see the light.
- κατάκειμαι katákeimaiI recline, am lying illtranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G2621Verb · Translated: sick in bed 2, dining 2, lying 2, eating 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Mark 1:30 Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever, and they promptly told Jesus about her.
Acts 28:8 The father of Publius was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him, and after praying and placing his hands on him, he healed the man.
- κοίτη koítēa bed, marriage bedtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G2845Noun · Translated: bed 1, conceived 1, sexual immorality 1, marriage bed 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Luke 11:7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Do not bother me. My door is already shut, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’
Hebrews 13:4 Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
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.
What the Bible says about bed: 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.