Word study
Bit
4 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: bit, bites, bits, biting. 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 “bit” 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)
- מֶתֶג methegbridletranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H4964Noun · Translated: bit 3, bridle 1Full study and all 4 verses →
2 Kings 19:28 Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
Psalm 32:9 Do not be like the horse or mule, which have no understanding; they must be controlled with bit and bridle to make them come to you.
- נָשַׁךְ nâshakbitetranslated this way 3 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H5391Verb · Translated: bitten 5, bites 3, bite 2Full study and all 14 verses →
Genesis 49:17 He will be a snake by the road, a viper in the path that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward.
Proverbs 23:32 In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.
- פַּת pathfragment, bit, morseltranslated this way 1 time of its 14 uses · Strong’s H6595Noun · Translated: morsel 4, piece 3Full study and all 14 verses →
Genesis 18:5 And I will bring a bit of bread so that you may refresh yourselves. This is why you have passed your servant’s way. After that, you may continue on your way.” “Yes,” they replied, “you may do as you have said.”
- גִּר girchalk, limetranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H1615Noun · Translated: bits of chalk 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Isaiah 27:9 Therefore Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this: When he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.
Greek words (New Testament)
- χαλινός chalinósa bridletranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G5469Noun · Translated: bits 1, bridles 1Full study and all 2 verses →
James 3:3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can guide the whole animal.
- δάκνω dáknōI bite, backbite, harm seriouslytranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G1143Verb · Translated: keep on biting 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Galatians 5:15 But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.
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 bit: 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.