Word study
Black
7 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “black”. 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 “black” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- שָׁחֹר shâchôrblacktranslated this way 5 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H7838Adjective · Translated: black 5, dark 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Leviticus 13:31 But if the priest examines the scaly infection and it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, and there is no black hair in it, the priest shall isolate the infected person for seven days.
Song of Solomon 5:11 His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven.
- עׇזְנִיָּה oznîâhsea-eagletranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H5822Noun · Translated: black vulture 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Leviticus 11:13 Additionally, you are to detest the following birds, and they must not be eaten because they are detestable: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,
Deuteronomy 14:12 but these you may not eat: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,
- חָשַׁךְ châshakbe, grow darktranslated this way 1 time of its 17 uses · Strong’s H2821Verb · Translated: darkened 3Full study and all 17 verses →
Exodus 10:15 They covered the face of all the land until it was black, and they consumed all the plants on the ground and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left behind. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.
- עָנָן ânâncloud-mass, cloudtranslated this way 1 time of its 87 uses · Strong’s H6051Noun · Translated: cloud 61, clouds 13, like a cloud 2, mist 2Full study and all 80 verses →
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.
- שָׁחַר shâcharbe blacktranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H7835Verb · Translated: grows black 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Job 30:30 My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
- קַדְרוּת qadrûthdarkness, gloomtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H6940Noun · Translated: black 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Isaiah 50:3 I clothe the heavens in black and make sackcloth their covering.”
- קָדַר qâdarbe darktranslated this way 1 time of its 17 uses · Strong’s H6937Verb · Translated: grow dark 3, sorrow 2, mourn 2, darken 2Full study and all 17 verses →
Micah 3:6 Therefore night will come over you without visions, and darkness without divination. The sun will set on these prophets, and the daylight will turn black over them.
Greek words (New Testament)
- μέλας mélasblacktranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3189Adjective · Translated: black 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 5:36 Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black.
Revelation 6:5 And when the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” Then I looked and saw a black horse, and its rider held in his hand a pair of scales.
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.