Word study
Border
8 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: border, borders, bordering, bordered. 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 “border” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- גְּבוּל gebûlborder, boundary, territorytranslated this way 96 times of its 209 uses · Strong’s H1366Noun · Translated: border 76, territory 55, borders 15, boundary 9Full study and all 185 verses →
Genesis 10:19 and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
Exodus 13:7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten during those seven days. Nothing leavened may be found among you, nor shall leaven be found anywhere within your borders.
- עַל alheighttranslated this way 11 times of its 4,859 uses · Strong’s H5921Preposition · Translated: on 777, over 297, in 218, against 216Full study and all 3,996 verses →
- גְּבוּלָה gebûlâhborder, boundarytranslated this way 3 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H1367Noun · Translated: boundaries 4Full study and all 10 verses →
Numbers 34:12 Then the border will go down along the Jordan and end at the Salt Sea. This will be your land, defined by its borders on all sides.”
Joshua 18:20 On the east side the border was the Jordan. These were the borders around the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.
- יָד yâdhandtranslated this way 2 times of its 1,403 uses · Strong’s H3027Noun · Translated: hand 664, hands 349, through 64, power 22Full study and all 1,290 verses →
Numbers 34:3 Your southern border will extend from the Wilderness of Zin along the border of Edom. On the east, your southern border will run from the end of the Salt Sea,
- גָּבַל gâbalbound, bordertranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H1379Verb · Translated: set up a boundary 1, Put a boundary around 1, set 1, border 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Joshua 18:20 On the east side the border was the Jordan. These were the borders around the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.
Zechariah 9:2 and also against Hamath, which borders it, as well as Tyre and Sidon, though they are very shrewd.
- פָּנִים pânîmface, beforetranslated this way 2 times of its 1,836 uses · Strong’s H6440Noun · Translated: before 448, face 222, presence 147, before you 123Full study and all 1,671 verses →
Genesis 25:18 Ishmael’s descendants settled from Havilah to Shur, which is near the border of Egypt as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.
- קָצֶה qâtsehend, extremitytranslated this way 2 times of its 88 uses · Strong’s H7097Noun · Translated: end 25, ends 14, edge 9, outskirts 6Full study and all 81 verses →
Exodus 16:35 The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land where they could settle; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.
Joshua 4:19 On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho.
- עֻמָּה ummâhjuxtapositiontranslated this way 2 times of its 31 uses · Strong’s H5980Preposition-l · Translated: close 3, as 3, beside 3, near 2Full study and all 26 verses →
Ezekiel 48:13 Bordering the territory of the priests, the Levites shall have an area 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide. The whole length will be 25,000 cubits, and the width 10,000 cubits.
Ezekiel 48:18 The remainder of the length bordering the holy portion and running adjacent to it will be 10,000 cubits on the east side and 10,000 cubits on the west side. Its produce will supply food for the workers of the city.
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.