Word study
Bowl
7 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: bowls, bowl. 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 “bowl” 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)
- מִזְרָק mizrâqbowl, basontranslated this way 31 times of its 32 uses · Strong’s H4219Noun · Translated: sprinkling bowls 13, bowl 13, bowls 3, bowlful 1Full study and all 32 verses →
Exodus 27:3 Make all its utensils of bronze — its pots for removing ashes, its shovels, its sprinkling bowls, its meat forks, and its firepans.
Numbers 4:14 and place on it all the vessels used to serve there: the firepans, meat forks, shovels, and sprinkling bowls— all the equipment of the altar. They are to spread over it a covering of fine leather and insert the poles.
- גֻּלָּה gullâhbasin, bowltranslated this way 5 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H1543Noun · Translated: springs 4, bowl-shaped 4, bowl 3, bowls 2Full study and all 9 verses →
1 Kings 7:41 the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars; the two sets of network covering both bowls of the capitals atop the pillars;
2 Chronicles 4:12 the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals atop the pillars; the two sets of network covering both bowls of the capitals atop the pillars;
- מִשְׁאֶרֶת misherethkneading-troughtranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H4863Noun · Translated: kneading bowls 2, kneading bowl 2Full study and all 4 verses →
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.
Deuteronomy 28:5 Your basket and kneading bowl will be blessed.
- מְנַקִּית menaqqîthsacrificial basintranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H4518Noun · Translated: bowls 2, well as its bowls 1, drink offering bowls 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Exodus 25:29 You are also to make the plates and dishes, as well as the pitchers and bowls for pouring drink offerings. Make them out of pure gold.
Numbers 4:7 Over the table of the Presence they are to spread a blue cloth and place the plates and cups on it, along with the bowls and pitchers for the drink offering. The regular bread offering is to remain on it.
- כְּפוֹר kephôrbowltranslated this way 4 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H3713Noun · Translated: frost 3, bowls 3, dish 1, bowl 1Full study and all 6 verses →
1 Chronicles 28:17 the weight of the pure gold for the forks, sprinkling bowls, and pitchers; the weight of each gold dish; the weight of each silver bowl;
Ezra 1:10 30 gold bowls, 410 matching silver bowls, and 1,000 other articles.
- אַגָּן aggânbowl, basintranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H101Noun · Translated: bowls 2, goblet 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Exodus 24:6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splattered on the altar.
Isaiah 22:24 So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house: the descendants and the offshoots— all the lesser vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.
- צַלַּחַת tsallachathdishtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H6747Noun · Translated: dish 2, bowl 1, bowls 1Full study and all 4 verses →
2 Kings 21:13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl— wiping it and turning it upside down.
2 Chronicles 35:13 They roasted the Passover animals on the fire according to the regulation, and they boiled the other holy offerings in pots, kettles, and bowls and quickly brought them to all the people.
Greek words (New Testament)
- φιάλη phiálēa shallow and flat bowltranslated this way 12 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s G5357Noun · Translated: bowl 7, bowls 5Full study and all 12 verses →
Revelation 5:8 When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Revelation 15:7 Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever.
- τρύβλιον trýbliona plattertranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G5165Noun · Translated: bowl 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 26:23 Jesus answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with Me will betray Me.
Mark 14:20 He answered, “It is one of the Twelve — the one who is dipping his hand into the bowl with Me.
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 bowl: 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.