Word study
Branch
16 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: branches, branch, branched. 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 “branch” 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)
- קָנֶה qânehstalk, reedtranslated this way 13 times of its 46 uses · Strong’s H7070Noun · Translated: branches 9, rod 9, reeds 5, branch 4Full study and all 37 verses →
Exodus 25:32 Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand — three on one side and three on the other.
Exodus 25:33 There are to be three cups shaped like almond blossoms on the first branch, each with buds and petals, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches that extend from the lampstand.
- מַקֵּל maqqêlrod, stafftranslated this way 7 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H4731Noun · Translated: staff 7, branches 5Full study and all 16 verses →
Genesis 30:37 Jacob, however, took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled the bark, exposing the white inner wood of the branches.
Jeremiah 1:11 And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” “I see a branch of an almond tree,” I replied.
- עָנָף ânâphbranch(es), bough(s)translated this way 6 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H6057Noun · Translated: branches 5, boughs 1, branch 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Psalm 80:10 The mountains were covered by its shade, and the mighty cedars with its branches.
Ezekiel 17:8 It had been planted in good soil by abundant waters in order to yield branches and bear fruit and become a splendid vine.’
- דָּלִיָּה dâlîâhdangling, boughtranslated this way 6 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H1808Noun · Translated: branches 6, foliage 1, limbs 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Jeremiah 11:16 The LORD once called you a flourishing olive tree, beautiful with well-formed fruit. But with a mighty roar He will set it on fire, and its branches will be consumed.
Ezekiel 17:6 It sprouted and became a spreading vine, low in height, with branches turned toward him; yet its roots remained where it stood. So it became a vine and yielded branches and sent out shoots.
- צֶמַח tsemachsprout, growthtranslated this way 5 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H6780Noun · Translated: Branch 5, growth 2, everything that grew 1, like a plant 1Full study and all 11 verses →
Isaiah 4:2 On that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel’s survivors.
Jeremiah 23:5 Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land.
- מַטֶּה maṭṭehstaff, rod, shafttranslated this way 4 times of its 219 uses · Strong’s H4294Noun · Translated: tribe 123, staff 41, tribes 21, staffs 5Full study and all 200 verses →
Ezekiel 19:11 It had strong branches, fit for a ruler’s scepter. It towered high above the thick branches, conspicuous for its height and for its dense foliage.
Ezekiel 19:12 But it was uprooted in fury, cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were stripped off and they withered; the fire consumed them.
- עֲנַף ănaphboughtranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H6056Noun · Translated: branches 4Full study and all 3 verses →
Daniel 4:12 Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit was abundant, and upon it was food for all. Under it the beasts of the field found shelter, in its branches the birds of the air nested, and from it every creature was fed.
Daniel 4:14 He called out in a loud voice: ‘Cut down the tree and chop off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it, and the birds from its branches.
- זְמוֹרָה zemôrâhbranch, twig, shoottranslated this way 4 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H2156Noun · Translated: branch 3, vines 1, branches of their vine 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Numbers 13:23 When they came to the Valley of Eshcol, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes, which they carried on a pole between two men. They also took some pomegranates and figs.
Ezekiel 8:17 “Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Is it not enough for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they are practicing here, that they must also fill the land with violence and continually provoke Me to anger? Look, they are even putting the branch to their nose!
- שָׂרִיג sârîgtendril, twigtranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H8299Noun · Translated: branches 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Genesis 40:10 and on the vine were three branches. As it budded, its blossoms opened and its clusters ripened into grapes.
Joel 1:7 It has laid waste My grapevine and splintered My fig tree. It has stripped off the bark and thrown it away; the branches have turned white.
- קָצִיר qâtsîrharvesting, harvesttranslated this way 3 times of its 51 uses · Strong’s H7105Noun · Translated: harvest 39, harvest time 3, branches 3, harvesting 2Full study and all 47 verses →
Job 18:16 The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away.
Psalm 80:11 It sent out its branches to the Sea, and its shoots toward the River.
- נֵצֶר nêtsersprout, shoottranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H5342Noun · Translated: branch 3, family line 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Isaiah 11:1 Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.
Isaiah 14:19 But you are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch, covered by those slain with the sword, and dumped into a rocky pit like a carcass trampled underfoot.
- סָעִיף sâîphclefttranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H5585Noun · Translated: cave 2, branches 2, crevices 1, clefts 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Isaiah 17:6 Yet gleanings will remain, like an olive tree that has been beaten— two or three berries atop the tree, four or five on its fruitful branches,” declares the LORD, the God of Israel.
Isaiah 27:10 For the fortified city lies deserted — a homestead abandoned, a wilderness forsaken. There the calves graze, and there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.
- נְטִישָׁה neṭîshâhtwig, tendriltranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H5189Noun · Translated: branches 2, tendrils 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Isaiah 18:5 For before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife and remove and discard the branches.
Jeremiah 5:10 Go up through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not finish them off. Strip off her branches, for they do not belong to the LORD.
- סְעַפָּה seappâhbough, branchtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H5589Noun · Translated: branches 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Ezekiel 31:6 All the birds of the air nested in its branches, and all the beasts of the field gave birth beneath its boughs; all the great nations lived in its shade.
Ezekiel 31:8 The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it; the cypresses could not compare with its branches, nor the plane trees match its boughs. No tree in the garden of God could compare with its beauty.
- שׂוֹךְ sôkbranch or brushwoodtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H7754Noun · Translated: branch 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Judges 9:48 he and all his men went up to Mount Zalmon. Abimelech took his axe in his hand and cut a branch from the trees, which he lifted to his shoulder, saying to his men, “Hurry and do what you have seen me do.”
Judges 9:49 So each man also cut his own branch and followed Abimelech. Then they piled the branches against the inner chamber and set it on fire above them, killing everyone in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women.
- כִּפָּה kippâhbranch frondtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H3712Noun · Translated: branch 1, palm branch 1, palm 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Job 15:32 It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not flourish.
Isaiah 9:14 So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day.
Greek words (New Testament)
- κλάδος kládosa branchtranslated this way 11 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G2798Noun · Translated: branches 11Full study and all 11 verses →
Matthew 13:32 Although it is the smallest of all seeds, yet it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
Mark 4:32 But after it is planted, it grows to be the largest of all garden plants and puts forth great branches, so that the birds of the air nest in its shade.”
- κλῆμα klēmaa branch, shoottranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G2814Noun · Translated: branch 3, branches 1Full study and all 4 verses →
John 15:2 He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.
John 15:4 Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in 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 branch: 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.