Word study
Broad
6 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “broad”. 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 “broad” 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)
- שֶׁמֶשׁ shemeshsuntranslated this way 2 times of its 108 uses · Strong’s H8121Noun · Translated: sun 88, time the sun 3, sunset 3, broad daylight 2Full study and all 101 verses →
Numbers 25:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that His fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
2 Samuel 12:12 You have acted in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”
- רָחָב râchâbwide, broadtranslated this way 2 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H7342Adjective · Translated: spacious 5, wide 5, proud 2Full study and all 20 verses →
Nehemiah 3:8 Next to them, Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. And next to him, Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs. They fortified Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.
Nehemiah 12:38 The second thanksgiving choir proceeded to the left, and I followed it with half the people along the top of the wall, past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall,
- גָּדוֹל gâdôlgreattranslated this way 1 time of its 501 uses · Strong’s H1419Adjective · Translated: great 262, large 33, high 20, loud 14Full study and all 477 verses →
Genesis 29:7 “Look,” said Jacob, “it is still broad daylight; it is not yet time to gather the livestock. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.”
- אִשָּׁה ishshâhwoman, wife, femaletranslated this way 1 time of its 711 uses · Strong’s H802Noun · Translated: wife 251, woman 172, wives 92, women 88Full study and all 638 verses →
2 Samuel 12:11 This is what the LORD says: ‘I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will lie with them in broad daylight.
- רַחַב rachabbreadth, broad expansetranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H7338Noun · Translated: broad place 1, extent 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Job 36:16 Indeed, He drew you from the jaws of distress to a spacious and broad place, to a table full of richness.
- יוֹמָם yômâmdaytime, by daytranslated this way 1 time of its 51 uses · Strong’s H3119Adverb · Translated: day 48, daytime 1, broad daylight 1, daily 1Full study and all 50 verses →
Ezekiel 12:3 Therefore, son of man, pack your bags for exile. In broad daylight, set out from your place and go to another as they watch. Perhaps they will understand, though they are a rebellious house.
Greek words (New Testament)
- εὐρύχωρος eurýchōrosbroad, spacioustranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G2149Adjective · Translated: broad 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Matthew 7:13 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
- ἡμέρα hēméraa daytranslated this way 1 time of its 368 uses · Strong’s G2250Noun · Translated: day 186, days 131, time 19, daily 7Full study and all 353 verses →
2 Peter 2:13 The harm they will suffer is the wages of their wickedness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deception as they feast with you.
- πλάτος plátosbreadthtranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s G4114Noun · Translated: width 3, broad expanse 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Revelation 20:9 And they marched across the broad expanse of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. But fire came down from heaven and consumed them.
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.