Word study
Builder
2 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: builders, builder. 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 “builder” 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)
- בָּנָה bânâhbuildtranslated this way 10 times of its 368 uses · Strong’s H1129Verb · Translated: built 132, build 98, rebuilt 34, rebuild 19Full study and all 342 verses →
1 Kings 5:18 So Solomon’s and Hiram’s builders, along with the Gebalites, quarried the stone and prepared the timber and stone for the construction of the temple.
2 Kings 12:11 Then they would put the counted money into the hands of those who supervised the work on the house of the LORD, who in turn would pay those doing the work — the carpenters, builders,
- בֵּן bênsontranslated this way 1 time of its 4,587 uses · Strong’s H1121Noun · Translated: son 1,843, sons 892, Israelites 422, descendants 358Full study and all 3,473 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- οἰκοδομέω oikodoméōI build, build up, edifytranslated this way 5 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s G3618Verb · Translated: build 12, built 9, builders 5, rebuild 4Full study and all 39 verses →
Matthew 21:42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
Mark 12:10 Have you never read this Scripture: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
- κατασκευάζω kataskeuázōI build, prepare, maketranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G2680Verb · Translated: prepare 3, prepared 3, built 3, builder 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Hebrews 3:3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.
Hebrews 3:4 And every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.
- ἀρχιτέκτων architéktōnmaster-buildertranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G753Noun · Translated: builder 1Full study and its 1 verse →
1 Corinthians 3:10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds.
- δημιουργός dēmiourgósan artisan, buildertranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G1217Noun · Translated: builder 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Hebrews 11:10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
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 builder: 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.