Word study

Chariot

3 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: chariots, chariot. 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 “chariot” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • רֶכֶב rekebchariotry, chariot, mill-stonetranslated this way 103 times of its 116 uses · Strong’s H7393Noun  ·  Translated: chariots 77, chariot 25, riders 4, charioteers 3

    Genesis 50:9 Chariots and horsemen alike went up with him, and it was an exceedingly large procession.

    Exodus 14:6 So Pharaoh prepared his chariot and took his army with him.

    Full study and all 103 verses →
  • מֶרְכָּבָה merkâbâhchariottranslated this way 41 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H4818Noun  ·  Translated: chariot 21, chariots 19, caused their chariot 1

    Genesis 41:43 He had Joseph ride in his second chariot, with men calling out before him, “Bow the knee!” So he placed him over all the land of Egypt.

    Exodus 14:25 He caused their chariot wheels to wobble, so that they had difficulty driving. “Let us flee from the Israelites,” said the Egyptians, “for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt!”

    Full study and all 40 verses →
  • רָכַב râkabmount and ride, ridetranslated this way 3 times of its 77 uses · Strong’s H7392Verb  ·  Translated: riding 12, ride 9, mounted 6, rider 5

    2 Kings 9:16 Then Jehu got into his chariot and went to Jezreel, because Joram was laid up there. And Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.

    2 Kings 9:28 Then his servants carried him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of David.

    Full study and all 74 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἅρμα hármaa chariottranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G716Noun  ·  Translated: chariot 3, chariots 1

    Acts 8:28 and on his return was sitting in his chariot reading Isaiah the prophet.

    Revelation 9:9 They also had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the roar of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.

    Full study and all 4 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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 chariot: 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.