Word study
Constellations
4 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “constellations”. 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 “constellations” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- מַזָּלָה mazzâlâhconstellation, Zodiacal signtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H4208Noun · Translated: constellations 1Full study and its 1 verse →
2 Kings 23:5 Josiah also did away with the idolatrous priests ordained by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem — those who had burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.
- חֶדֶר chederchamber, roomtranslated this way 1 time of its 35 uses · Strong’s H2315Noun · Translated: bedroom 7, room 7, rooms 3, chambers 3Full study and all 32 verses →
Job 9:9 He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
- מַזָּרָה mazzârâhsome noted constellation, zodiactranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H4216Noun · Translated: constellations 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Job 38:32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs?
- כְּסִיל KesîlOriontranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s H3685Noun · Translated: Orion 3, constellations 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Isaiah 13:10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.
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 constellations: 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.