Word study
Craftsman
7 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “craftsman”. 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 “craftsman” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- חָרָשׁ chârâshgraver, artificertranslated this way 8 times of its 36 uses · Strong’s H2796Noun · Translated: craftsmen 9, craftsman 8, carpenters 7, blacksmith 2Full study and all 33 verses →
Deuteronomy 27:15 ‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image — an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman — and sets it up in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
Isaiah 40:19 To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?
- חָכָם châkâmwisetranslated this way 1 time of its 136 uses · Strong’s H2450Adjective · Translated: wise 86, wise men 8, wise man 6, skilled 5Full study and all 133 verses →
Exodus 35:10 Let every skilled craftsman among you come and make everything that the LORD has commanded:
- חָשַׁב châshabthink, accounttranslated this way 1 time of its 118 uses · Strong’s H2803Verb · Translated: considered 10, regarded 7, devise 7, devised 6Full study and all 117 verses →
Exodus 39:3 They hammered out thin sheets of gold and cut threads from them to interweave with the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and fine linen — the work of a skilled craftsman.
- חֹרֵשׁ chôrêshcut in, engrave, plough, devisetranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H2794Verb · Translated: implement 1, craftsman 1Full study and all 2 verses →
1 Kings 7:14 He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a craftsman in bronze. Huram had great skill, understanding, and knowledge for every kind of bronze work. So he came to King Solomon and carried out all his work.
- אִישׁ îshmantranslated this way 1 time of its 1,399 uses · Strong’s H376Noun · Translated: man 650, men 198, one 79, each 79Full study and all 1,278 verses →
- אָמוֹן âmônartificer, architect, master-workmantranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H525Noun · Translated: skilled craftsman 1, craftsmen 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Proverbs 8:30 Then I was a skilled craftsman at His side, and His delight day by day, rejoicing always in His presence.
- יָצַר yâtsarform, fashiontranslated this way 1 time of its 62 uses · Strong’s H3335Verb · Translated: formed 17, potter 9, potter's 5, Maker 5Full study and all 55 verses →
Habakkuk 2:18 What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it — or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
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 craftsman: 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.