Word study
Dug
5 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “dug”. 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 “dug” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- חָפַר châphardig, search fortranslated this way 11 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H2658Verb · Translated: dug 11, search 2, spy 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Genesis 21:30 He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand as my witness that I dug this well.”
Exodus 7:24 So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink the water from the river.
- כָּרָה kârâhdigtranslated this way 8 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H3738Verb · Translated: dug 8, digs 3, hollowed 1, cut 1Full study and all 14 verses →
Genesis 26:25 So Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD, and he pitched his tent there. His servants also dug a well there.
Psalm 7:15 He has dug a hole and hollowed it out; he has fallen into a pit of his own making.
- חָצַב châtsabhew, hew out, cleavetranslated this way 4 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s H2672Verb · Translated: stonecutters 7, dug 4Full study and all 22 verses →
2 Chronicles 26:10 Since he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain, he built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns. And since he was a lover of the soil, he had farmers and vinedressers in the hill country and in the fertile fields.
Nehemiah 9:25 They captured fortified cities and fertile land and took houses full of all goods, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled; they grew fat and delighted in Your great goodness.
- קוּר qûrbore, digtranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H6979Verb · Translated: dug wells 2, strike 1, breaking 1, gushes 1Full study and all 5 verses →
2 Kings 19:24 I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
Isaiah 37:25 I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
- חָתַר châthardig, rowtranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H2864Verb · Translated: dig 5, dug 2, rowed hard 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Ezekiel 8:8 “Son of man,” He told me, “dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall and discovered a doorway.
Ezekiel 12:7 So I did as I was commanded. I brought out my bags for exile by day, and in the evening I dug through the wall by hand. I took my belongings out at dusk, carrying them on my shoulder as they watched.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὀρύσσω orýssōI dig, dig outtranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3736Verb · Translated: dug 2, dug a hole 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 21:33 Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.
Mark 12:1 Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a wine vat, and built a watchtower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.
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.