Word study

Ear

4 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: ears, ear, earrings, earring. 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 “ear” 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)

  • אֹזֶן ôzeneartranslated this way 95 times of its 151 uses · Strong’s H241Noun  ·  Translated: ears 54, ear 38, hearing 31, heard 6

    Exodus 21:6 then his master is to bring him before the judges. And he shall take him to the door or doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he shall serve his master for life.

    Deuteronomy 15:17 then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he will become your servant for life. And treat your maidservant the same way.

    Full study and all 146 verses →
  • אָזַן âzangive ear, listen, heartranslated this way 16 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H238Verb  ·  Translated: give ear 14, listen 13, Hear 6, pay attention 3

    Deuteronomy 1:45 And you returned and wept before the LORD, but He would not listen to your voice or give ear to you.

    Judges 5:3 Listen, O kings! Give ear, O princes! I will sing to the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel.

    Full study and all 41 verses →
  • נֶזֶם nezemringtranslated this way 8 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H5141Noun  ·  Translated: ring 6, earrings 5, earring 3, rings 2

    Exodus 32:2 So Aaron told them, “Take off the gold earrings that are on your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.”

    Judges 8:24 Then he added, “Let me make a request of you, that each of you give me an earring from his plunder.” (For the enemies had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.)

    Full study and all 16 verses →
  • עָגִיל âgîlhoop, ringtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H5694Noun  ·  Translated: earrings 2

    Numbers 31:50 So we have brought to the LORD an offering of the gold articles each man acquired— armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces— to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.”

    Ezekiel 16:12 I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head.

    Full study and all 2 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • οὖς oûsthe eartranslated this way 34 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s G3775Noun  ·  Translated: ears 22, ear 12, hearing 1

    Matthew 10:27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops.

    Mark 4:9 Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

    Full study and all 33 verses →
  • ὠτίον ōtíonan eartranslated this way 5 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G5621Noun  ·  Translated: ear 5

    Matthew 26:51 At this, one of Jesus’ companions drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

    Mark 14:47 And one of the bystanders drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

    Full study and all 5 verses →
  • ἀκοή akoḗhearing, faculty of hearing, eartranslated this way 5 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s G189Noun  ·  Translated: hearing 6, ears 4, heard 3, rumors 2

    Mark 7:35 Immediately the man’s ears were opened and his tongue was released, and he began to speak plainly.

    Acts 17:20 For you are bringing some strange notions to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”

    Full study and all 21 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 ear: 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.