Word study
Finest
10 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “finest”. 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 “finest” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- מִבְחָר mibchârchoicest, besttranslated this way 3 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s H4005Noun · Translated: choicest 4, finest 3, choice 2, best 1Full study and all 12 verses →
Genesis 23:6 “Listen to us, sir. You are God’s chosen one among us. Bury your dead in the finest of our tombs. None of us will withhold his tomb for burying your dead.”
Exodus 15:4 Pharaoh’s chariots and army He has cast into the sea; the finest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea.
- רֹאשׁ rôshheadtranslated this way 3 times of its 570 uses · Strong’s H7218Noun · Translated: head 200, heads 113, chief 31, top 29Full study and all 530 verses →
Exodus 30:23 “Take the finest spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half that amount (250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant cane,
- חֶלֶב chelebfattranslated this way 3 times of its 88 uses · Strong’s H2459Noun · Translated: fat 63, fat portions 5, finest 3, best part 2Full study and all 69 verses →
Numbers 18:12 I give you all the freshest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain that the Israelites give to the LORD as their firstfruits.
Psalm 81:16 But I would feed you the finest wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
- טוֹב ṭôbpleasant, agreeable, goodtranslated this way 2 times of its 538 uses · Strong’s H2896Adjective · Translated: good 249, better 72, prosperity 19, good things 12Full study and all 499 verses →
Song of Solomon 7:9 and your mouth like the finest wine. May it flow smoothly to my beloved, gliding gently over lips and teeth.
- חֶמְדָּה chemdâhid.translated this way 1 time of its 23 uses · Strong’s H2532Noun · Translated: pleasant 3, precious 3, highly precious 2, riches 2Full study and all 23 verses →
Genesis 27:15 And Rebekah took the finest clothes in the house that belonged to her older son Esau, and she put them on her younger son Jacob.
- עֵנָב ênâbgrape(s)translated this way 1 time of its 17 uses · Strong’s H6025Noun · Translated: grapes 13, grape 1, finest grapes 1, good grapes 1Full study and all 16 verses →
Deuteronomy 32:14 with curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat. From the juice of the finest grapes you drank the wine.
- מִבְחוֹר mibchôrchoicetranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H4004Noun · Translated: importance 1, finest 1Full study and all 2 verses →
2 Kings 19:23 Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest outposts, the densest of its forests.
- תּוֹעָפָה tôâphâheminencetranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s H8443Noun · Translated: strength 2, finest 1, peaks 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Job 22:25 then the Almighty will be your gold and the finest silver for you.
- שֹׂרֵק sôrêqvinetranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H8321Noun · Translated: choicest branch 1, finest vines 1, vine 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Isaiah 5:2 He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour!
- רֵאשִׁית rêshîthbeginning, chieftranslated this way 1 time of its 49 uses · Strong’s H7225Noun · Translated: firstfruits 12, beginning 11, best 7, first 6Full study and all 47 verses →
Amos 6:6 You drink wine by the bowlful and anoint yourselves with the finest oils, but you fail to grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
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.