Word study
Fortress
7 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: fortress, fortresses. 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 “fortress” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- מִבְצָר mibtsârfortificationtranslated this way 11 times of its 37 uses · Strong’s H4013Noun · Translated: fortified 17, fortresses 6, strongholds 4, fortress 3Full study and all 37 verses →
2 Samuel 24:7 They went toward the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went on to the Negev of Judah, to Beersheba.
2 Kings 8:12 “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.”
- מָצוּד mâtsûdnet, capture, fastnesstranslated this way 9 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H4686Noun · Translated: fortress 9, stronghold 7, snare 2, net 1Full study and all 20 verses →
2 Samuel 5:7 Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the City of David).
1 Chronicles 11:5 The people of Jebus said to David, “You will never get in here.” Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the City of David).
- מִשְׂגָּב misgâbsecure height, retreattranslated this way 9 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H4869Noun · Translated: fortress 9, stronghold 5, refuge 2, high-walled 1Full study and all 16 verses →
Psalm 46:7 The LORD of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Jeremiah 48:1 Concerning Moab, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Woe to Nebo, for it will be devastated. Kiriathaim will be captured and disgraced; the fortress will be shattered and dismantled.
- מָעוֹז mâôzplace or means of safety, protectiontranslated this way 7 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s H4581Noun · Translated: stronghold 10, refuge 8, fortress 4, protection 3Full study and all 34 verses →
2 Samuel 22:33 God is my strong fortress, and He makes my way clear.
Jeremiah 16:19 O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited nothing but lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all.
- אַרְמוֹן armôncitadeltranslated this way 5 times of its 32 uses · Strong’s H759Noun · Translated: citadels 17, palaces 4, fortresses 3, citadel 2Full study and all 31 verses →
Psalm 122:7 May there be peace within your walls, and prosperity inside your fortresses.”
Isaiah 25:2 Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin. The fortress of strangers is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.
- מְצַד metsadfastness, strongholdtranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H4679Noun · Translated: strongholds 7, fortress 2, stronghold 2Full study and all 11 verses →
1 Chronicles 11:7 So David took up residence in the fortress; that is why it was called the City of David.
Isaiah 33:16 he will dwell on the heights; the mountain fortress will be his refuge; his food will be provided and his water assured.
- בִּירָנִית bîrânîthfortress, fortified placetranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H1003Noun · Translated: fortresses 2Full study and all 2 verses →
2 Chronicles 17:12 Jehoshaphat grew stronger and stronger, and he built fortresses and store cities in Judah
2 Chronicles 27:4 He also built cities in the hill country of Judah and fortresses and towers in the forests.
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.