Word study
Gate
5 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: gate, gates. 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 “gate” 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)
- שַׁעַר shaargatetranslated this way 311 times of its 362 uses · Strong’s H8179Noun · Translated: gate 195, gates 84, gateway 30, within your gates 15Full study and all 299 verses →
Genesis 22:17 I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
Exodus 20:10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work— neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates.
- דֶּלֶת delethdoortranslated this way 11 times of its 84 uses · Strong’s H1817Noun · Translated: doors 39, door 23, gates 10, panels 2Full study and all 78 verses →
Deuteronomy 3:5 All these cities were fortified with high walls and gates and bars, and there were many more unwalled villages.
Joshua 6:26 At that time Joshua invoked this solemn oath: “Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho; at the cost of his firstborn he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.”
- תָּא tâchambertranslated this way 10 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H8372Noun · Translated: gate chambers 8, gate chamber 2, of 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Ezekiel 40:7 Each gate chamber was one rod long and one rod wide, and there were five cubits between the gate chambers. The inner threshold of the gate by the portico facing inward was one rod deep.
Ezekiel 40:10 There were three gate chambers on each side of the east gate, each with the same measurements, and the gateposts on either side also had the same measurements.
- פֶּתַח pethachopening, doorway, entrancetranslated this way 4 times of its 157 uses · Strong’s H6607Noun · Translated: entrance 107, door 14, doorway 13, doors 5Full study and all 150 verses →
1 Kings 17:10 So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering sticks. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, so that I may drink.”
Proverbs 17:19 He who loves transgression loves strife; he who builds his gate high invites destruction.
- בְּרִיחַ berîachbartranslated this way 2 times of its 36 uses · Strong’s H1280Noun · Translated: bars 18, crossbars 11, crossbar 2Full study and all 34 verses →
Jeremiah 51:30 The warriors of Babylon have stopped fighting; they sit in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become like women. Babylon’s homes have been set ablaze, the bars of her gates are broken.
Amos 1:5 I will break down the gates of Damascus; I will cut off the ruler from the Valley of Aven and the one who wields the scepter in Beth-eden. The people of Aram will be exiled to Kir,” says the LORD.
Greek words (New Testament)
- πυλών pylṓna large gate, a gateway, porchtranslated this way 14 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G4440Noun · Translated: gates 8, gate 5, gateway 1, outer gate 1Full study and all 12 verses →
Luke 16:20 And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores
Acts 10:17 While Peter was puzzling over the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house and approached the gate.
- πύλη pýlēa door, gatetranslated this way 10 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G4439Noun · Translated: gate 7, gates 2, city gate 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Matthew 7:13 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
Luke 7:12 As He approached the town gate, He saw a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.
- θύρα thýraa door, opportunitytranslated this way 6 times of its 37 uses · Strong’s G2374Noun · Translated: door 20, doors 6, gate 5, entrance 4Full study and all 36 verses →
John 10:1 “Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.
Acts 3:2 And a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those entering the temple courts.
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.