Word study
Guardian
4 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: guardians, guardian. 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 “guardian” 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)
- אָמַן âmanconfirm, supporttranslated this way 2 times of its 104 uses · Strong’s H539Verb · Translated: believe 24, faithful 14, trust 8, believed 7Full study and all 98 verses →
2 Kings 10:1 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders, and to the guardians of the sons of Ahab, saying:
2 Kings 10:5 So the palace administrator, the overseer of the city, the elders, and the guardians sent a message to Jehu: “We are your servants, and we will do whatever you say. We will not make anyone king. Do whatever is good in your sight.”
- שׁוֹעֵר shôêrportertranslated this way 2 times of its 37 uses · Strong’s H7778Noun · Translated: gatekeepers 31, gatekeeper 2, guardians 2, keep watch 1Full study and all 37 verses →
1 Chronicles 15:23 Berechiah and Elkanah were to be guardians of the ark.
1 Chronicles 15:24 Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer — the priests — were to blow the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah were also to be guardians of the ark.
- סָכַךְ sâkakovershadow, screen, covertranslated this way 2 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s H5526Verb · Translated: overshadowing 2, cover 2, overshadowed 2, knit me together 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Ezekiel 28:14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for I had ordained you. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked among the fiery stones.
Ezekiel 28:16 By the vastness of your trade, you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mountain of God, and I banished you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
- שָׁמַר shâmarkeep, watch, preservetranslated this way 1 time of its 461 uses · Strong’s H8104Verb · Translated: keep 133, careful 39, kept 33, guard 25Full study and all 436 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- παιδαγωγός paidagōgósa boy's guardian or tutortranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3807Noun · Translated: guardian 2, guardians 1Full study and all 3 verses →
1 Corinthians 4:15 Even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
Galatians 3:24 So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
- ἐπίτροπος epítroposa steward, guardiantranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s G2012Noun · Translated: foreman 1, household manager 1, guardians 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Galatians 4:2 He is subject to guardians and trustees until the date set by his father.
- νεωκόρος neōkórostemple-wardentranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G3511Noun · Translated: guardian of the temple 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Acts 19:35 Finally the city clerk quieted the crowd and declared, “Men of Ephesus, doesn’t everyone know that the city of Ephesus is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven?
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.