Word study
Handle
6 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: handle, handles. 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 “handle” 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)
- עָשָׂה âsâhdo, maketranslated this way 1 time of its 2,478 uses · Strong’s H6213Verb · Translated: done 292, made 265, make 143, did 112Full study and all 2,206 verses →
Exodus 18:18 Surely you and these people with you will wear yourselves out, because the task is too heavy for you. You cannot handle it alone.
- עֵץ êtstree, trees, woodtranslated this way 1 time of its 307 uses · Strong’s H6086Noun · Translated: wood 103, trees 66, tree 58, timber 12Full study and all 277 verses →
Deuteronomy 19:5 If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor, he may flee to one of these cities to save his life.
- נִצָּב nitstsâbhafttranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H5325Noun · Translated: handle 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Judges 3:22 Even the handle sank in after the blade, and Eglon’s fat closed in over it, so that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. And Eglon’s bowels emptied.
- תָּפַשׂ tâphaslay hold of, wieldtranslated this way 1 time of its 64 uses · Strong’s H8610Verb · Translated: seized 8, captured 7, take 4, Seize 4Full study and all 60 verses →
Ezekiel 27:29 All who handle the oars will abandon their ships. The sailors and all the captains of the sea will stand on the shore.
- כָּתֵף kâthêphshoulder, shoulder-blade, sidetranslated this way 1 time of its 62 uses · Strong’s H3802Noun · Translated: side 17, shoulders 9, shoulder 9, shoulder pieces 8Full study and all 55 verses →
1 Kings 7:34 Each stand had four handles, one for each corner, projecting from the stand.
- כַּף kaphhollow, or flat of the hand, palm, sole of foot, pantranslated this way 1 time of its 176 uses · Strong’s H3709Noun · Translated: hands 70, hand 32, dish 12, palm 9Full study and all 170 verses →
Song of Solomon 5:5 I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the bolt.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἅπτομαι háptomaiI touch or handletranslated this way 1 time of its 35 uses · Strong’s G680Verb · Translated: touched 20, touch 8, place his hands 2Full study and all 33 verses →
Colossians 2:21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”?
- ὀρθοτομέω orthotoméōI cut straight, handle correctlytranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G3718Verb · Translated: accurately handles 1Full study and its 1 verse →
2 Timothy 2:15 Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth.
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.