Word study
Head
14 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: head, heads, headed, heading. 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 “head” 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)
- רֹאשׁ rôshheadtranslated this way 330 times of its 570 uses · Strong’s H7218Noun · Translated: head 200, heads 113, chief 31, top 29Full study and all 530 verses →
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Exodus 6:14 These were the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These were the clans of Reuben.
- שִׁבֹּל shibbôlstream, ear of grain, branchtranslated this way 10 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H7641Noun · Translated: heads of grain 10, ones 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Genesis 41:5 but he fell back asleep and dreamed a second time: Seven heads of grain, plump and ripe, came up on one stalk.
Ruth 2:2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go into the fields and glean heads of grain after someone in whose sight I may find favor.” “Go ahead, my daughter,” Naomi replied.
- מְרַאֲשָׁה meraăshâhheadpiece, head-resttranslated this way 8 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H4763Noun · Translated: head 8Full study and all 8 verses →
Genesis 28:11 On reaching a certain place, he spent the night there because the sun had set. And taking one of the stones from that place, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
1 Samuel 19:13 Then Michal took a household idol and laid it in the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.
- קׇדְקֹד qodqôdhead, crown of headtranslated this way 7 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H6936Noun · Translated: head 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Deuteronomy 28:35 The LORD will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.
2 Samuel 14:25 Now there was not a man in all Israel as handsome and highly praised as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the top of his head, he did not have a single flaw.
- רֵאשׁ rêshheadtranslated this way 6 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H7217Noun · Translated: head 4, mind 4, heads 2, came into your mind 1Full study and all 12 verses →
Daniel 2:32 The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze,
Daniel 2:38 Wherever the sons of men or beasts of the field or birds of the air dwell, He has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
- נָסַע nâsapull out or up, set out, journeytranslated this way 3 times of its 146 uses · Strong’s H5265Verb · Translated: set 91, journeyed 4, moved 4, pulled 4Full study and all 139 verses →
Numbers 14:25 Now since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.”
Deuteronomy 1:40 But you are to turn back and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.”
- קָרַחַת qârachathbaldness of headtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H7146Noun · Translated: bald head 2, back 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Leviticus 13:42 But if there is a reddish-white sore on the bald head or forehead, it is an infectious disease breaking out on it.
Leviticus 13:43 The priest is to examine him, and if the swelling of the infection on his bald head or forehead is reddish-white like a skin disease,
- שְׁכֶם shekemshouldertranslated this way 2 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H7926Noun · Translated: shoulder 9, shoulders 7, head 2, ridge of land 1Full study and all 19 verses →
1 Samuel 9:2 And he had a son named Saul, choice and handsome, without equal among the Israelites — a head taller than any of the people.
1 Samuel 10:23 So they ran and brought Saul, and when he stood among the people, he was a head taller than any of the others.
- שֵׂיבָה sêbâhhoary head, old agetranslated this way 2 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H7872Noun · Translated: old age 5, gray hair 3, gray 2Full study and all 19 verses →
1 Kings 2:6 So act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.
1 Kings 2:9 Now therefore, do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man. You know what you ought to do to him to bring his gray head down to Sheol in blood.”
- שַׂר sarchieftain, chief, ruler, official, captain, princetranslated this way 2 times of its 401 uses · Strong’s H8269Noun · Translated: commanders 74, officials 67, princes 63, commander 39Full study and all 366 verses →
1 Chronicles 15:22 Chenaniah the head Levite was the director of the music because he was highly skilled.
- קָרַח qârachmake baldtranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H7139Verb · Translated: make bald 1, shave his head 1, shave their heads 1, made bald 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Jeremiah 16:6 “Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them.
Ezekiel 27:31 They will shave their heads for you and wrap themselves in sackcloth. They will weep over you with anguish of soul and bitter mourning.
- שׁוּב shûbturn back, returntranslated this way 2 times of its 1,007 uses · Strong’s H7725Verb · Translated: return 218, returned 105, restore 62, turn 56Full study and all 920 verses →
Exodus 4:20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.
- הָלַךְ hâlakgo, come, walktranslated this way 2 times of its 1,461 uses · Strong’s H1980Verb · Translated: go 338, went 173, walk 116, Come 84Full study and all 1,299 verses →
- קׇרְחָה qorchâhbaldness, bald spottranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H7144Noun · Translated: shaved 4, baldness 1, shaven heads 1, shave their heads in mourning 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Isaiah 22:12 On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.
Jeremiah 47:5 The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning; Ashkelon will be silenced. O remnant of their valley, how long will you gash yourself?
Greek words (New Testament)
- κεφαλή kephalḗthe headtranslated this way 69 times of its 71 uses · Strong’s G2776Noun · Translated: head 50, heads 19, cornerstone 2Full study and all 63 verses →
Matthew 5:36 Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black.
Mark 6:24 Then she went out and asked her mother, “What should I request?” And her mother answered, “The head of John the Baptist.”
- στάχυς stáchysa head of graintranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G4719Noun · Translated: heads of grain 3, head 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Matthew 12:1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.
Mark 2:23 One Sabbath Jesus was passing through the grainfields, and His disciples began to pick the heads of grain as they walked along.
- κατακαλύπτω katakalýptōI veil, cover the headtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G2619Verb · Translated: cover her head 2, cover 1Full study and all 2 verses →
1 Corinthians 11:6 If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off. And if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head.
- πορεύομαι poreúomaiI travel, journey, gotranslated this way 2 times of its 147 uses · Strong’s G4198Verb · Translated: go 59, went 22, going 10, way 8Full study and all 141 verses →
Luke 9:53 But the people there refused to welcome Him, because He was heading for Jerusalem.
Luke 24:28 As they approached the village where they were headed, He seemed to be going farther.
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.
What the Bible says about head: passages by topic →
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.