Word study
Hill
4 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: hill, hills. 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 “hill” 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)
- הַר harmountain, hill, hill-countrytranslated this way 122 times of its 530 uses · Strong’s H2022Noun · Translated: mountains 140, mountain 130, Mount 124, hill country 82Full study and all 480 verses →
Genesis 10:30 Their territory extended from Mesha to Sephar, in the eastern hill country.
Numbers 13:17 When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up through the Negev and into the hill country.
- גִּבְעָה gibâhhilltranslated this way 63 times of its 69 uses · Strong’s H1389Noun · Translated: hills 39, hill 22, Gibeah 3Full study and all 69 verses →
Genesis 49:26 The blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of the ancient mountains and the bounty of the everlasting hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince of his brothers.
Exodus 17:10 Joshua did as Moses had instructed him and fought against the Amalekites, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
- עֹפֶל ôphelmound, hilltranslated this way 2 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H6076Noun · Translated: tumors 6, hill 2, stronghold 1Full study and all 9 verses →
2 Kings 5:24 When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the gifts from the servants and stored them in the house. Then he dismissed the men, and they departed.
Isaiah 32:14 For the palace will be forsaken, the busy city abandoned. The hill and the watchtower will become caves forever — the delight of wild donkeys and a pasture for flocks —
- הָרָר hârârmountaintranslated this way 2 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s H2042Noun · Translated: mountains 8, hills 2, mountain 2Full study and all 12 verses →
Deuteronomy 8:9 a land where you will eat food without scarcity, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and whose hills are ready to be mined for copper.
Psalm 50:10 for every beast of the forest is Mine — the cattle on a thousand hills.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὄρος órosa mountaintranslated this way 3 times of its 63 uses · Strong’s G3735Noun · Translated: mountain 30, Mount 18, mountains 10, hill 2Full study and all 63 verses →
Matthew 5:14 You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
Luke 4:29 They got up, drove Him out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him over the cliff.
- ὀρεινός oreinósmountainous, hillytranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G3714Adjective · Translated: hill country 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Luke 1:39 In those days Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah,
Luke 1:65 All their neighbors were filled with awe, and people throughout the hill country of Judea were talking about these events.
- βουνός bounósa hillock, hilltranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1015Noun · Translated: hill 1, hills 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Luke 3:5 Every valley shall be filled in, and every mountain and hill made low. The crooked ways shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth.
Luke 23:30 At that time ‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’
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.