Word study

Horse

4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: horses, horse. 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 “horse” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • סוּס sûsswallow or swifttranslated this way 124 times of its 135 uses · Strong’s H5483Noun  ·  Translated: horses 91, horse 26, horseback 2, like a horse 2

    Genesis 47:17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their flocks and herds, and their donkeys. Throughout that year he provided them with food in exchange for all their livestock.

    Exodus 9:3 then the hand of the LORD will bring a severe plague on your livestock in the field— on your horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks.

    Full study and all 126 verses →
  • פָּרָשׁ pârâshhorse, steedtranslated this way 9 times of its 55 uses · Strong’s H6571Noun  ·  Translated: horsemen 30, cavalry 9, horses 8, charioteers 2

    1 Samuel 8:11 He said, “This will be the manner of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them to serve his own chariots and horses, and to run in front of his chariots.

    1 Kings 4:26 Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses and 12,000 horses.

    Full study and all 54 verses →
  • רֶכֶשׁ rekeshsteedstranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H7409Noun  ·  Translated: horses 2, chariot horses 1, swift horses 1

    1 Kings 4:28 Each one also brought to the required place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and other horses.

    Esther 8:10 Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers riding on swift horses bred from the royal mares.

    Full study and all 4 verses →
  • רֶכֶב rekebchariotry, chariot, mill-stonetranslated this way 2 times of its 116 uses · Strong’s H7393Noun  ·  Translated: chariots 77, chariot 25, riders 4, charioteers 3

    2 Samuel 8:4 David captured from him a thousand chariots, seven thousand charioteers, and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and he hamstrung all the horses except a hundred he kept for the chariots.

    1 Chronicles 18:4 David captured from him a thousand chariots, seven thousand charioteers, and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and he hamstrung all the horses except a hundred he kept for the chariots.

    Full study and all 103 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἵππος hípposa horsetranslated this way 17 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s G2462Noun  ·  Translated: horses 10, horse 7

    James 3:3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can guide the whole animal.

    Revelation 6:2 So I looked and saw a white horse, and its rider held a bow. And he was given a crown, and he rode out to overcome and conquer.

    Full study and all 16 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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 horse: 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.