Word study
Inmost
5 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “inmost”. 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 “inmost” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- חֶדֶר chederchamber, roomtranslated this way 4 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s H2315Noun · Translated: bedroom 7, room 7, rooms 3, chambers 3Full study and all 32 verses →
Proverbs 18:8 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels that go down into the inmost being.
Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching out his inmost being.
- כִּלְיָה kilyâhkidneystranslated this way 2 times of its 32 uses · Strong’s H3629Noun · Translated: kidneys 19, heart 4, inmost 2Full study and all 26 verses →
Psalm 139:13 For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Proverbs 23:16 My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
- טֻחָה ṭuchâhkidneys, inmost thoughttranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H2910Noun · Translated: heart 1, inmost 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Psalm 51:6 Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
- סָתַם sâthamstop up, shut up, keep closetranslated this way 1 time of its 14 uses · Strong’s H5640Verb · Translated: stopped 4, closed 2Full study and all 14 verses →
Psalm 51:6 Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
- קֶרֶב qerebinward part, midsttranslated this way 1 time of its 213 uses · Strong’s H7130Noun · Translated: within 27, among you 18, among 16, midst 16Full study and all 211 verses →
Isaiah 16:11 Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir-heres.
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.