Word study
Inner
7 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “inner”. 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 “inner” 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)
- פְּנִימִי penîmîinnertranslated this way 29 times of its 31 uses · Strong’s H6442Adjective · Translated: inner 25Full study and all 28 verses →
1 Kings 6:36 Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams.
1 Chronicles 28:11 Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, storehouses, upper rooms, inner rooms, and the room for the mercy seat.
- דְּבִיר debîrshrinetranslated this way 13 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H1687Noun · Translated: inner sanctuary 13, sanctuary 2, interwoven 1Full study and all 16 verses →
1 Kings 6:5 Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms.
2 Chronicles 4:20 the lampstands of pure gold and their lamps, to burn in front of the inner sanctuary as prescribed;
- 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 →
1 Kings 20:30 The rest of them fled into the city of Aphek, where the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the remaining men. Ben-hadad also fled to the city and hid in an inner room.
2 Kings 9:2 When you arrive, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go in, get him away from his companions, and take him to an inner room.
- קֶרֶב qerebinward part, midsttranslated this way 2 times of its 213 uses · Strong’s H7130Noun · Translated: within 27, among you 18, among 16, midst 16Full study and all 211 verses →
Exodus 12:9 Do not eat any of the meat raw or cooked in boiling water, but only roasted over the fire— its head and legs and inner parts.
Psalm 64:6 They devise injustice and say, “We have perfected a secret plan.” For the inner man and the heart are mysterious.
- צְרִיחַ tserîachexcavation, underground chambertranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H6877Noun · Translated: inner chamber 2, cellars 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Judges 9:46 On hearing of this, all the leaders in the tower of Shechem entered the inner chamber of the temple of El-berith.
Judges 9:49 So each man also cut his own branch and followed Abimelech. Then they piled the branches against the inner chamber and set it on fire above them, killing everyone in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women.
- מַעְגָּל magâlentrenchmenttranslated this way 2 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H4570Noun · Translated: paths 5, path 4, ways 2, tracks 2Full study and all 16 verses →
1 Samuel 26:5 Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw the place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the general of his army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the inner circle of the camp, with the troops camped around him.
1 Samuel 26:7 That night David and Abishai came to the troops, and Saul was lying there asleep in the inner circle of the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the troops were lying around him.
- פָּנִים pânîmface, beforetranslated this way 2 times of its 1,836 uses · Strong’s H6440Noun · Translated: before 448, face 222, presence 147, before you 123Full study and all 1,671 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- ταμεῖον tameîona secret chambertranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G5009Noun · Translated: inner rooms 2, inner room 1, storehouse 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Luke 12:3 What you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the housetops.
- ἔσω ésōwithin, insidetranslated this way 3 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s G2080Adverb · Translated: inside 3, inner 3, into 2, in 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Romans 7:22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.
2 Corinthians 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.
- ἐσώτερος esṓterosinnertranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G2082Adjective · Translated: inner 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Acts 16:24 On receiving this order, he placed them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
Hebrews 6:19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,
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.