Word study
Jar
5 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: jar, jars, jared. 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 “jar” 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)
- כַּד kadjartranslated this way 15 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H3537Noun · Translated: jar 13, jars 2, pitcher 1Full study and all 16 verses →
Genesis 24:14 Now may it happen that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who responds, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels as well’— let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. By this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”
Judges 7:16 And he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each man a ram’s horn in one hand and a large jar in the other, containing a torch.
- כְּלִי kelîarticle, utensil, vesseltranslated this way 14 times of its 282 uses · Strong’s H3627Noun · Translated: articles 59, utensils 32, weapons 20, furnishings 15Full study and all 255 verses →
Numbers 4:9 They are to take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand used for light, together with its lamps, wick trimmers, and trays, as well as the jars of oil with which to supply it.
Ruth 2:9 Let your eyes be on the field they are harvesting, and follow along after these girls. Indeed, I have ordered the young men not to touch you. And when you are thirsty, go and drink from the jars the young men have filled.”
- יֶרֶד YeredJeredtranslated this way 6 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H3382Noun · Translated: Jared 6, Jered 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Genesis 5:15 When Mahalalel was 65 years old, he became the father of Jared.
1 Chronicles 1:2 Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared,
- נֶבֶל nebelskin-bottle, skintranslated this way 5 times of its 36 uses · Strong’s H5035Noun · Translated: harps 13, harp 8, skin 3, play the harps 2Full study and all 35 verses →
Job 38:37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens
Isaiah 22:24 So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house: the descendants and the offshoots— all the lesser vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.
- בַּקְבֻּק baqbuqflasktranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H1228Noun · Translated: jar 3Full study and all 3 verses →
1 Kings 14:3 Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will become of the boy.”
Jeremiah 19:1 This is what the LORD says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take some of the elders of the people and leaders of the priests,
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀλάβαστρον alábastronan alabaster phial or bottletranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G211Noun · Translated: alabaster jar 3, jar 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 26:7 a woman came to Him with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, which she poured on His head as He reclined at the table.
Mark 14:3 While Jesus was in Bethany reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke open the jar and poured it on Jesus’ head.
- σκεῦος skeûosa vessel to contain liquid, utensil, tackletranslated this way 3 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s G4632Noun · Translated: vessels 4, possessions 3, vessel 3, jar 2Full study and all 18 verses →
Luke 8:16 No one lights a lamp and covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he sets it on a stand, so those who enter can see the light.
John 19:29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there. So they soaked a sponge in the wine, put it on a stalk of hyssop, and lifted it to His mouth.
- ὑδρία hydríaa water pottranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G5201Noun · Translated: water jars 1, jars 1, water jar 1Full study and all 3 verses →
John 2:6 Now six stone water jars had been set there for the Jewish rites of purification. Each could hold from twenty to thirty gallons.
John 2:7 Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim.
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.