Word study

Knee

2 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: knees, knee. 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 “knee” 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)

  • בֶּרֶךְ berekkneetranslated this way 17 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H1290Noun  ·  Translated: knees 14, knee 3, lap 2, knee-deep 1

    Genesis 48:12 Then Joseph removed his sons from his father’s knees and bowed facedown.

    Deuteronomy 28:35 The LORD will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

    Full study and all 20 verses →
  • כָּרַע kârabow downtranslated this way 2 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s H3766Verb  ·  Translated: bow 5, collapsed 4, bowed 4, crouches 3

    Judges 11:35 As soon as Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You have brought great misery upon me, for I have given my word to the LORD and cannot take it back.”

    Psalm 17:13 Arise, O LORD, confront them! Bring them to their knees; deliver me from the wicked by Your sword,

    Full study and all 32 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • γόνυ gónya kneetranslated this way 7 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G1119Noun  ·  Translated: knees 4, knee 3

    Luke 5:8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees. “Go away from me, Lord,” he said, “for I am a sinful man.”

    Acts 7:60 Falling on his knees, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

    Full study and all 7 verses →
  • προσκυνέω proskynéōI worshiptranslated this way 2 times of its 60 uses · Strong’s G4352Verb  ·  Translated: worship 30, worshiped 17, knelt 4, worshipers 2

    Matthew 18:26 Then the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Have patience with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’

    Mark 5:6 When the man saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees before Him.

    Full study and all 54 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.

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.