Word study
Land
16 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: land, lands, landed. 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 “land” 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)
- אֶרֶץ eretsearth, landtranslated this way 1,571 times of its 2,375 uses · Strong’s H776Noun · Translated: land 1,483, earth 564, ground 119, lands 41Full study and all 2,120 verses →
Genesis 2:11 The name of the first river is the Pishon; it winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
Exodus 1:7 but the Israelites were fruitful and increased rapidly; they multiplied and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.
- אֲדָמָה ădâmâhground, landtranslated this way 123 times of its 220 uses · Strong’s H127Noun · Translated: land 121, ground 38, earth 34, soil 12Full study and all 207 verses →
Genesis 28:15 Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
Exodus 10:6 They will fill your houses and the houses of all your officials and every Egyptian— something neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since the day they came into this land.’” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh’s presence.
- שָׂדֶה sâdehid.translated this way 20 times of its 317 uses · Strong’s H7704Noun · Translated: field 185, fields 55, land 19, wild 13Full study and all 299 verses →
Leviticus 27:28 Nothing that a man sets apart to the LORD from all he owns — whether a man, an animal, or his inherited land — can be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the LORD.
Joshua 24:32 And the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up out of Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the plot of land that Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver. So it became an inheritance for Joseph’s descendants.
- גְּבוּל gebûlborder, boundary, territorytranslated this way 9 times of its 209 uses · Strong’s H1366Noun · Translated: border 76, territory 55, borders 15, boundary 9Full study and all 185 verses →
Deuteronomy 16:4 No leaven is to be found in all your land for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice in the evening of the first day shall remain until morning.
Joshua 24:30 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
- חָרָבָה chârâbâhdry groundtranslated this way 4 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H2724Noun · Translated: dry land 4, dry ground 3, dry 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Genesis 7:22 Of all that was on dry land, everything that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.
Exodus 14:21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,
- יַבָּשָׁה yabbâshâhdry land, dry groundtranslated this way 4 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H3004Noun · Translated: dry ground 8, dry land 4, dry 2Full study and all 14 verses →
Psalm 66:6 He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the waters on foot; there we rejoiced in Him.
Jonah 1:9 “I am a Hebrew,” replied Jonah. “I worship the LORD, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.”
- צִיָּה tsîâhdryness, droughttranslated this way 3 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H6723Adjective · Translated: dry 7, dry land 3, drought 2, desert 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Job 30:3 Gaunt from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, and the desolate wasteland by night.
Isaiah 35:1 The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.
- עַל alheighttranslated this way 2 times of its 4,859 uses · Strong’s H5921Preposition · Translated: on 777, over 297, in 218, against 216Full study and all 3,996 verses →
- זוּב zûbflow, gushtranslated this way 2 times of its 42 uses · Strong’s H2100Verb · Translated: flowing 18, discharge 7, man with the discharge 6, gushed 3Full study and all 41 verses →
Deuteronomy 31:20 When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject Me and break My covenant.
Ezekiel 20:6 On that day I swore to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands.
- נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 2 times of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb · Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
- מָקוֹם mâqômstanding, spot, conditiontranslated this way 2 times of its 381 uses · Strong’s H4725Noun · Translated: place 279, home 16, places 11, wherever 7Full study and all 364 verses →
1 Samuel 14:46 Then Saul gave up his pursuit of the Philistines, and the Philistines returned to their own land.
Ezekiel 17:16 ‘As surely as I live,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘he will die in Babylon, in the land of the king who enthroned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke.
- צִיוֹן tsîôndryness, parched groundtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H6724Noun · Translated: dry land 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Isaiah 25:5 like heat in a dry land. You subdue the uproar of foreigners. As the shade of a cloud cools the heat, so the song of the ruthless is silenced.
Isaiah 32:2 Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shadow of a great rock in an arid land.
- מֶרְחָק merchâqdistant place, distancetranslated this way 2 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H4801Noun · Translated: distant 6, afar 5Full study and all 18 verses →
Jeremiah 8:19 Listen to the cry of the daughter of my people from a land far away: “Is the LORD no longer in Zion? Is her King no longer there?” “Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images, with their worthless foreign idols?”
Zechariah 10:9 Though I sow them among the nations, they will remember Me in distant lands; they and their children will live and return.
- נָוֶה nâvehabode of shepherd, or flockstranslated this way 2 times of its 37 uses · Strong’s H5116Noun · Translated: pasture 11, dwelling 3, dwelling place 2, home 2Full study and all 36 verses →
Ezekiel 34:14 I will feed them in good pasture, and the lofty mountains of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in a good grazing land; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
- אֲרַע ăraearthtranslated this way 2 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H772Noun · Translated: earth 15, ground 3, land 2, inferior 1Full study and all 17 verses →
Daniel 4:10 In these visions of my mind as I was lying in bed, I saw this come to pass: There was a tree in the midst of the land, and its height was great.
Daniel 6:25 Then King Darius wrote to the people of every nation and language throughout the land: “May your prosperity abound.
- חֵלֶק chêleqportion, tract, territorytranslated this way 2 times of its 64 uses · Strong’s H2506Noun · Translated: portion 35, share 9, portions 3, plot 3Full study and all 61 verses →
Hosea 5:7 They have been unfaithful to the LORD; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the New Moon will devour them along with their land.
Amos 7:4 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: The Lord GOD was calling for judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land.
Greek words (New Testament)
- γῆ gēthe earth, soil, landtranslated this way 37 times of its 238 uses · Strong’s G1093Noun · Translated: earth 156, land 37, ground 19, soil 13Full study and all 217 verses →
Matthew 2:6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of My people Israel.’”
Mark 6:47 When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and Jesus was alone on land.
- χώρα chṓraregion, land, fieldstranslated this way 3 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s G5561Noun · Translated: region 10, country 7, land 3, fields 2Full study and all 26 verses →
Matthew 4:16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.”
Acts 10:39 We are witnesses of all that He did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And although they put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree,
- χωρίον chōríona place, piece of land, fieldtranslated this way 3 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G5564Noun · Translated: field 3, place 2, land 2, plot of ground 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Acts 4:34 There were no needy ones among them, because those who owned lands or houses would sell their property , bring the proceeds from the sales,
Acts 5:3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and withhold some of the proceeds from the land?
- ἔρχομαι érchomaiI come, gotranslated this way 3 times of its 619 uses · Strong’s G2064Verb · Translated: come 193, came 128, coming 65, comes 53Full study and all 584 verses →
Matthew 14:34 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret.
Mark 6:53 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and moored the boat.
- κατέρχομαι katérchomaiI come downtranslated this way 2 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G2718Verb · Translated: went 6, came 6, landed 2, come 1Full study and all 15 verses →
Acts 18:22 When Paul had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church at Jerusalem . Then he went down to Antioch.
Acts 21:3 After sighting Cyprus and passing south of it, we sailed on to Syria and landed at Tyre, where the ship was to unload its cargo.
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.
What the Bible says about land: 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.