Word study

Leaf

4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: leaves, leaf. 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 “leaf” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • עָלֶה âlehleaf, leafagetranslated this way 12 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H5929Noun  ·  Translated: leaves 6, leaf 4, branches 1, like foliage 1

    Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.

    Leviticus 26:36 As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.

    Full study and all 13 verses →
  • אַיִן ayinnothing, noughttranslated this way 2 times of its 744 uses · Strong’s H369Adverb  ·  Translated: there is no 55, no 54, without 54, nothing 40

    Numbers 27:8 Furthermore, you shall say to the Israelites, ‘If a man dies and leaves no son, you are to transfer his inheritance to his daughter.

    Proverbs 28:3 A destitute leader who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no food.

    Full study and all 660 verses →
  • עָזַב âzableave, forsake, loosetranslated this way 2 times of its 214 uses · Strong’s H5800Verb  ·  Translated: forsaken 47, forsake 36, leave 23, abandoned 22

    Job 39:14 For she leaves her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand.

    Proverbs 15:10 Discipline is harsh for him who leaves the path; he who hates correction will die.

    Full study and all 206 verses →
  • עֳפִי ŏphîleafage, foliagetranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H6074Noun  ·  Translated: leaves 2, foliage 1

    Daniel 4:12 Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit was abundant, and upon it was food for all. Under it the beasts of the field found shelter, in its branches the birds of the air nested, and from it every creature was fed.

    Daniel 4:14 He called out in a loud voice: ‘Cut down the tree and chop off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it, and the birds from its branches.

    Full study and all 3 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • φύλλον phýllona leaftranslated this way 6 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G5444Noun  ·  Translated: leaves 5, leaf 1

    Matthew 21:19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. “May you never bear fruit again!” He said. And immediately the tree withered.

    Mark 11:13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if there was any fruit on it. But when He reached it, He found nothing on it except leaves, since it was not the season for figs.

    Full study and all 5 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.