Word study

Limb

7 Hebrew words behind this English word

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

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • עֶצֶם etsembone, substance, selftranslated this way 2 times of its 115 uses · Strong’s H6106Noun  ·  Translated: bones 83, very 7, bone 6, blood 6

    Judges 19:29 When he reached his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her limb by limb into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel.

    Full study and all 101 verses →
  • קָלַט qâlaṭbe stuntedtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H7038Verb  ·  Translated: stunted limb 1

    Leviticus 22:23 You may present as a freewill offering an ox or sheep that has a deformed or stunted limb, but it is not acceptable in fulfillment of a vow.

    Full study and its 1 verse →
  • בַּד badseparationtranslated this way 1 time of its 163 uses · Strong’s H905Noun  ·  Translated: alone 43, poles 34, addition 26, only 12

    Job 18:13 It devours patches of his skin; the firstborn of death devours his limbs.

    Full study and all 156 verses →
  • גֶּרֶם gerembone, strength, selftranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s H1634Noun  ·  Translated: strong 1, bare 1, limbs 1, bones 1

    Job 40:18 His bones are tubes of bronze; his limbs are rods of iron.

    Full study and all 5 verses →
  • בַּד badbrag, lie, liartranslated this way 1 time of its 7 uses · Strong’s H907Noun  ·  Translated: boasting 2, false prophets 2, babbling 1, limbs 1

    Job 41:12 I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form.

    Full study and all 7 verses →
  • קָצִיר qâtsîrharvesting, harvesttranslated this way 1 time of its 51 uses · Strong’s H7105Noun  ·  Translated: harvest 39, harvest time 3, branches 3, harvesting 2

    Isaiah 27:11 When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.

    Full study and all 47 verses →
  • דָּלִיָּה dâlîâhdangling, boughtranslated this way 1 time of its 8 uses · Strong’s H1808Noun  ·  Translated: branches 6, foliage 1, limbs 1

    Ezekiel 31:7 It was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its limbs, for its roots extended to abundant waters.

    Full study and all 8 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.