Word study
Limit
12 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: limit, limits, limited. 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 “limit” 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)
- חֹק chôqsomething prescribed, a statute or duetranslated this way 2 times of its 122 uses · Strong’s H2706Noun · Translated: statutes 78, statute 10, portion 7, decree 7Full study and all 122 verses →
Job 14:5 Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with You, and since You have set limits that he cannot exceed,
Job 28:26 when He set a limit for the rain and a path for the thunderbolt,
- קֵץ qêtsendtranslated this way 2 times of its 61 uses · Strong’s H7093Noun · Translated: end 37, after 7, farthest 2, later 2Full study and all 56 verses →
Psalm 119:96 I have seen a limit to all perfection, but Your commandment is without limit.
Ecclesiastes 4:16 There is no limit to all the people who were before them. Yet the successor will not be celebrated by those who come even later. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
- קָצֶה qâtsehend, extremitytranslated this way 2 times of its 88 uses · Strong’s H7097Noun · Translated: end 25, ends 14, edge 9, outskirts 6Full study and all 81 verses →
Isaiah 2:7 Their land is full of silver and gold, with no limit to their treasures; their land is full of horses, with no limit to their chariots.
- גְּבוּל gebûlborder, boundary, territorytranslated this way 1 time of its 209 uses · Strong’s H1366Noun · Translated: border 76, territory 55, borders 15, boundary 9Full study and all 185 verses →
Numbers 35:26 But if the manslayer ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which he fled
- תּוֹצָאָה tôtsââhoutgoing, extremity, source (?), escapetranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s H8444Noun · Translated: ended 1, farthest limits 1, rescuer 1, flow 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Joshua 17:18 because the hill country will be yours as well. It is a forest; clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours. Although the Canaanites have iron chariots and although they are strong, you can drive them out.”
- תַּכְלִית taklîthend, completenesstranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s H8503Noun · Translated: end 1, limits 1, boundary 1, perfect 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Job 11:7 Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?
- כְּתָב kethâbwritingtranslated this way 1 time of its 12 uses · Strong’s H3792Noun · Translated: inscription 7, document 2, according to what is written 1, limit 1Full study and all 12 verses →
Ezra 7:22 up to a hundred talents of silver, a hundred cors of wheat, a hundred baths of wine, a hundred baths of olive oil, and salt without limit.
- אָנַס ânascompel, constraintranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H597Verb · Translated: limit was placed 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Esther 1:8 By order of the king, no limit was placed on the drinking, and every official of his household was to serve each man whatever he desired.
- חָקָה châqâhcut in, carvetranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s H2707Verb · Translated: carvings 1, set a limit 1, engraved 1, portrayed 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Job 13:27 You put my feet in the stocks and stand watch over all my paths; You set a limit for the soles of my feet.
- גָּרַע gâradiminish, restrain, withdrawtranslated this way 1 time of its 22 uses · Strong’s H1639Verb · Translated: reduce 3, reduced 3, taken away 2, subtract 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Job 15:8 Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself?
- מְאֹד meôdmuchness, force, abundance, exceedinglytranslated this way 1 time of its 195 uses · Strong’s H3966Adverb · Translated: greatly 28, very 12, was very 8, exceedingly 8Full study and all 186 verses →
Psalm 119:96 I have seen a limit to all perfection, but Your commandment is without limit.
- מִסְפָּר mispârnumber, taletranslated this way 1 time of its 113 uses · Strong’s H4557Noun · Translated: number 35, according to the number 13, counting 13, few 9Full study and all 111 verses →
Psalm 147:5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἄμετρος ámetrosnot measurable, immeasurabletranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G280Adjective · Translated: beyond our limits 2Full study and all 2 verses →
2 Corinthians 10:13 We, however, will not boast beyond our limits, but only within the field of influence that God has assigned to us — a field that reaches even to you.
2 Corinthians 10:15 Neither do we boast beyond our limits in the labors of others. But we hope that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you will greatly increase as well ,
- μέτρον métrona measure, measuring rodtranslated this way 1 time of its 13 uses · Strong’s G3358Noun · Translated: measure 9, limit 1, field of influence 1, field 1Full study and all 11 verses →
John 3:34 For the One whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.
- ὀλίγος olígossmall, brief, few, soontranslated this way 1 time of its 41 uses · Strong’s G3641Adjective · Translated: few 13, little 10, short 4, few things 3Full study and all 40 verses →
1 Timothy 4:8 For physical exercise is of limited value, but godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for the present life and for the one to come.
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.