Word study
Line
11 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: line, lined, lines. 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 “line” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- קַו qavlinetranslated this way 15 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H6957Noun · Translated: line 8, measuring line 7, powerful 2, circumference 1Full study and all 14 verses →
2 Kings 21:13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl— wiping it and turning it upside down.
Job 38:5 Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it?
- בֵּן bênsontranslated this way 6 times of its 4,587 uses · Strong’s H1121Noun · Translated: son 1,843, sons 892, Israelites 422, descendants 358Full study and all 3,473 verses →
- עָרַךְ ârakarrange or set in ordertranslated this way 6 times of its 75 uses · Strong’s H6186Verb · Translated: arrayed 14, prepared 5, compare 5, set 4Full study and all 71 verses →
1 Chronicles 19:17 When this was reported to David, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan, advanced toward the Arameans, and arrayed for battle against them. When David lined up to engage them in battle, they fought against him.
2 Chronicles 14:10 So Asa marched out against him and lined up in battle formation in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.
- זֶרַע zerasowing, seed, offspringtranslated this way 4 times of its 220 uses · Strong’s H2233Noun · Translated: descendants 78, offspring 45, seed 34, children 10Full study and all 201 verses →
Genesis 19:32 Come, let us get our father drunk with wine so we can sleep with him and preserve his line.”
1 Kings 11:14 Then the LORD raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom.
- מַעֲרָכָה maărâkâhrow, rank, battle-linetranslated this way 3 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H4634Noun · Translated: armies 4, battle line 2, battle 2, ranks 2Full study and all 15 verses →
1 Samuel 4:12 That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line all the way to Shiloh, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.
1 Samuel 17:22 Then David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing.
- אֲנָךְ ănâkplummettranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H594Noun · Translated: plumb line 3, true to plumb 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Amos 7:7 This is what He showed me: Behold, the Lord was standing by a wall true to plumb, with a plumb line in His hand.
Amos 7:8 “Amos, what do you see?” asked the LORD. “A plumb line,” I replied. “Behold,” said the Lord, “I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel; I will no longer spare them:
- חֶבֶל chebelcord, territory, bandtranslated this way 3 times of its 60 uses · Strong’s H2256Noun · Translated: cords 10, ropes 9, region 4, pain 3Full study and all 58 verses →
Psalm 16:6 The lines of my boundary have fallen in pleasant places; surely my inheritance is delightful.
Amos 7:17 Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be divided by a measuring line, and you yourself will die on pagan soil. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their homeland.’”
- קָבַל qâbalreceive, taketranslated this way 2 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s H6901Verb · Translated: accept 3, took 2Full study and all 12 verses →
Exodus 26:5 Make fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the second set, so that the loops line up opposite one another.
Exodus 36:12 He made fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the second set, so that the loops lined up opposite one another.
- אֶבֶן ebenstonetranslated this way 2 times of its 242 uses · Strong’s H68Noun · Translated: stones 92, stone 86, gemstones 7, weights 5Full study and all 217 verses →
Isaiah 34:11 The desert owl and screech owl will possess it, and the great owl and raven will dwell in it. The LORD will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of chaos and a plumb line of destruction.
Zechariah 4:10 For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven eyes of the LORD, which scan the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.”
- קָוֶה qâvehcordtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H6961Noun · Translated: circumference 1, line 1, measuring line 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Jeremiah 31:39 The measuring line will once again stretch out straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn toward Goah.
Zechariah 1:16 Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt, declares the LORD of Hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’
- מִלְחָמָה milchâmâhbattle, wartranslated this way 2 times of its 298 uses · Strong’s H4421Noun · Translated: battle 135, war 96, fight 11, army 5Full study and all 289 verses →
2 Samuel 10:9 When Joab saw the battle lines before him and behind him, he selected some of the best men of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans.
1 Chronicles 19:10 When Joab saw the battle lines before him and behind him, he selected some of the best men of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans.
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.