Word study
Mat
3 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: mat, mating, mats, mated. 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 “mat” 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)
- עָלָה âlâhgo up, ascend, climbtranslated this way 2 times of its 873 uses · Strong’s H5927Verb · Translated: go 118, went 107, brought 56, come 42Full study and all 807 verses →
Genesis 31:10 When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females.
Genesis 31:12 ‘Look up,’ he said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating with the flock are streaked, spotted, or speckled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you.
- יָחַם yâchambe hottranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s H3179Verb · Translated: heat 2, mated 1, breed 1, breeding 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Genesis 30:39 they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.
- חֹדֶשׁ chôdesh(newness), new moon, monthtranslated this way 1 time of its 254 uses · Strong’s H2320Noun · Translated: month 165, months 31, day 18, New Moon 11Full study and all 219 verses →
Jeremiah 2:24 a wild donkey at home in the wilderness, sniffing the wind in the heat of her desire. Who can restrain her passion? All who seek her need not weary themselves; in mating season they will find her.
Greek words (New Testament)
- κράββατος krábbatosa bed, mattress, mattranslated this way 10 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G2895Noun · Translated: mat 8, mats 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Mark 2:4 Since they were unable to get to Jesus through the crowd, they uncovered the roof above Him, made an opening, and lowered the paralytic on his mat.
John 5:8 Then Jesus told him, “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.”
- κλίνη klínēa couch, bed, mat, biertranslated this way 3 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s G2825Noun · Translated: bed 4, mat 3, couches for dining 1, bed of sickness 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Matthew 9:2 Just then some men brought to Him a paralytic lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”
Luke 5:18 Just then some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They tried to bring him inside to set him before Jesus,
- κλινίδιον klinídiona couch or littertranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G2826Noun · Translated: mat 2, cots 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Luke 5:19 but they could not find a way through the crowd. So they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
Luke 5:24 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on the earth to forgive sins…” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”
- στρώννυμι strṓnnymiI spread, make a bedtranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s G4766Verb · Translated: spread 3, furnished 1, already furnished 1, put away your mat 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Acts 9:34 “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you! Get up and put away your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up,
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.