Word study
Merchandise
5 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “merchandise”. 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 “merchandise” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- מַעֲרָב maărâbarticles of exchange, merchandisetranslated this way 8 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H4627Noun · Translated: merchandise 8Full study and all 8 verses →
Ezekiel 27:9 The elders of Gebal were aboard as shipwrights, repairing your leaks. All the ships of the sea and their sailors came alongside to barter for your merchandise.
Ezekiel 27:13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your merchants. They exchanged slaves and bronze utensils for your merchandise.
- מַקָּחָה maqqâchâhwaretranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H4728Noun · Translated: merchandise 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Nehemiah 10:31 When the people of the land bring merchandise or any kind of grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we will not buy from them on a Sabbath or holy day. Every seventh year we will let the fields lie fallow and will cancel every debt.
- מֶכֶר mekermerchandise, valuetranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H4377Noun · Translated: for it 1, merchandise 1, more precious 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Nehemiah 13:16 Additionally, men of Tyre who lived there were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah in Jerusalem.
- סַחַר sachartraffic, gaintranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s H5504Noun · Translated: profitable 1, gain 1, merchant 1, profits 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Isaiah 45:14 This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you; they will come over in chains and bow down to you. They will confess to you: ‘God is indeed with you, and there is no other; there is no other God.’”
- רְכֻלָּה rekullâhtraffictranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s H7404Noun · Translated: trading 2, merchandise 1, trade 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Ezekiel 26:12 They will plunder your wealth and pillage your merchandise. They will demolish your walls, tear down your beautiful homes, and throw your stones and timber and soil into the water.
Greek words (New Testament)
- σκεῦος skeûosa vessel to contain liquid, utensil, tackletranslated this way 1 time of its 18 uses · Strong’s G4632Noun · Translated: vessels 4, possessions 3, vessel 3, jar 2Full study and all 18 verses →
Mark 11:16 And He would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.
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.
What the Bible says about merchandise: passages by topic →
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.