Word study
Mouth
7 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: mouth, mouths. 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 “mouth” 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)
- פֶּה pehmouthtranslated this way 254 times of its 423 uses · Strong’s H6310Noun · Translated: mouth 207, mouths 43, command 38, lips 10Full study and all 396 verses →
Genesis 4:11 Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
Exodus 4:11 And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
- חֵךְ chêkpalate, roof of mouth, gumstranslated this way 11 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H2441Noun · Translated: mouth 7, taste 3Full study and all 18 verses →
Job 6:30 Is there iniquity on my tongue? Can my mouth not discern malice?’’
Psalm 137:6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!
- פֻּם pummouthtranslated this way 6 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H6433Noun · Translated: mouth 5, mouths 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Daniel 4:31 While the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: “It is decreed to you, King Nebuchadnezzar, that the kingdom has departed from you.
Daniel 6:17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that nothing concerning Daniel could be changed.
- שָׂפָם sâphâmmoustachetranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H8222Noun · Translated: lips 2, mouth 1, mustache 1, mouths 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Leviticus 13:45 A diseased person must wear torn clothes and let his hair hang loose, and he must cover his mouth and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’
Micah 3:7 Then the seers will be ashamed and the diviners will be disgraced. They will all cover their mouths because there is no answer from God.”
- 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 →
Joshua 15:5 The eastern border was the Salt Sea as far as the mouth of the Jordan. The northern border started from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan,
- פָּנִים pânîmface, beforetranslated this way 2 times of its 1,836 uses · Strong’s H6440Noun · Translated: before 448, face 222, presence 147, before you 123Full study and all 1,671 verses →
- שָׂפָה sâphâhlip, speech, edgetranslated this way 2 times of its 167 uses · Strong’s H8193Noun · Translated: lips 98, speech 12, rim 10, edge 9Full study and all 159 verses →
2 Kings 19:28 Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
Isaiah 37:29 Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
Greek words (New Testament)
- στόμα stómathe mouth, speechtranslated this way 47 times of its 59 uses · Strong’s G4750Noun · Translated: mouth 35, mouths 12, lips 4, testimony 2Full study and all 58 verses →
Matthew 4:4 But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Luke 1:64 Immediately Zechariah’s mouth was opened and his tongue was released, and he began to speak, praising God.
- ἀφρίζω aphrízōI foam at the mouthtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G875Verb · Translated: foams at the mouth 1, foaming at the mouth 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Mark 9:18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable.”
Mark 9:20 So they brought him, and seeing Jesus, the spirit immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
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.