Word study
Nail
5 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: nails, nailing, nail. 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 “nail” 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)
- מַסְמֵר masmêrnailtranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H4548Noun · Translated: nails 2, make the nails 1Full study and all 3 verses →
1 Chronicles 22:3 David provided a large quantity of iron to make the nails for the doors of the gateways and for the fittings, together with more bronze than could be weighed
2 Chronicles 3:9 The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He also overlaid the upper rooms with gold.
- צִפֹּרֶן tsippôrennailtranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H6856Noun · Translated: nails 1, point 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Deuteronomy 21:12 then you shall bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails,
- מַשְׂמְרָה masmerâhpegtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H4930Noun · Translated: nails 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Ecclesiastes 12:11 The words of the wise are like goads, and the anthologies of the masters are like firmly embedded nails driven by a single Shepherd.
- חָזַק châzaqbe or grow firm, strong, strengthentranslated this way 1 time of its 290 uses · Strong’s H2388Verb · Translated: strong 37, made repairs 22, strengthened 16, repaired 15Full study and all 264 verses →
Isaiah 41:7 The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who wields the hammer cheers him who strikes the anvil, saying of the welding, “It is good.” He nails it down so it will not be toppled.
- טְפַר ṭepharnail, clawtranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H2953Noun · Translated: nails 1, claws 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Daniel 4:33 At that moment the sentence against Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from mankind. He ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἧλος hēlosa nailtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G2247Noun · Translated: nail 1, nails 1Full study and its 1 verse →
John 20:25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands, and put my finger where the nails have been, and put my hand into His side, I will never believe.”
- προσπήγνυμι prospḗgnymiI fasten totranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G4362Verb · Translated: nailing 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Acts 2:23 He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.
- προσηλόω prosēlóōI nail totranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G4338Verb · Translated: nailing 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Colossians 2:14 having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!
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 nail: 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.