Word study

Nest

3 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: nest, nested, nests. 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 “nest” 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)

  • קֵן qênnesttranslated this way 12 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H7064Noun  ·  Translated: nest 11, rooms 1, make his nest 1

    Numbers 24:21 Next he saw the Kenites and lifted up an oracle, saying: “Your dwelling place is secure, and your nest is set in a cliff.

    Deuteronomy 22:6 If you come across a bird’s nest with chicks or eggs, either in a tree or on the ground along the road, and the mother is sitting on the chicks or eggs, you must not take the mother along with the young.

    Full study and all 13 verses →
  • קָנַן qânanmake a nest, nesttranslated this way 4 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H7077Verb  ·  Translated: build their nests 1, make her nest 1, nestled 1, nests 1

    Psalm 104:17 where the birds build their nests; the stork makes her home in the cypresses.

    Isaiah 34:15 There the owl will make her nest; she will lay and hatch her eggs and gather her brood under her shadow. Even there the birds of prey will gather, each with its mate.

    Full study and all 5 verses →
  • שָׁכַן shâkansettle down, abide, dwelltranslated this way 3 times of its 129 uses · Strong’s H7931Verb  ·  Translated: dwell 45, dwelling 9, settle 8, settled 7

    Psalm 104:12 The birds of the air nest beside the springs; they sing among the branches.

    Ezekiel 17:23 I will plant it on the mountain heights of Israel so that it will bear branches; it will yield fruit and become a majestic cedar. Birds of every kind will nest under it, taking shelter in the shade of its branches.

    Full study and all 124 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • κατασκηνόω kataskēnóōI encamp, tabernacle, dwelltranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G2681Verb  ·  Translated: nest 2, nested 1, dwell 1

    Matthew 13:32 Although it is the smallest of all seeds, yet it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

    Mark 4:32 But after it is planted, it grows to be the largest of all garden plants and puts forth great branches, so that the birds of the air nest in its shade.”

    Full study and all 4 verses →
  • κατασκήνωσις kataskḗnōsisa dwelling-placetranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G2682Noun  ·  Translated: nests 2

    Matthew 8:20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”

    Luke 9:58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”

    Full study and all 2 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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 nest: 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.