Word study
Outsider
3 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: outsider, outsiders. 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 “outsider” 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)
- זוּר zûrbe a strangertranslated this way 9 times of its 76 uses · Strong’s H2114Adjective · Translated: foreigners 13, strangers 12, outsider 9, stranger 8Full study and all 75 verses →
Exodus 29:33 They must eat those things by which atonement was made for their ordination and consecration. But no outsider may eat them, because these things are sacred.
Leviticus 22:13 But if a priest’s daughter with no children becomes widowed or divorced and returns to her father’s house, she may share her father’s food as in her youth. But no outsider may share it.
- תּוֹשָׁב tôshâbsojournertranslated this way 1 time of its 13 uses · Strong’s H8453Noun · Translated: stranger 3, temporary resident 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Genesis 23:4 “I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.”
- נׇכְרִי nokrîforeign, alientranslated this way 1 time of its 42 uses · Strong’s H5237Adjective · Translated: foreign 14, foreigner 13, foreigners 4, stranger 4Full study and all 42 verses →
Genesis 31:15 Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered what was paid for us.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἔξω éxōwithout, outsidetranslated this way 2 times of its 60 uses · Strong’s G1854Adverb · Translated: outside 23, out 21, out of 8, away 3Full study and all 59 verses →
Colossians 4:5 Act wisely toward outsiders, redeeming the time.
1 Thessalonians 4:12 Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone.
- ἔξωθεν éxōthenfrom without, outsidetranslated this way 1 time of its 12 uses · Strong’s G1855Adverb · Translated: outside 10, outsiders 1, outward 1Full study and all 12 verses →
1 Timothy 3:7 Furthermore, he must have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the snare of the devil.
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.