Word study

Palm

4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: palm, palms. 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 “palm” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • תִּמֹּר timmôrpalm-like pilastertranslated this way 18 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H8561Noun  ·  Translated: palm trees 12, decorated with palm trees 4, palm tree 2, alternating 1

    1 Kings 6:29 Then he carved the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.

    2 Chronicles 3:5 He paneled the main room with cypress, which he overlaid with fine gold and decorated with palm trees and chains.

    Full study and all 16 verses →
  • תָּמָר tâmârpalm-tree, date-palmtranslated this way 12 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s H8558Noun  ·  Translated: Palms 4, palm trees 3, palm 2, palm tree 2

    Exodus 15:27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the waters.

    Leviticus 23:40 On the first day you are to gather the fruit of majestic trees, the branches of palm trees, and the boughs of leafy trees and of willows of the brook. And you are to rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.

    Full study and all 12 verses →
  • כַּף kaphhollow, or flat of the hand, palm, sole of foot, pantranslated this way 11 times of its 176 uses · Strong’s H3709Noun  ·  Translated: hands 70, hand 32, dish 12, palm 9

    Leviticus 14:15 Then the priest shall take some of the log of olive oil, pour it into his left palm,

    2 Kings 9:35 But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands.

    Full study and all 170 verses →
  • כִּפָּה kippâhbranch frondtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H3712Noun  ·  Translated: branch 1, palm branch 1, palm 1

    Isaiah 9:14 So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day.

    Isaiah 19:15 There is nothing Egypt can do — head or tail, palm or reed.

    Full study and all 3 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • φοῖνιξ phoînixa palm tree, palm branchtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G5404Noun  ·  Translated: palm 1, palm branches 1

    John 12:13 They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting: “Hosanna!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “ Blessed is the King of Israel!”

    Revelation 7:9 After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.

    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.

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.