Word study
Path
5 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: path, paths. 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 “path” 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)
- דֶּרֶךְ derekway, road, distance, journey, mannertranslated this way 37 times of its 653 uses · Strong’s H1870Noun · Translated: way 204, ways 166, road 54, journey 35Full study and all 595 verses →
Numbers 22:23 When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the path and went into a field. So Balaam beat her to return her to the path.
Deuteronomy 11:28 but a curse if you disobey the commandments of the LORD your God and turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.
- אֹרַח ôrachway, pathtranslated this way 33 times of its 56 uses · Strong’s H734Noun · Translated: path 17, paths 15, way 5, ways 5Full study and all 56 verses →
Genesis 49:17 He will be a snake by the road, a viper in the path that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward.
Job 13:27 You put my feet in the stocks and stand watch over all my paths; You set a limit for the soles of my feet.
- נָתִיב nâthîbpath, pathwaytranslated this way 18 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s H5410Noun · Translated: paths 9, path 8, way 2Full study and all 23 verses →
Job 18:10 A noose is hidden in the ground, and a trap lies in his path.
Psalm 78:50 He cleared a path for His anger; He did not spare them from death but delivered their lives to the plague.
- מַעְגָּל magâlentrenchmenttranslated this way 9 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H4570Noun · Translated: paths 5, path 4, ways 2, tracks 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Psalm 17:5 My steps have held to Your paths; my feet have not slipped.
Proverbs 2:9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity— every good path.
- צַעַד tsaadstep, pacetranslated this way 2 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H6806Noun · Translated: steps 6, step 3, path 2, stride 2Full study and all 14 verses →
2 Samuel 22:37 You broaden the path beneath me so that my ankles do not give way.
Psalm 18:36 You broaden the path beneath me so that my ankles do not give way.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὁδός hodósa way, road, journeytranslated this way 9 times of its 97 uses · Strong’s G3598Noun · Translated: way 49, road 22, path 8, ways 6Full study and all 95 verses →
Matthew 13:4 And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.
Mark 4:4 And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.
- τρίβος tríbosa worn path, beaten waytranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G5147Noun · Translated: paths 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 3:3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.’”
Mark 1:3 “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.’”
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.