Word study
Polish
6 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: polished, polish. 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 “polish” 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)
- מָרַט mâraṭmake smooth, bare, bald; scour, polishtranslated this way 5 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H4803Verb · Translated: polished 5, smooth-skinned 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Ezekiel 21:9 “Son of man, prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord says: ‘A sword, a sword, sharpened and polished —
Ezekiel 21:10 it is sharpened for the slaughter, polished to flash like lightning! Should we rejoice in the scepter of My son? The sword despises every such stick.
- מָרַק mâraqscour, polishtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H4838Verb · Translated: scoured 1, polished 1, scour 1, Polish 1Full study and all 4 verses →
2 Chronicles 4:16 and the pots, shovels, meat forks, and all the other articles. All these objects that Huram-abi made for King Solomon for the house of the LORD were of polished bronze.
Jeremiah 46:4 Harness the horses; mount the steeds; take your positions with helmets on! Polish your spears; put on armor!
- קָלָל qâlâlburnishedtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H7044Adjective · Translated: polished 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Ezekiel 1:7 Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the hooves of a calf, gleaming like polished bronze.
Daniel 10:6 His body was like beryl, his face like the brilliance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of polished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.
- צָהַב tsâhabgleamtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H6668Verb · Translated: polished 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Ezra 8:27 20 gold bowls valued at 1,000 darics, and two articles of fine polished bronze, as precious as gold.
- עֶשֶׁת eshethplatetranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H6247Noun · Translated: polished 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Song of Solomon 5:14 His arms are rods of gold set with beryl. His body is polished ivory bedecked with sapphires.
- בָּרַר bârarpurify, selecttranslated this way 1 time of its 18 uses · Strong’s H1305Verb · Translated: pure 3, show yourself pure 2, choice 2, chosen 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Isaiah 49:2 He made My mouth like a sharp sword; He hid Me in the shadow of His hand. He made Me like a polished arrow; He hid Me in His quiver.
Greek words (New Testament)
- χαλκολίβανον chalkolíbanonorichalcum, or frankincense of a yellow colortranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G5474Noun · Translated: polished bronze 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Revelation 1:15 His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters.
Revelation 2:18 To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like a blazing fire and whose feet are like polished bronze.
- ἰδιώτης idiṓtēsan amateur, laymantranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s G2399Noun · Translated: uninstructed 2, ordinary 1, uninstructed person 1, polished 1Full study and all 5 verses →
2 Corinthians 11:6 Although I am not a polished speaker, I am certainly not lacking in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every way possible.
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.