Word study

Property

5 Hebrew words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “property”. 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 “property” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • אֲחֻזָּה ăchuzzâhpossessiontranslated this way 26 times of its 60 uses · Strong’s H272Noun  ·  Translated: property 26, possession 16, site 5, possess 4

    Genesis 47:11 So Joseph settled his father and brothers in the land of Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

    Leviticus 25:10 So you are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and to his clan.

    Full study and all 54 verses →
  • רְכוּשׁ rekûshproperty, goodstranslated this way 3 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s H7399Noun  ·  Translated: possessions 13, goods 6, property 3, wealth 3

    1 Chronicles 27:31 Jaziz the Hagrite was in charge of the flocks. All these officials were in charge of King David’s property.

    Ezra 10:8 Whoever failed to appear within three days would forfeit all his property, according to the counsel of the leaders and elders, and would himself be expelled from the assembly of the exiles.

    Full study and all 27 verses →
  • אָחַז âchazgrasp, take hold, take possessiontranslated this way 2 times of its 65 uses · Strong’s H270Verb  ·  Translated: seized 9, seize 4, grip 3, took hold 3

    Genesis 34:10 You may settle among us, and the land will be open to you. Live here, move about freely, and acquire your own property.”

    Genesis 47:27 Now the Israelites settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and became fruitful and increased greatly in number.

    Full study and all 61 verses →
  • מְלָאכָה melâkâhoccupation, worktranslated this way 2 times of its 142 uses · Strong’s H4399Noun  ·  Translated: work 86, regular work 10, craft 3, service 3

    Exodus 22:8 If the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges to determine whether he has taken his neighbor’s property.

    Exodus 22:11 an oath before the LORD shall be made between the parties to determine whether or not the man has taken his neighbor’s property. The owner must accept the oath and require no restitution.

    Full study and all 131 verses →
  • אֲבֵדָה ăbêdâha lost thingtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H9Noun  ·  Translated: lost property 2, lost item 1, lost 1

    Leviticus 6:3 or finds lost property and lies about it and swears falsely, or if he commits any such sin that a man might commit—

    Leviticus 6:4 once he has sinned and becomes guilty, he must return what he has stolen or taken by extortion, or the deposit entrusted to him, or the lost property he found,

    Full study and all 4 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 property: 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.