Word study

Protection

4 Hebrew words behind this English word

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

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • מָעוֹז mâôzplace or means of safety, protectiontranslated this way 3 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s H4581Noun  ·  Translated: stronghold 10, refuge 8, fortress 4, protection 3

    Isaiah 27:5 Or let them lay claim to My protection; let them make peace with Me— yes, let them make peace with Me.”

    Isaiah 30:2 They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shade.

    Full study and all 34 verses →
  • צֵל tsêlshadowtranslated this way 2 times of its 48 uses · Strong’s H6738Noun  ·  Translated: shade 18, shadow 17, like a shadow 3, protection 2

    Genesis 19:8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you, and you can do to them as you please. But do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

    Numbers 14:9 Only do not rebel against the LORD, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they will be like bread for us. Their protection has been removed, and the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them!”

    Full study and all 47 verses →
  • פָּנִים pânîmface, beforetranslated this way 1 time of its 1,836 uses · Strong’s H6440Noun  ·  Translated: before 448, face 222, presence 147, before you 123Full study and all 1,671 verses →
  • גָּדֵר gâdêrwalltranslated this way 1 time of its 10 uses · Strong’s H1447Noun  ·  Translated: wall 5, walls 2, wall of protection 1, fence 1

    Ezra 9:9 Though we are slaves, our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but He has extended to us grace in the sight of the kings of Persia, giving us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and giving us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem.

    Full study and all 10 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.