Word study
Rank
8 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: ranks, rank, ranked. 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 “rank” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- מִשְׁנֶה mishnehdouble, copy, secondtranslated this way 4 times of its 34 uses · Strong’s H4932Noun · Translated: second 11, double 4, Second District 4, twice 2Full study and all 33 verses →
2 Kings 23:4 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests second in rank, and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the host of heaven. And he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.
1 Chronicles 15:18 and with them their brothers next in rank: Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel.
- שְׂדֵרָה sedêrâhrow, ranktranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H7713Noun · Translated: ranks 3, planks 1Full study and all 4 verses →
2 Kings 11:8 You must surround the king with weapons in hand, and anyone who approaches the ranks must be put to death. You must stay close to the king wherever he goes.”
2 Chronicles 23:14 And Jehoiada the priest sent out the commanders of hundreds in charge of the army, saying, “Bring her out between the ranks, and put to the sword anyone who follows her.” For the priest had said, “She must not be put to death in the house of the LORD.”
- מַעֲרָכָה maărâkâhrow, rank, battle-linetranslated this way 2 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H4634Noun · Translated: armies 4, battle line 2, battle 2, ranks 2Full study and all 15 verses →
1 Samuel 17:8 And Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and array yourselves for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose one of your men and have him come down against me.
1 Samuel 17:10 Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day! Give me a man to fight!”
- מַעֲרָה maărâhan open spottranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H4630Noun · Translated: ranks 1Full study and its 1 verse →
1 Samuel 17:23 And as he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the ranks of the Philistines and shouted his usual words, which David also heard.
- מוֹעָד môâdappointed placetranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H4151Noun · Translated: ranks 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Isaiah 14:31 Wail, O gate! Cry out, O city! Melt away, all you Philistines! For a cloud of smoke comes from the north, and there are no stragglers in its ranks.
- בָּצַע bâtsacut off, break off, gain by violencetranslated this way 1 time of its 16 uses · Strong’s H1214Verb · Translated: greedy 5, cut 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Joel 2:8 They do not jostle one another; each proceeds in his path. They burst through the defenses, never breaking ranks.
- אֵל êlmotion totranslated this way 1 time of its 4,199 uses · Strong’s H413Preposition · Translated: to 1,941, to me 285, to you 149, to him 137Full study and all 3,455 verses →
- יָשַׁב yâshabsit, remain, dwelltranslated this way 1 time of its 1,049 uses · Strong’s H3427Verb · Translated: lived 103, dwell 89, live 84, sit 70Full study and all 960 verses →
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.