Word study

Ring

4 Hebrew words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: rings, ring, ringed, ringing. 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 “ring” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • טַבַּעַת ṭabbaathsignet, signet-ring, ringtranslated this way 44 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s H2885Noun  ·  Translated: rings 31, signet ring 7, ring 3, gold rings 2

    Genesis 41:42 Then Pharaoh removed the signet ring from his finger, put it on Joseph’s finger, clothed him in garments of fine linen, and placed a gold chain around his neck.

    Exodus 25:12 Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, two rings on one side and two on the other.

    Full study and all 38 verses →
  • נֶזֶם nezemringtranslated this way 8 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H5141Noun  ·  Translated: ring 6, earrings 5, earring 3, rings 2

    Genesis 24:22 And after the camels had finished drinking, he took out a gold ring weighing a beka, and two gold bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels.

    Job 42:11 All his brothers and sisters and prior acquaintances came and dined with him in his house. They consoled him and comforted him over all the adversity that the LORD had brought upon him. And each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.

    Full study and all 16 verses →
  • חוֹתָם chôthâmseal, signet-ringtranslated this way 2 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s H2368Noun  ·  Translated: seal 7, like a seal 3, sealed 1, sealed together 1

    Jeremiah 22:24 “As surely as I live,” declares the LORD, “evenif you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would pull you off.

    Haggai 2:23 On that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will take you, My servant, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and I will make you like My signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of Hosts.”

    Full study and all 13 verses →
  • עִזְקָא izqâsignet-ringtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H5824Noun  ·  Translated: signet ring 1, rings 1

    Daniel 6:17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that nothing concerning Daniel could be changed.

    Full study and its 1 verse →
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 ring: 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.