Word study
Room
7 Hebrew and 7 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: room, rooms. 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 “room” 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)
- עֲלִיָּה ălîâhroof-chambertranslated this way 15 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H5944Noun · Translated: upper room 9, upper rooms 4, chambers 2Full study and all 20 verses →
Judges 3:20 Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting alone in the coolness of his upper room. “I have a word from God for you,” Ehud said, and the king rose from his seat.
1 Kings 17:19 But Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.
- חֶדֶר chederchamber, roomtranslated this way 13 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s H2315Noun · Translated: bedroom 7, room 7, rooms 3, chambers 3Full study and all 32 verses →
Genesis 43:30 Joseph hurried out because he was moved to tears for his brother, and he went to a private room to weep.
Judges 3:24 After Ehud was gone, Eglon’s servants came in and found the doors of the upper room locked. “He must be relieving himself in the cool room,” they said.
- צֵלָע tsêlârib, sidetranslated this way 10 times of its 36 uses · Strong’s H6763Noun · Translated: side 11, side rooms 9, sides 4, boards 2Full study and all 29 verses →
1 Kings 6:5 Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms.
Ezekiel 41:5 Next he measured the wall of the temple to be six cubits thick, and the width of each side room around the temple was four cubits.
- לִשְׁכָּה lishkâhroom, chamber, hall, cell, lishkatranslated this way 5 times of its 45 uses · Strong’s H3957Noun · Translated: chambers 17, chamber 12, storerooms 5, rooms 3Full study and all 40 verses →
1 Chronicles 9:26 But the four chief gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted with the rooms and the treasuries of the house of God.
Nehemiah 13:5 and had prepared for Tobiah a large room where they had previously stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the temple articles, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, along with the contributions for the priests.
- מָקוֹם mâqômstanding, spot, conditiontranslated this way 5 times of its 381 uses · Strong’s H4725Noun · Translated: place 279, home 16, places 11, wherever 7Full study and all 364 verses →
Genesis 24:23 “Whose daughter are you?” he asked. “Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”
1 Samuel 3:2 And at that time Eli, whose eyesight had grown so dim that he could not see, was lying in his room.
- בַּיִת bayithhousetranslated this way 5 times of its 1,913 uses · Strong’s H1004Noun · Translated: house 1,132, temple 176, palace 117, household 93Full study and all 1,624 verses →
- נִשְׁכָּה nishkâhchambertranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H5393Noun · Translated: quarters 1, rooms 1, room 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Nehemiah 12:44 And on that same day men were appointed over the rooms that housed the supplies, contributions, firstfruits, and tithes. The portions specified by the Law for the priests and Levites were gathered into these storerooms from the fields of the villages, because Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who were serving.
Nehemiah 13:7 to return to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah by providing him a room in the courts of the house of God.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὑπερῷον hyperōionan upper roomtranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G5253Noun · Translated: upper room 4Full study and all 4 verses →
Acts 1:13 When they arrived, they went to the upper room where they were staying: Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.
Acts 9:37 At that time, however, she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upper room.
- ταμεῖον tameîona secret chambertranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G5009Noun · Translated: inner rooms 2, inner room 1, storehouse 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Luke 12:3 What you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the housetops.
- τόπος tóposa placetranslated this way 3 times of its 87 uses · Strong’s G5117Noun · Translated: place 64, places 6, room 3, everywhere 3Full study and all 83 verses →
Luke 2:7 And she gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. She wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Romans 12:19 Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”
- χωρέω chōréōI make room, go, receivetranslated this way 2 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G5562Verb · Translated: accept 3Full study and all 9 verses →
Mark 2:2 they gathered in such large numbers that there was no more room, not even outside the door, as Jesus spoke the word to them.
2 Corinthians 7:2 Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one.
- κατάλυμα katálymaan inn, lodging-placetranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G2646Noun · Translated: guest room 2, inn 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Mark 14:14 and whichever house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is My guest room, where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’
Luke 22:11 and say to the owner of that house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’
- ἀνώγεον anṓgeonan upper roomtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G508Noun · Translated: upper room 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Mark 14:15 And he will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”
Luke 22:12 And he will show you a large upper room, already furnished. Make preparations there.”
- σκηνή skēnḗa tent, tabernacletranslated this way 2 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s G4633Noun · Translated: tabernacle 11, shelters 3, room 2Full study and all 20 verses →
Hebrews 9:3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place,
Hebrews 9:6 When everything had been prepared in this way, the priests entered regularly into the first room to perform their sacred duties.
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.