Word study

Root

3 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: root, roots, rooted. 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 “root” 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)

  • שֶׁרֶשׁ shereshroottranslated this way 27 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H8328Noun  ·  Translated: roots 13, root 9, take root 2

    Deuteronomy 29:18 Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,

    Judges 5:14 Some came from Ephraim, with their roots in Amalek; Benjamin came with your people after you. The commanders came down from Machir, the bearers of the marshal’s staff from Zebulun.

    Full study and all 30 verses →
  • שָׁרַשׁ shârashdeal with the rootstranslated this way 5 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H8327Verb  ·  Translated: taken root 2

    Job 5:3 I have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed.

    Isaiah 27:6 In the days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will bud and blossom and fill the whole world with fruit.

    Full study and all 8 verses →
  • שֹׁרֶשׁ shôreshroottranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H8330Noun  ·  Translated: roots 3

    Daniel 4:15 But leave the stump with its roots in the ground, with a band of iron and bronze around it, in the tender grass of the field. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven and graze with the beasts on the grass of the earth.

    Daniel 4:23 And you, O king, saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying: ‘Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump with its roots in the ground, with a band of iron and bronze around it, in the tender grass of the field. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and graze with the beasts of the field till seven times pass him by.’

    Full study and all 3 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ῥίζα rhízaa root, that which comes from the roottranslated this way 17 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s G4491Noun  ·  Translated: root 16, roots 1

    Matthew 3:10 The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

    Mark 4:6 But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

    Full study and all 16 verses →
  • ῥιζόω rhizóōI root, fix by the roottranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G4492Verb  ·  Translated: rooted 2, you 1

    Ephesians 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love,

    Colossians 2:7 rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

    Full study and all 2 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.