Word study

Security

5 Hebrew words behind this English word

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

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • עָרַב ârabtake on pledge, give in pledge, exchangetranslated this way 7 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s H6148Verb  ·  Translated: puts up security 3, make a bargain 2, posts security 2

    Proverbs 6:1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger,

    Isaiah 38:14 I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”

    Full study and all 22 verses →
  • חָבַל châbalbind, pledgetranslated this way 4 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s H2254Verb  ·  Translated: destroy 3, security 2, broken 2, get collateral 2

    Deuteronomy 24:6 Do not take a pair of millstones or even an upper millstone as security for a debt, because that would be taking one’s livelihood as security.

    Job 22:6 For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing.

    Full study and all 23 verses →
  • עֲבוֹט ăbôṭpledge, article pledgedtranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H5667Noun  ·  Translated: security 3

    Deuteronomy 24:10 When you lend anything to your neighbor, do not enter his house to collect security.

    Deuteronomy 24:11 You are to stand outside while the man to whom you are lending brings the security out to you.

    Full study and all 3 verses →
  • אֶמֶת emethfirmness, faithfulness, truthtranslated this way 2 times of its 125 uses · Strong’s H571Noun  ·  Translated: truth 37, faithfulness 35, true 20, faithfully 10

    2 Kings 20:19 But Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Will there not at least be peace and security in my lifetime?”

    Isaiah 39:8 But Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “At least there will be peace and security in my lifetime.”

    Full study and all 123 verses →
  • מִבְטָח mibṭâchconfidencetranslated this way 2 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H4009Noun  ·  Translated: trust 4, confidence 4, security 2

    Job 8:14 His confidence is fragile; his security is in a spider’s web.

    Job 31:24 If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,

    Full study and all 15 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.

What the Bible says about security: 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.