Word study

Separate

3 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: separate, separated, separates. 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 “separate” 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)

  • בָּדַל bâdalbe divided, separatetranslated this way 14 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H914Verb  ·  Translated: separated 6, set apart 6, separate 6, distinguish 3

    Genesis 1:4 And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.

    Exodus 26:33 And hang the veil from the clasps and place the ark of the Testimony behind the veil. So the veil will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.

    Full study and all 40 verses →
  • פָּרַד pâraddividetranslated this way 8 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s H6504Verb  ·  Translated: separated 3, spread 3, separates 3, divided 2

    Genesis 10:5 From these, the maritime peoples separated into their territories, according to their languages, by clans within their nations.

    Ruth 1:17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

    Full study and all 26 verses →
  • נָזַר nâzardedicate, consecratetranslated this way 2 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H5144Verb  ·  Translated: separation 2

    Numbers 6:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them that if a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD,

    Ezekiel 14:7 For when any Israelite or any foreigner dwelling in Israel separates himself from Me, sets up idols in his heart, and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me, I the LORD will answer him Myself.

    Full study and all 10 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • χωρίζω chōrízōI separate, departtranslated this way 6 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s G5563Verb  ·  Translated: separate 5, leave 2

    Matthew 19:6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

    Mark 10:9 Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

    Full study and all 12 verses →
  • ἀφορίζω aphorízōI rail off, separate, place aparttranslated this way 5 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G873Verb  ·  Translated: separate 4, Set apart 2, separates 1, exclude 1

    Matthew 13:49 So will it be at the end of the age: The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous

    2 Corinthians 6:17 “Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

    Full study and all 9 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.