Word study

Shave

4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: shaved, shave. 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 “shave” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • גָּלַח gâlachbe baldtranslated this way 17 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H1548Verb  ·  Translated: shaved 8, shave 8, person must shave 1, cut the hair 1

    Genesis 41:14 So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, who was quickly brought out of the dungeon. After he had shaved and changed his clothes, he went in before Pharaoh.

    Leviticus 13:33 then the person must shave himself except for the scaly area. Then the priest shall isolate him for another seven days.

    Full study and all 17 verses →
  • קׇרְחָה qorchâhbaldness, bald spottranslated this way 5 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H7144Noun  ·  Translated: shaved 4, baldness 1, shaven heads 1, shave their heads in mourning 1

    Isaiah 15:2 Dibon goes up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails over Nebo, as well as over Medeba. Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off.

    Jeremiah 47:5 The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning; Ashkelon will be silenced. O remnant of their valley, how long will you gash yourself?

    Full study and all 8 verses →
  • קָרַח qârachmake baldtranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H7139Verb  ·  Translated: make bald 1, shave his head 1, shave their heads 1, made bald 1

    Jeremiah 16:6 “Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them.

    Ezekiel 27:31 They will shave their heads for you and wrap themselves in sackcloth. They will weep over you with anguish of soul and bitter mourning.

    Full study and all 5 verses →
  • עָבַר âbarpass over, through, by, pass ontranslated this way 2 times of its 542 uses · Strong’s H5674Verb  ·  Translated: pass 62, crossed 57, cross 52, passed 35

    Numbers 8:7 This is what you must do to cleanse them: Sprinkle them with the water of purification. Have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.

    Ezekiel 5:1 “As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword, use it as a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair.

    Full study and all 487 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ξυράω xyráōI shavetranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3587Verb  ·  Translated: shaved 2, head were shaved 1

    Acts 21:24 Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is no truth to these rumors about you, but that you also live in obedience to the law.

    1 Corinthians 11:5 And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for it is just as if her head were shaved.

    Full study and all 3 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.