Word study
Skillfully
7 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “skillfully”. 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 “skillfully” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- חָשַׁב châshabthink, accounttranslated this way 5 times of its 118 uses · Strong’s H2803Verb · Translated: considered 10, regarded 7, devise 7, devised 6Full study and all 117 verses →
Exodus 26:1 “You are to construct the tabernacle itself with ten curtains of finely spun linen, each with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and cherubim skillfully worked into them.
2 Chronicles 26:15 And in Jerusalem he made skillfully designed devices to shoot arrows and catapult large stones from the towers and corners. So his fame spread far and wide, for he was helped tremendously until he became powerful.
- יָטַב yâṭabbe good, well, glad, pleasingtranslated this way 3 times of its 110 uses · Strong’s H3190Verb · Translated: good 14, well 8, pleased 8, go well 6Full study and all 106 verses →
Psalm 33:3 Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy.
Jeremiah 2:33 How skillfully you pursue love! Even the most immoral of women could learn from your ways.
- חֵשֶׁב chêshebingenious worktranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H2805Noun · Translated: woven waistband 3, skillfully woven waistband 2, waistband 2, tied the woven band 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Exodus 28:8 And the skillfully woven waistband of the ephod must be of one piece, of the same workmanship — with gold, with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and with finely spun linen.
Exodus 39:5 And the skillfully woven waistband of the ephod was of one piece with the ephod, of the same workmanship — with gold, with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and with finely spun linen, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
- חָכַם châkambe wisetranslated this way 2 times of its 27 uses · Strong’s H2449Verb · Translated: wise 13, wiser 2, skillfully 2, become wise 2Full study and all 26 verses →
Psalm 58:5 refusing to hear the tune of the charmer who skillfully weaves his spell.
Ecclesiastes 2:19 And who knows whether that man will be wise or foolish? Yet he will take over all the labor at which I have worked skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.
- יָדַע yâdaknowtranslated this way 1 time of its 914 uses · Strong’s H3045Verb · Translated: know 453, known 53, knows 48, knew 38Full study and all 863 verses →
1 Samuel 16:16 Let our lord command your servants here to seek out someone who can skillfully play the harp. Whenever the spirit of distress from God is upon you, he is to play it, and you will be well.”
- שֶׂכֶל sekelprudence, insighttranslated this way 1 time of its 15 uses · Strong’s H7922Noun · Translated: insight 5, understanding 4, wisdom 2Full study and all 15 verses →
2 Chronicles 30:22 And Hezekiah encouraged all the Levites who performed skillfully before the LORD. For seven days they ate their assigned portion, sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
- תָּבוּן tâbûnintelligence, argument, capricetranslated this way 1 time of its 42 uses · Strong’s H8394Noun · Translated: understanding 28, insight 4, ability 3Full study and all 42 verses →
Hosea 13:2 Now they sin more and more and make for themselves cast images, idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. People say of them, “They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves!”
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.