Word study

Smooth

5 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “smooth”. 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 “smooth” 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)

  • חֶלְקָה chelqâhportiontranslated this way 2 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s H2513Noun  ·  Translated: field 9, plot 3, portion 2, plot of ground 2

    Genesis 27:16 She also put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

    Proverbs 6:24 to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

    Full study and all 24 verses →
  • חַלֻּק challuqsmoothtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H2512Noun  ·  Translated: smooth 1

    1 Samuel 17:40 And David took his staff in his hand, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag. And with his sling in hand, he approached the Philistine.

    Full study and its 1 verse →
  • חָלַק châlaqdivide, sharetranslated this way 1 time of its 65 uses · Strong’s H2505Verb  ·  Translated: divided 14, divide 9, distributed 4, dividing 3

    Psalm 55:21 His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.

    Full study and all 64 verses →
  • מִישׁוֹר mîshôrlevel place, uprightnesstranslated this way 1 time of its 23 uses · Strong’s H4334Noun  ·  Translated: plateau 8, plain 2, level ground 2, level 2

    Isaiah 40:4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain.

    Full study and all 23 verses →
  • חַלָּק challâqsmoothtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H2511Adjective  ·  Translated: smooth 1

    Isaiah 57:6 Your portion is among the smooth stones of the valley; indeed, they are your lot. Even to them you have poured out a drink offering and offered a grain offering. Should I relent because of these?

    Full study and its 1 verse →

Greek words (New Testament)

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.