Word study
Stronghold
7 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: stronghold, strongholds. 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 “stronghold” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- מָעוֹז mâôzplace or means of safety, protectiontranslated this way 11 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s H4581Noun · Translated: stronghold 10, refuge 8, fortress 4, protection 3Full study and all 34 verses →
Judges 6:26 Then build a proper altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold. And with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down, take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering.”
Psalm 27:1 Of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— whom shall I dread?
- מְצַד metsadfastness, strongholdtranslated this way 9 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H4679Noun · Translated: strongholds 7, fortress 2, stronghold 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Judges 6:2 and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.
1 Samuel 23:14 And David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God would not deliver David into his hand.
- מָצוּד mâtsûdnet, capture, fastnesstranslated this way 7 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H4686Noun · Translated: fortress 9, stronghold 7, snare 2, net 1Full study and all 20 verses →
1 Samuel 22:4 So he left them in the care of the king of Moab, and they stayed with him the whole time David was in the stronghold.
2 Samuel 5:17 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they all went in search of him; but David learned of this and went down to the stronghold.
- מִבְצָר mibtsârfortificationtranslated this way 5 times of its 37 uses · Strong’s H4013Noun · Translated: fortified 17, fortresses 6, strongholds 4, fortress 3Full study and all 37 verses →
Psalm 89:40 You have broken down all his walls; You have reduced his strongholds to rubble.
Lamentations 2:5 The Lord is like an enemy; He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for the Daughter of Judah.
- מִשְׂגָּב misgâbsecure height, retreattranslated this way 5 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H4869Noun · Translated: fortress 9, stronghold 5, refuge 2, high-walled 1Full study and all 16 verses →
2 Samuel 22:3 My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation. My stronghold, my refuge, and my Savior, You save me from violence.
Psalm 9:9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
- מִסְגֶּרֶת misgerethborder, rimtranslated this way 3 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H4526Noun · Translated: rim 6, panels 5, strongholds 3, side panels 1Full study and all 14 verses →
2 Samuel 22:46 Foreigners lose heart and come trembling from their strongholds.
Psalm 18:45 Foreigners lose heart and come trembling from their strongholds.
- עֹז ôzstrength, mighttranslated this way 3 times of its 91 uses · Strong’s H5797Noun · Translated: strength 45, power 10, strong 9, mighty 9Full study and all 90 verses →
Proverbs 21:22 A wise man scales the city of the mighty and pulls down the stronghold in which they trust.
Jeremiah 51:53 Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens and fortifies her lofty stronghold, the destroyers I send will come against her,” declares the LORD.
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.