Word study
Thistle
5 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: thistles, thistle. 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 “thistle” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- חוֹחַ chôachbrier, brambletranslated this way 4 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s H2336Noun · Translated: thistle 4, briers 2, thorns 2Full study and all 10 verses →
2 Kings 14:9 But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle.
2 Chronicles 25:18 But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle.
- דַּרְדַּר dardarthistlestranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H1863Noun · Translated: thistles 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Genesis 3:18 Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
Hosea 10:8 The high places of Aven will be destroyed— it is the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
- קִמּוֹשׁ qimmôshthistles or nettlestranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H7057Noun · Translated: thistles 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Isaiah 34:13 Her towers will be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She will become a haunt for jackals, an abode for ostriches.
Hosea 9:6 For even if they flee destruction, Egypt will gather them and Memphis will bury them. Their precious silver will be taken over by thistles, and thorns will overrun their tents.
- חָרוּל chârûlchickpeatranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H2738Noun · Translated: nettles 1, thistles 1, weeds 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Proverbs 24:31 Thorns had grown up everywhere, thistles had covered the ground, and the stone wall was broken down.
- שָׁמִיר shâmîrthorn(s), adamant, flinttranslated this way 1 time of its 11 uses · Strong’s H8068Noun · Translated: briers 7, thistles 1, diamond 1, like a diamond 1Full study and all 11 verses →
Isaiah 10:17 And the Light of Israel will become a fire, and its Holy One a flame. In a single day it will burn and devour Assyria’s thorns and thistles.
Greek words (New Testament)
- τρίβολος tríbolosa thistletranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G5146Noun · Translated: thistles 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 7:16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Hebrews 6:8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless, and its curse is imminent. In the end it will be burned.
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.
What the Bible says about thistle: passages by topic →
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.