Word study
Tool
6 Hebrew words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: tool, tools. 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 “tool” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- בַּרְזֶל barzelirontranslated this way 2 times of its 73 uses · Strong’s H1270Noun · Translated: iron 64, iron tool 2, axe 2Full study and all 68 verses →
Deuteronomy 27:5 Moreover, you are to build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. You must not use any iron tool on them.
Joshua 8:31 just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.” And on it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and they sacrificed peace offerings.
- גָּזִית gâzîtha cutting, hewingtranslated this way 1 time of its 9 uses · Strong’s H1496Noun · Translated: dressed stone 2, cut 2Full study and all 9 verses →
Exodus 20:25 Now if you make an altar of stones for Me, you must not build it with stones shaped by tools; for if you use a chisel on it, you will defile it.
- חֶרֶט chereṭgraving-tool, stylustranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H2747Noun · Translated: engraving tool 1, stylus 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Exodus 32:4 He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
- יָתֵד yâthêdpeg, pintranslated this way 1 time of its 22 uses · Strong’s H3489Noun · Translated: tent pegs 9, peg 4, tent peg 3, pin 2Full study and all 19 verses →
Deuteronomy 23:13 And you must have a digging tool in your equipment so that when you relieve yourself you can dig a hole and cover up your excrement.
- כְּלִי kelîarticle, utensil, vesseltranslated this way 1 time of its 282 uses · Strong’s H3627Noun · Translated: articles 59, utensils 32, weapons 20, furnishings 15Full study and all 255 verses →
1 Kings 6:7 The temple was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.
- מַעֲצָד maătsâdaxetranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H4621Noun · Translated: takes a tool 1, chisel 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Isaiah 44:12 The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint.
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.