Word study

Town

5 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: town, towns. 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 “town” 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)

  • עִיר îrexcitementtranslated this way 35 times of its 1,034 uses · Strong’s H5892Noun  ·  Translated: city 583, cities 344, towns 21, town 13

    Genesis 19:20 Look, there is a town nearby where I can flee, and it is a small place. Please let me flee there — is it not a small place? Then my life will be saved.”

    Genesis 19:21 “Very well,” he answered, “I will grant this request as well, and will not demolish the town you indicate.

    Full study and all 925 verses →
  • שַׁעַר shaargatetranslated this way 6 times of its 362 uses · Strong’s H8179Noun  ·  Translated: gate 195, gates 84, gateway 30, within your gates 15

    Deuteronomy 16:5 You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns that the LORD your God is giving you.

    Deuteronomy 16:18 You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

    Full study and all 299 verses →
  • בַּת bathdaughtertranslated this way 6 times of its 551 uses · Strong’s H1323Noun  ·  Translated: daughter 255, daughters 218, villages 19, towns 6

    Joshua 15:45 Ekron, with its towns and villages;

    Joshua 15:47 Ashdod, with its towns and villages; Gaza, with its towns and villages, as far as the Brook of Egypt and the coastline of the Great Sea.

    Full study and all 486 verses →
  • קִרְיָה qiryâhtown, citytranslated this way 4 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s H7151Noun  ·  Translated: city 23, town 4, single city 1, cities 1

    Isaiah 22:2 O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle.

    Jeremiah 49:25 How is the city of praise not forsaken, the town that brings Me joy?

    Full study and all 29 verses →
  • מָקוֹם mâqômstanding, spot, conditiontranslated this way 2 times of its 381 uses · Strong’s H4725Noun  ·  Translated: place 279, home 16, places 11, wherever 7

    Judges 19:13 He continued, “Come, let us try to reach one of these towns to spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah.”

    Full study and all 364 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • πόλις pólisa citytranslated this way 63 times of its 158 uses · Strong’s G4172Noun  ·  Translated: city 87, town 48, towns 10, cities 9

    Matthew 2:23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

    Mark 1:33 and the whole town gathered at the door.

    Full study and all 151 verses →
  • κατά katádown from, against, according to, throughout, duringtranslated this way 2 times of its 381 uses · Strong’s G2596Preposition  ·  Translated: according 65, against 46, in 41, by 38

    Acts 20:23 I only know that in town after town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions await me.

    Full study and all 349 verses →
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.

What the Bible says about town: 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.