Word study
Travel
4 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: traveled, travel, traveling, travels. 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 “travel” 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)
- עָבַר âbarpass over, through, by, pass ontranslated this way 15 times of its 542 uses · Strong’s H5674Verb · Translated: pass 62, crossed 57, cross 52, passed 35Full study and all 487 verses →
Genesis 12:6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the Canaanites were in the land.
Numbers 20:18 But Edom answered, “You may not travel through our land, or we will come out and confront you with the sword.”
- הָלַךְ hâlakgo, come, walktranslated this way 13 times of its 1,461 uses · Strong’s H1980Verb · Translated: go 338, went 173, walk 116, Come 84Full study and all 1,299 verses →
Genesis 13:5 Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.
Exodus 13:21 And the LORD went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide their way by day, and in a pillar of fire to give them light by night, so that they could travel by day or night.
- נָסַע nâsapull out or up, set out, journeytranslated this way 5 times of its 146 uses · Strong’s H5265Verb · Translated: set 91, journeyed 4, moved 4, pulled 4Full study and all 139 verses →
Numbers 2:17 In the middle of the camps, the Tent of Meeting is to travel with the camp of the Levites. They are to set out in the order they encamped, each in his own place under his standard.
Deuteronomy 10:6 The Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried, and Eleazar his son succeeded him as priest.
- מָגוּר mâgûrsojourning-place, dwelling-placetranslated this way 2 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H4033Noun · Translated: travels 2Full study and all 9 verses →
Genesis 47:9 “My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”
Greek words (New Testament)
- διέρχομαι diérchomaiI pass through, spread a reporttranslated this way 8 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s G1330Verb · Translated: passed 7, traveled 5, passing 4, cross 3Full study and all 40 verses →
Acts 8:40 But Philip appeared at Azotus and traveled through that region, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Acts 9:32 As Peter traveled throughout the area, he went to visit the saints in Lydda.
- πορεύομαι poreúomaiI travel, journey, gotranslated this way 4 times of its 147 uses · Strong’s G4198Verb · Translated: go 59, went 22, going 10, way 8Full study and all 141 verses →
Luke 10:38 As they traveled along, Jesus entered a village where a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.
Acts 8:36 As they traveled along the road and came to some water, the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is there to prevent me from being baptized?”
- περιπατέω peripatéōI walk, conduct my lifetranslated this way 2 times of its 95 uses · Strong’s G4043Verb · Translated: walk 35, walking 14, walked 6, walks 5Full study and all 88 verses →
John 7:1 After this, Jesus traveled throughout Galilee. He did not want to travel in Judea, because the Jews there were trying to kill Him.
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.