Word study
Tree
15 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: tree, trees. 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 “tree” 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)
- עֵץ êtstree, trees, woodtranslated this way 131 times of its 307 uses · Strong’s H6086Noun · Translated: wood 103, trees 66, tree 58, timber 12Full study and all 277 verses →
Genesis 1:11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind.” And it was so.
Exodus 9:25 Throughout the land of Egypt, the hail struck down everything in the field, both man and beast; it beat down every plant of the field and stripped every tree.
- תְּאֵן teênfigtranslated this way 21 times of its 39 uses · Strong’s H8384Noun · Translated: fig tree 15, figs 13, fig trees 5, fig 3Full study and all 35 verses →
Deuteronomy 8:8 a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey;
Judges 9:10 Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and reign over us.’
- תִּמֹּר timmôrpalm-like pilastertranslated this way 18 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H8561Noun · Translated: palm trees 12, decorated with palm trees 4, palm tree 2, alternating 1Full study and all 16 verses →
1 Kings 6:29 Then he carved the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.
2 Chronicles 3:5 He paneled the main room with cypress, which he overlaid with fine gold and decorated with palm trees and chains.
- זַיִת zayitholive-tree, olivetranslated this way 14 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s H2132Noun · Translated: olive 8, olive groves 7, olives 6, olive trees 5Full study and all 36 verses →
Deuteronomy 24:20 When you beat the olives from your trees, you must not go over the branches again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.
Judges 9:8 One day the trees set out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’
- תָּמָר tâmârpalm-tree, date-palmtranslated this way 6 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s H8558Noun · Translated: Palms 4, palm trees 3, palm 2, palm tree 2Full study and all 12 verses →
Exodus 15:27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the waters.
Leviticus 23:40 On the first day you are to gather the fruit of majestic trees, the branches of palm trees, and the boughs of leafy trees and of willows of the brook. And you are to rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.
- אִילָן îlântreetranslated this way 6 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H363Noun · Translated: tree 6Full study and all 6 verses →
Daniel 4:10 In these visions of my mind as I was lying in bed, I saw this come to pass: There was a tree in the midst of the land, and its height was great.
Daniel 4:11 The tree grew large and strong; its top reached the sky, and it was visible to the ends of the earth.
- בָּכָא bâkâbalsam-treetranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H1057Noun · Translated: balsam trees 4Full study and all 4 verses →
2 Samuel 5:23 So David inquired of the LORD, who answered, “Do not march straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees.
1 Chronicles 14:14 So David again inquired of God, who answered him, “Do not march up after them, but circle around them and attack them in front of the balsam trees.
- אֵלָה êlâhterebinthtranslated this way 4 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H424Noun · Translated: oak 6, oak tree 3, terebinth 2, tree 1Full study and all 12 verses →
2 Samuel 18:9 Now Absalom was riding on his mule when he met the servants of David, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s head was caught fast in the tree. The mule under him kept going, so that he was suspended in midair.
1 Kings 13:14 and went after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” “I am,” he replied.
- רֶתֶם rethembroom-plant, retemtranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H7574Noun · Translated: broom tree 4Full study and all 4 verses →
1 Kings 19:4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
Job 30:4 They plucked mallow among the shrubs, and the roots of the broom tree were their food.
- הֲדַס hădasmyrtletranslated this way 3 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H1918Noun · Translated: myrtle trees 3, myrtle 2, myrtles 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Zechariah 1:8 I looked out into the night and saw a man riding on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the hollow, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.
Zechariah 1:10 Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”
- אֵשֶׁל êsheltamarisk tree, grovetranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H815Noun · Translated: tamarisk tree 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Genesis 21:33 And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.
1 Samuel 22:6 Soon Saul learned that David and his men had been discovered. At that time Saul was sitting under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with his spear in hand and all his servants standing around him.
- עַרְמוֹן armônplane-treetranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H6196Noun · Translated: plane trees 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Genesis 30:37 Jacob, however, took fresh branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees, and peeled the bark, exposing the white inner wood of the branches.
Ezekiel 31:8 The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it; the cypresses could not compare with its branches, nor the plane trees match its boughs. No tree in the garden of God could compare with its beauty.
- שִׁקְמָה shiqmâhsycomore treetranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H8256Noun · Translated: sycamore 3, sycamore trees 1, sycamore-figs 1, sycamores 1Full study and all 7 verses →
1 Chronicles 27:28 Baal-hanan the Gederite was in charge of the olive and sycamore trees in the foothills. Joash was in charge of the stores of olive oil.
Amos 7:14 “I was not a prophet,” Amos replied, “nor was I the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore-fig trees.
- שָׁקֵד shâqêdalmond(-tree)translated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H8247Noun · Translated: almonds 2, almond tree 2Full study and all 4 verses →
Ecclesiastes 12:5 when men fear the heights and dangers of the road, when the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caper berry shrivels — for then man goes to his eternal home and mourners walk the streets.
Jeremiah 1:11 And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” “I see a branch of an almond tree,” I replied.
- תַּפּוּחַ tappûachapple-tree, appletranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H8598Noun · Translated: apples 2, Like an apple tree 1, like apples 1, apple tree 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Song of Solomon 2:3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
Song of Solomon 8:5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? I roused you under the apple tree; there your mother conceived you; there she travailed and brought you forth.
Greek words (New Testament)
- δένδρον déndrona treetranslated this way 25 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s G1186Noun · Translated: tree 17, trees 8Full study and all 18 verses →
Matthew 3:10 The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
Mark 8:24 The man looked up and said, “I can see the people, but they look like trees walking around.”
- συκῆ sykēa fig-treetranslated this way 16 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s G4808Noun · Translated: fig tree 14, tree 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Matthew 21:19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. “May you never bear fruit again!” He said. And immediately the tree withered.
Mark 11:13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if there was any fruit on it. But when He reached it, He found nothing on it except leaves, since it was not the season for figs.
- ξύλον xýlona staff, cross, anything made of woodtranslated this way 11 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s G3586Noun · Translated: tree 10, clubs 5, wood 3, stocks 1Full study and all 18 verses →
Luke 23:31 For if men do these things while the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Acts 5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree.
- ἐλαία elaíaan olive treetranslated this way 2 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G1636Noun · Translated: Olives 12, olive 1, olive tree 1, olive trees 1Full study and all 15 verses →
Romans 11:24 For if you were cut from a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into one that is cultivated, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
Revelation 11:4 These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
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 tree: 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.