Word study

Valley

5 Hebrew words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: valley, valleys. 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 “Valley” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • עֵמֶק êmeqvaletranslated this way 65 times of its 68 uses · Strong’s H6010Noun  ·  Translated: Valley 53, valleys 10, end of the valley 1, plains 1

    Genesis 14:3 The latter five came as allies to the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).

    Numbers 14:25 Now since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.”

    Full study and all 63 verses →
  • גַּיְא gayvalleytranslated this way 55 times of its 57 uses · Strong’s H1516Noun  ·  Translated: Valley 40, valleys 6, Valley of Ben-hinnom 5, Valley of Hinnom 2

    Numbers 21:20 and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.

    Deuteronomy 3:29 So we stayed in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

    Full study and all 53 verses →
  • נַחַל nachaltorrent, torrent-valley, wadytranslated this way 51 times of its 138 uses · Strong’s H5158Noun  ·  Translated: Valley 49, Brook 26, river 17, streams 8

    Genesis 26:17 So Isaac left that place and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there.

    Numbers 13:23 When they came to the Valley of Eshcol, they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes, which they carried on a pole between two men. They also took some pomegranates and figs.

    Full study and all 123 verses →
  • בִּקְעָה biqâhvalleytranslated this way 12 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H1237Noun  ·  Translated: plain 8, Valley 7, valleys 4, Valley of Aven 1

    Deuteronomy 8:7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks and fountains and springs that flow through the valleys and hills;

    Joshua 11:8 and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them down and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down, leaving no survivors.

    Full study and all 20 verses →
  • הֲמוֹן גּוֹג Hămôn Gôgmultitude of Gogtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H1996Noun  ·  Translated: Valley of Hamon-gog 2

    Ezekiel 39:11 And on that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Sea. It will block those who travel through, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog.

    Ezekiel 39:15 As they pass through the land, anyone who sees a human bone will set up a pillar next to it, until the gravediggers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog.

    Full study and all 2 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.

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.