Word study
Veil
5 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: veil, veiled, veils. 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 “veil” 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)
- פֹּרֶכֶת pôrekethcurtaintranslated this way 25 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s H6532Noun · Translated: veil 25Full study and all 23 verses →
Exodus 26:31 Make a veil of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen, with cherubim skillfully worked into it.
Leviticus 4:6 The priest is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil of the sanctuary.
- צַמָּה tsammâhwoman's veiltranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H6777Noun · Translated: veil 4Full study and all 4 verses →
Song of Solomon 4:1 How beautiful you are, my darling— how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead.
Isaiah 47:2 Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams.
- צָעִיף tsâîphwrapper, shawl, or veiltranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H6809Noun · Translated: veil 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Genesis 24:65 and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?” “It is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.
Genesis 38:14 she removed her widow’s garments, covered her face with a veil to disguise herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that although Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.
- מַסְוֶה masvehveiltranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H4533Noun · Translated: veil 2, put the veil 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Exodus 34:33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.
Exodus 34:34 But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would remove the veil until he came out. And when he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he had been commanded,
- מִסְפָּחָה mispâchâhlong veiltranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H4555Noun · Translated: veils 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Ezekiel 13:18 and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the women who sew magic charms on their wrists and make veils for the heads of people of every height, in order to ensnare their souls. Will you ensnare the souls of My people but preserve your own?
Ezekiel 13:21 I will also tear off your veils and deliver My people from your hands, so that they will no longer be prey in your hands. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
Greek words (New Testament)
- κάλυμα kálymaa veiltranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G2571Noun · Translated: veil 4Full study and all 4 verses →
2 Corinthians 3:13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away.
2 Corinthians 3:14 But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed.
- καταπέτασμα katapétasmaa veil, curtaintranslated this way 3 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G2665Noun · Translated: veil 3, curtain 3Full study and all 6 verses →
Matthew 27:51 At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, and the rocks were split.
Mark 15:38 And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
- καλύπτω kalýptōI veil, hide, conceal, enveloptranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G2572Verb · Translated: covers 2, veiled 2, Cover 2, engulfed 1Full study and all 7 verses →
2 Corinthians 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
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 veil: 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.