Word study
Wall
15 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: wall, walls, walled. 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 “wall” 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)
- חוֹמָה chômâhwalltranslated this way 127 times of its 128 uses · Strong’s H2346Noun · Translated: wall 75, walls 43, two walls 3, walled 2Full study and all 122 verses →
Exodus 14:22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left.
Leviticus 25:29 If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains his right of redemption until a full year after its sale; during that year it may be redeemed.
- קִיר qîrwalltranslated this way 55 times of its 64 uses · Strong’s H7023Noun · Translated: wall 39, walls 13, sides 3, side 2Full study and all 55 verses →
Leviticus 14:37 He is to examine the house, and if the mildew on the walls consists of green or red depressions that appear to be beneath the surface of the wall,
Numbers 22:25 And the donkey saw the angel of the LORD and pressed herself against the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat her once again.
- גָּדֵר gâdêrwalltranslated this way 9 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H1447Noun · Translated: wall 5, walls 2, wall of protection 1, fence 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Numbers 22:24 Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow passage between two vineyards, with walls on either side.
Ezra 9:9 Though we are slaves, our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but He has extended to us grace in the sight of the kings of Persia, giving us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and giving us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem.
- דָּיֵק dâyêqbulwark, siege-walltranslated this way 5 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H1785Noun · Translated: siege wall 4, siege walls 1, siege works 1Full study and all 6 verses →
2 Kings 25:1 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.
Jeremiah 52:4 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.
- שׁוּר shûrwalltranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H7791Noun · Translated: wall 3, walls 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Genesis 49:22 Joseph is a fruitful vine— a fruitful vine by a spring, whose branches scale the wall.
2 Samuel 22:30 For in You I can charge an army; with my God I can scale a wall.
- גְּדֵרָה gedêrâhwalltranslated this way 4 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H1448Noun · Translated: folds 2, walls 2, sheepfolds 1, built folds 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Psalm 89:40 You have broken down all his walls; You have reduced his strongholds to rubble.
Jeremiah 49:3 Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed; cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn; run back and forth within your walls, for Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials.
- שׁוּר shûrwalltranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H7792Noun · Translated: walls 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Ezra 4:12 Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came from you to us have returned to Jerusalem and are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are restoring its walls and repairing its foundations.
Ezra 4:13 Let it now be known to the king that if that city is rebuilt and its walls are restored, they will not pay tribute, duty, or toll, and the royal treasury will suffer.
- נֵד nêdheaptranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H5067Noun · Translated: wall 2, heap 1, vanish 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Exodus 15:8 At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up; like a wall the currents stood firm; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.
Psalm 78:13 He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall.
- פֶּרֶץ peretsbursting forth, breachtranslated this way 2 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H6556Noun · Translated: breach 4, Like a bursting 2, gap 2, wound 2Full study and all 15 verses →
1 Kings 11:27 and this is the account of his rebellion against the king. Solomon had built the supporting terraces and repaired the gap in the wall of the city of his father David.
Psalm 144:14 Our oxen will bear great loads. There will be no breach in the walls, no going into captivity, and no cry of lament in our streets.
- חֵיל chêlrampart, fortresstranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H2426Noun · Translated: outer rampart 1, wall 1, within your walls 1, ramparts 1Full study and all 8 verses →
1 Kings 21:23 And the LORD also speaks concerning Jezebel: ‘The dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’
Psalm 122:7 May there be peace within your walls, and prosperity inside your fortresses.”
- גֶּדֶר gederwalltranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H1444Noun · Translated: wall 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Proverbs 24:31 Thorns had grown up everywhere, thistles had covered the ground, and the stone wall was broken down.
Ezekiel 42:10 On the south side along the length of the wall of the outer court were chambers adjoining the courtyard and opposite the building,
- בָּצַר bâtsarcut off, make inaccessibletranslated this way 2 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s H1219Adjective · Translated: fortified 20, grape gatherers 2Full study and all 35 verses →
Deuteronomy 1:28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying: ‘The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the heavens. We even saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’”
Jeremiah 15:20 Then I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to save and deliver you, declares the LORD.
- גְּבוּל gebûlborder, boundary, territorytranslated this way 2 times of its 209 uses · Strong’s H1366Noun · Translated: border 76, territory 55, borders 15, boundary 9Full study and all 185 verses →
Isaiah 54:12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.
Ezekiel 40:12 In front of each gate chamber was a wall one cubit high, and the gate chambers were six cubits square.
- כְּתַל kethalwalltranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H3797Noun · Translated: walls 1, wall 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Ezra 5:8 Let it be known to the king that we went into the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. The people are rebuilding it with large stones and placing timbers in the walls. This work is being carried out diligently and is prospering in their hands.
Daniel 5:5 At that moment the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. As the king watched the hand that was writing,
- גָּדַר gâdarwall up or off, build a walltranslated this way 2 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H1443Verb · Translated: masons 2, repair 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Lamentations 3:7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
Hosea 2:6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot find her way.
Greek words (New Testament)
- τεῖχος teîchosa walltranslated this way 9 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s G5038Noun · Translated: wall 6, walls 3Full study and all 9 verses →
Acts 9:25 One night, however, his disciples took him and lowered him in a basket through a window in the wall.
2 Corinthians 11:33 But I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his grasp.
- φραγμός phragmósa hedge, fence, partitiontranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G5418Noun · Translated: wall 3, hedges 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Matthew 21:33 Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.
Mark 12:1 Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a wine vat, and built a watchtower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.
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.