Word study
Winter
3 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: winter, wintered. 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 “winter” 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)
- חֹרֶף chôrephharvest-time, autumntranslated this way 5 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H2779Noun · Translated: winter 4, prime 1, season 1, winter alike 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Genesis 8:22 As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease.”
Psalm 74:17 You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.
- סְתָו sethâvwintertranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H5638Noun · Translated: winter 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Song of Solomon 2:11 For now the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.
- חָרַף châraphreproachtranslated this way 1 time of its 41 uses · Strong’s H2778Verb · Translated: taunted 9, defy 7, taunt 4, taunts 3Full study and all 40 verses →
Isaiah 18:6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey, and to the beasts of the land. The birds will feed on them in summer, and all the wild animals in winter.
Greek words (New Testament)
- χειμών cheimṓna tempest, the rainy seasontranslated this way 4 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G5494Noun · Translated: winter 4, stormy 1, storm 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Matthew 24:20 Pray that your flight will not occur in the winter or on the Sabbath.
Mark 13:18 Pray that this will not occur in the winter.
- παραχειμάζω paracheimázōI pass the wintertranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G3914Verb · Translated: winter 2, wintered 1, spend the winter 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Acts 27:12 Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided to sail on, hoping that somehow they could reach Phoenix to winter there. Phoenix was a harbor in Crete facing both southwest and northwest.
1 Corinthians 16:6 Perhaps I will stay with you awhile, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go.
- παραχειμασία paracheimasíawinteringtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G3915Noun · Translated: winter 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Acts 27:12 Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided to sail on, hoping that somehow they could reach Phoenix to winter there. Phoenix was a harbor in Crete facing both southwest and northwest.
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 winter: 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.