Word study

Yarn

4 Hebrew words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “yarn”. 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 “yarn” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • תּוֹלָע tôlâworm, scarlet stufftranslated this way 26 times of its 37 uses · Strong’s H8438Noun  ·  Translated: scarlet yarn 26, worm 5, worms 2, crimson 2

    Exodus 25:4 blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair;

    Exodus 26:1 “You are to construct the tabernacle itself with ten curtains of finely spun linen, each with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and cherubim skillfully worked into them.

    Full study and all 37 verses →
  • שָׁנִי shânîscarlettranslated this way 5 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H8144Noun  ·  Translated: scarlet yarn 5, scarlet 5, scarlet thread 2, scarlet wool 1

    Leviticus 14:4 the priest shall order that two live clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop be brought for the one to be cleansed.

    Leviticus 14:6 And he is to take the live bird together with the cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop, and dip them into the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water.

    Full study and all 15 verses →
  • תְּכֵלֶת tekêlethviolettranslated this way 3 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s H8504Noun  ·  Translated: blue 43, blue yarn 3, blue cloth 2, well as blue 1

    Exodus 28:28 The rings of the breastpiece shall be tied to the rings of the ephod with a cord of blue yarn, so that the breastpiece is above the waistband of the ephod and does not swing out from the ephod.

    2 Chronicles 2:7 Send me, therefore, a craftsman skilled in engraving to work with gold and silver, with bronze and iron, and with purple, crimson, and blue yarn. He will work with my craftsmen in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided.

    Full study and all 49 verses →
  • כַּרְמִיל karmîlcrimson, carminetranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H3758Noun  ·  Translated: crimson yarn 2, crimson 1

    2 Chronicles 2:14 He is the son of a woman from the daughters of Dan, and his father is a man of Tyre. He is skilled in work with gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, purple, blue, and crimson yarn, and fine linen. He is experienced in every kind of engraving and can execute any design that is given him. He will work with your craftsmen and with those of my lord, your father David.

    2 Chronicles 3:14 He made the veil of blue, purple, and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim woven into it.

    Full study and all 3 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.

What the Bible says about yarn: 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.