Bible word study

Arab (Strong’s H6148): Meaning in the Bible

Arab (עָרַב) is the Hebrew word numbered H6148 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as to braid, i.e. intermix; technically, to traffic (as if by barter); also or give to be security (as a kind of exchange). In the King James Bible it is translated engage, (inter-) meddle (with), mingle (self), mortgage, occupy.

• Original wordעָרַב
• Transliterationʻârab
• Pronunciationaw-rab'
• Part of speechverb (v)
• Strong’s numberH6148
• LanguageHebrew

The full Strong’s definition

Derivation. a primitive root;

How the King James Bible translates it

Where Arab appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Arab (H6148) stands behind 22 English renderings in 22 verses across 10 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in Proverbs (9), Genesis (2), Psalms (2).

How the King James Bible renders Arab, by count

• surety8 of 22 (36 percent)
• meddle2 of 22 (9 percent)
• mingled2 of 22 (9 percent)
• pledges2 of 22 (9 percent)
• becometh1 of 22 (5 percent)
• engaged1 of 22 (5 percent)

Three places to read Arab

• Genesis 43:9 I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever:
• Psalms 119:122 Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me.
• Proverbs 22:26 Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts.

Counts are made at build time from the King James text tagged with Strong’s numbers (eBible.org, public domain). Verses are read from the stored King James text, never typed.

Why the word matters

Every word the biblical writers chose carries weight. Studying Arab in the original Hebrew lets you read the passages where it appears more carefully, closer to what the first hearers understood, so the meaning is drawn from the text itself rather than from the English alone.

The lexical data on this page comes from the public-domain Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890), a Hebrew and Greek dictionary keyed to the King James Bible. It is a reference tool, not a settled verdict: no single word decides a doctrine, and meaning is finally shaped by how a word is used in its sentences. Read the passages themselves, prayerfully, and in full.

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