Definition

to revolve, surround, or border; used in various applications, literally and figuratively

Etymology

a primitive root;

Where the KJV renders it

• bring
• cast
• fetch
• lead
• make
• walk
• whirl
• round about
• be about on every side
• apply
• avoid
• beset (about)
• besiege
• bring again
• carry (about)
• change
• cause to come about
• circuit
• (fetch a) compass (about
• round)
• drive
• environ
• on every side
• beset (close
• come
• compass
• go
• stand) round about
• inclose
• remove
• return
• set
• sit down
• turn (self) (about
• aside
• away
• back)

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.