derech · way

What it means

derech (דֶּרֶךְ) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “way”.

Road, journey. Figuratively, the way one lives or acts.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. The track or route by which one goes from one place to another.
2. The stretch one covers going from place to place, and how long it takes.
3. Where one is going or facing; the heading of something.
4. The way one lives and acts.
5. YHWH's ways: what he does and commands.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Way. BDB: a trodden road; figuratively, the course of life or the way of acting. It comes from the verb דָּרַךְ, “tread, walk” (H1869).

• Way or road Genesis 3:24Genesis 24:27
• Journey Genesis 24:21
• The way of living and acting Genesis 6:12Psalms 1:1Psalms 1:6
• The ways of YHWH: what he commands Deuteronomy 8:6
• Direction: “toward the east” Ezekiel 40:6

How we translate it

“Way” 416 times, “ways” 154, “road” 59, “journey” 31. The translation keeps “way” in the figurative sense (“all flesh had corrupted its way”, Genesis 6:12; “the way of the righteous”, Psalm 1:6), because the image is clear. As a direction it says “toward” (32 times).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• way ×416
• ways ×154
• road ×59
• toward ×32
• journey ×31
• roads ×7
• manner ×4
• direction ×2
• crossroads ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×31
• Exodus×13
• Leviticus×1
• Numbers×23
• Deuteronomy×48
• Joshua×17
• Judges×15
• Ruth×1
• 1 Samuel×27
• 2 Samuel×12
• 1 Kings×46
• 2 Kings×22
• 2 Chronicles×25
• Ezra×3
• Nehemiah×3
• Job×32
• Psalms×66
• Proverbs×75
• Ecclesiastes×4
• Isaiah×47
• Jeremiah×57
• Lamentations×6
• Ezekiel×107
• Hosea×8
• Joel×1
• Amos×3
• Jonah×2
• Micah×1
• Nahum×2
• Haggai×2
• Zechariah×3
• Malachi×3

• Genesis 3:24

  And he drove out the man, and he stationed east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the flame of the sword that turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

• Genesis 6:12

  And Elohim saw the earth, and look, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth.

• Genesis 16:7

  The angel of YHWH found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.

• Genesis 18:19

  For I have known him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of YHWH by doing righteousness and justice, so that YHWH may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him.”

• Genesis 19:2

  He said, “Look now, my lords, please turn aside to the house of your servant, spend the night, and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No, we will spend the night in the square.”

• Genesis 19:31

  The older said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come in to us after the manner of all the earth.

• Genesis 24:21

  The man was gazing at her, keeping silent, to know whether YHWH had made successful his journey or not.

• Genesis 24:27

  and said, “Blessed be YHWH, the Elohim of my lord Abraham, who has not abandoned his loyal love and his faithfulness toward my lord. As for me, YHWH has led me on the way to the house of my lord’s brothers.”

• Genesis 24:40

  He said to me, ‘YHWH, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and make successful your journey, and you will take a wife for my son from my family and from the house of my father.

• Genesis 24:42

  I came today to the spring and said, ‘YHWH, the Elohim of my lord Abraham, if now you are making successful my journey on which I am going,

• Genesis 24:48

  And I bowed my head and bowed down to YHWH, and I blessed YHWH, the Elohim of my lord Abraham, who had led me on a true way to take the daughter of my lord’s brother for his son.

• Genesis 24:56

  He said to them, “Do not delay me, since YHWH has made successful my journey. Send me away so that I may go to my lord.”

• Genesis 28:20

  Jacob made a vow, saying, “If Elohim is with me and keeps me on this way that I am going, and gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear,

• Genesis 30:36

  And he put a journey of three days between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was pasturing the rest of the flocks of Laban.

• Genesis 31:23

  He took his brothers with him and pursued him a journey of seven days, and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.

• Genesis 31:35

  She said to her father, “Do not let my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” So he searched but did not find the teraphim.

• Genesis 32:1

  Now Jacob went on his way, and angels of Elohim met him.

• Genesis 33:16

  So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.

• Genesis 35:3

  Let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to El who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me on the way that I have gone.”

• Genesis 35:19

  So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

• Genesis 38:14

  She removed her widow’s garments from her, covered herself with a veil, wrapped herself, and sat at the entrance of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife.

• Genesis 38:16

  He turned to her by the road and said, “Come, please, let me go in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me that you may go in to me?”

• Genesis 38:21

  He asked the men of her place, saying, “Where is the sacred prostitute who was at Enaim by the road?” They said, “There has been no sacred prostitute here.”

• Genesis 42:25

  Joseph gave orders to fill their containers with grain, and to return their silver, each into his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. And so it was done for them.

• Genesis 42:38

  But he said, “My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should befall him on the journey you are making, you would bring down my gray hair in sorrow to Sheol.”

• Genesis 45:21

  The sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them carts according to the command of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions for the journey.

• Genesis 45:23

  And to his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys carrying some of the best of Egypt, and ten female donkeys carrying grain, bread, and provisions for his father for the journey.

• Genesis 45:24

  Then he sent off his brothers, and they went; and he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”

• Genesis 48:7

  As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died on me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem.”

• Genesis 49:17

  Dan will be a serpent by the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse’s heels, so that its rider falls backward.

• Exodus 3:18

  They will listen to your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘YHWH, the Elohim of the Hebrews, has met with us. And now, please let us go a journey of three days into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to YHWH our Elohim.’

• Exodus 4:24

  On the way, at the lodging place, YHWH met him and sought to put him to death.

• Exodus 5:3

  They said, “The Elohim of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a journey of three days into the wilderness and sacrifice to YHWH our Elohim, or he will fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”

• Exodus 8:27

  We will go a journey of three days into the wilderness and sacrifice to YHWH our Elohim as he tells us.”

• Exodus 13:17

  When Pharaoh let the people go, Elohim did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although it was near; for Elohim said, “Lest the people relent when they see war and return to Egypt.”

• Exodus 13:18

  So Elohim led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Sea of Reeds. And the sons of Israel went up in battle formation from the land of Egypt.

• Exodus 13:21

  YHWH went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give light to them, so that they could travel by day and by night.

• Exodus 18:8

  Moses told his father-in-law all that YHWH had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for the sake of Israel, all the hardship that had come upon them on the way, and how YHWH had delivered them.

• Exodus 18:20

  Teach them the statutes and the instructions, and make known to them the way in which they must walk, and the work that they must do.

• Exodus 23:20

  Look, I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.

And 666 more times.