Word study

Abstain

1 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: abstain, abstains. 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 “abstain” or one of its forms.

Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • נָזַר nâzardedicate, consecratetranslated this way 1 time of its 10 uses · Strong’s H5144Verb  ·  Translated: separation 2

    Numbers 6:3 he is to abstain from wine and strong drink. He must not drink vinegar made from wine or strong drink, and he must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins.

    Full study and all 10 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἀπέχω apéchōI have in full, am far, it is enoughtranslated this way 5 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s G568Verb  ·  Translated: abstain 5, already 3, far 2

    Acts 15:20 Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.

    1 Thessalonians 4:3 For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality;

    Full study and all 18 verses →
  • φυλάσσω phylássōI keep, guard, observetranslated this way 1 time of its 31 uses · Strong’s G5442Verb  ·  Translated: guard 7, keep 5, kept 4, obey 2

    Acts 21:25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”

    Full study and all 31 verses →
  • ἅπτομαι háptomaiI touch or handletranslated this way 1 time of its 35 uses · Strong’s G680Verb  ·  Translated: touched 20, touch 8, place his hands 2

    1 Corinthians 7:1 Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good to abstain from sexual relations.

    Full study and all 33 verses →
  • ἐσθίω esthíōI eattranslated this way 1 time of its 61 uses · Strong’s G2068Verb  ·  Translated: eat 30, eating 16, eats 7, fed 2

    Romans 14:6 He who observes a special day does so to the Lord; he who eats does so to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

    Full study and all 55 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.

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.