Word study

Appeal

2 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

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

Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • צָעַק tsâaqcry, cry out, calltranslated this way 3 times of its 55 uses · Strong’s H6817Verb  ·  Translated: cried 19, cry 13, called 3, summoned 3

    Exodus 5:15 So the Israelite foremen went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way?

    2 Kings 8:3 At the end of seven years, when the woman returned from the land of the Philistines, she went to the king to appeal for her house and her land.

    Full study and all 53 verses →
  • עָתַר âtharpray, supplicafetranslated this way 2 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H6279Verb  ·  Translated: pray 6, prayed 3, answered their prayers 2

    Exodus 10:17 Now please forgive my sin once more and appeal to the LORD your God, that He may remove this death from me.”

    Exodus 10:18 So Moses left Pharaoh’s presence and appealed to the LORD.

    Full study and all 19 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἐπικαλέομαι epikaléomaiI call by an additional name, appeal totranslated this way 7 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s G1941Verb  ·  Translated: called 11, call 8, appealed 5, calls 2

    Acts 7:59 While they were stoning him, Stephen appealed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

    Acts 25:11 If, however, I am guilty of anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die. But if there is no truth to their accusations against me, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”

    Full study and all 30 verses →
  • παρακαλέω parakaléōI summon, entreat, admonish, comforttranslated this way 7 times of its 106 uses · Strong’s G3870Verb  ·  Translated: urge 20, encourage 14, begged 13, urged 7

    1 Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree together, so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be united in mind and conviction.

    2 Corinthians 5:20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.

    Full study and all 104 verses →
  • παράκλησις paráklēsisexhortation, entreaty, encouragement, comforttranslated this way 2 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s G3874Noun  ·  Translated: encouragement 10, comfort 9, exhortation 3, appeal 2

    2 Corinthians 8:17 For not only did he welcome our appeal, but he is eagerly coming to you of his own volition.

    1 Thessalonians 2:3 For our appeal does not arise from deceit or ulterior motives or trickery.

    Full study and all 28 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 appeal: 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.