Word study
Assign
5 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: assigned, assign, assigns. 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 “assign” 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)
- נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 15 times of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb · Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
Leviticus 6:17 It must not be baked with leaven; I have assigned it as their portion of My food offerings. It is most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering.
Numbers 3:9 Assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they have been given exclusively to him from among the Israelites.
- פָּקַד pâqadattend to, visit, muster, appointtranslated this way 5 times of its 294 uses · Strong’s H6485Verb · Translated: punish 41, numbered 26, appointed 15, counted 14Full study and all 267 verses →
Genesis 40:4 The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he became their personal attendant. After they had been in custody for some time,
Numbers 4:27 All the service of the Gershonites — all their transport duties and other work — is to be done at the direction of Aaron and his sons; you are to assign to them all that they are responsible to carry.
- עַל alheighttranslated this way 2 times of its 4,859 uses · Strong’s H5921Preposition · Translated: on 777, over 297, in 218, against 216Full study and all 3,996 verses →
- עָמַד âmadtake one's stand, standtranslated this way 2 times of its 508 uses · Strong’s H5975Verb · Translated: stood 99, stand 95, standing 50, stands 12Full study and all 485 verses →
2 Chronicles 33:8 I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to leave the land that I assigned to your fathers, if only they are careful to do all that I have commanded them through Moses— all the laws, statutes, and judgments.”
- מָנָה mânâhcount, number, reckon, assigntranslated this way 2 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s H4487Verb · Translated: count 6, appointed 6, numbered 3, counted 2Full study and all 27 verses →
Daniel 1:5 The king assigned them daily provisions of the royal food and wine. They were to be trained for three years, after which they were to enter the king’s service.
Daniel 1:10 but he said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking thinner than those of the other young men your age? You would endanger my head before the king!”
Greek words (New Testament)
- δίδωμι dídōmiI offer, givetranslated this way 2 times of its 403 uses · Strong’s G1325Verb · Translated: give 110, given 107, gave 72, gives 14Full study and all 370 verses →
- μερίζω merízōI divide, part, sharetranslated this way 2 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s G3307Verb · Translated: divided 9, assigned 2, divide 1, given 1Full study and all 13 verses →
1 Corinthians 7:17 Regardless, each one should lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him and to which God has called him. This is what I prescribe in all the churches.
2 Corinthians 10:13 We, however, will not boast beyond our limits, but only within the field of influence that God has assigned to us — a field that reaches even to you.
- τίθημι títhēmiI put, placetranslated this way 2 times of its 98 uses · Strong’s G5087Verb · Translated: put 18, placed 12, lay 12, laid 10Full study and all 94 verses →
Matthew 24:51 Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’’
Luke 12:46 The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not anticipate. Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
How to study a word well
- 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.
- 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.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- 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.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- 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.