Word study
Attendant
7 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: attendants, attendant. 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 “attendant” 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)
- שָׁרַת shârathminister, servetranslated this way 7 times of its 94 uses · Strong’s H8334Verb · Translated: minister 32, serve 9, ministering 6, ministers 6Full study and all 88 verses →
Genesis 39:4 Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and entrusted him with everything he owned.
Exodus 24:13 So Moses set out with Joshua his attendant and went up on the mountain of God.
- נַעַר naara shaking, scatteringtranslated this way 5 times of its 227 uses · Strong’s H5288Noun · Translated: boy 48, young men 30, young man 27, servant 25Full study and all 214 verses →
2 Samuel 13:17 Instead, he called to his attendant and said, “Throw this woman out and bolt the door behind her!”
2 Kings 4:38 When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting at his feet, he said to his attendant, “Put on the large pot and boil some stew for the sons of the prophets.”
- נָצַב nâtsabtake one's stand, standtranslated this way 1 time of its 69 uses · Strong’s H5324Verb · Translated: set 15, standing 14, stood 6, governors 3Full study and all 69 verses →
Genesis 45:1 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!” So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.
- נַעֲרָה naărâhgirl, damseltranslated this way 1 time of its 56 uses · Strong’s H5291Noun · Translated: girl 11, young woman 8, girl's 5, servant girls 4Full study and all 52 verses →
Exodus 2:5 Soon the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the Nile, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. And when she saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maidservant to retrieve it.
- עָמַד âmadtake one's stand, standtranslated this way 1 time of its 508 uses · Strong’s H5975Verb · Translated: stood 99, stand 95, standing 50, stands 12Full study and all 485 verses →
Judges 3:19 But upon reaching the idols near Gilgal, he himself turned back and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” “Silence,” said the king, and all his attendants left him.
- מַחֲנֶה machănehencampment, camptranslated this way 1 time of its 206 uses · Strong’s H4264Noun · Translated: camp 146, army 21, camps 12, armies 3Full study and all 186 verses →
2 Kings 5:15 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God, stood before him, and declared, “Now I know for sure that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”
- עֵזֶר êzerhelp, succourtranslated this way 1 time of its 21 uses · Strong’s H5828Noun · Translated: help 14, helper 4, aid 1, protects 1Full study and all 21 verses →
Ezekiel 12:14 And I will scatter to every wind all the attendants around him and all his troops, and I will draw a sword to chase after them.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὑπηρέτης hypērétēsa servant, an attendanttranslated this way 1 time of its 20 uses · Strong’s G5257Noun · Translated: officers 12, servants 3Full study and all 20 verses →
Luke 4:20 Then He rolled up the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him,
- σύν sýnwithtranslated this way 1 time of its 114 uses · Strong’s G4862Preposition · Translated: with 82, along 11, together 6, and 5Full study and all 109 verses →
Acts 13:7 an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, a man of intelligence, summoned Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God.
- προσκαρτερέω proskarteréōI persisttranslated this way 1 time of its 10 uses · Strong’s G4342Verb · Translated: devote 3, continued 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Acts 10:7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among his attendants.
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.