Word study
Attention
6 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “attention”. 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 “attention” 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)
- קָשַׁב qâshabincline, attendtranslated this way 12 times of its 46 uses · Strong’s H7181Verb · Translated: listen 12, pay attention 10, Attend 6, incline 2Full study and all 45 verses →
Job 33:31 Pay attention, Job, and listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.
Proverbs 4:1 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.
- אָזַן âzangive ear, listen, heartranslated this way 3 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H238Verb · Translated: give ear 14, listen 13, Hear 6, pay attention 3Full study and all 41 verses →
Exodus 15:26 saying, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”
Isaiah 8:9 Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for battle, and be shattered; prepare for battle, and be shattered!
- שׂוּם sûmput, place, settranslated this way 3 times of its 560 uses · Strong’s H7760Verb · Translated: put 84, set 71, make 45, made 39Full study and all 533 verses →
1 Samuel 25:25 My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent.
- שָׁמַר shâmarkeep, watch, preservetranslated this way 2 times of its 461 uses · Strong’s H8104Verb · Translated: keep 133, careful 39, kept 33, guard 25Full study and all 436 verses →
Exodus 23:13 Pay close attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.
Exodus 23:21 Pay attention to him and listen to his voice; do not defy him, for he will not forgive rebellion, since My Name is in him.
- בִּין bîndiscerntranslated this way 2 times of its 166 uses · Strong’s H995Verb · Translated: understand 27, discerning 16, understanding 12, consider 10Full study and all 160 verses →
Job 32:12 I paid you full attention. But no one proved Job wrong; not one of you rebutted his arguments.
Isaiah 43:18 “Do not call to mind the former things; pay no attention to the things of old.
- זָכַר zâkarremembertranslated this way 2 times of its 227 uses · Strong’s H2142Verb · Translated: remember 122, remembered 35, recorder 9, remembers 6Full study and all 221 verses →
Ezekiel 21:23 It will seem like a false omen to the eyes of those who have sworn allegiance to him, but it will draw attention to their guilt and take them captive.
Ezekiel 21:24 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you have drawn attention to your guilt, exposing your transgressions, so that your sins are revealed in all your deeds — because you have come to remembrance — you shall be taken in hand.
Greek words (New Testament)
- προσέχω proséchōI pay attention to, devote myself totranslated this way 5 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s G4337Verb · Translated: Beware 7, paid close attention 2, devote 2, Watch 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Acts 8:6 The crowds all paid close attention to Philip’s message and to the signs they saw him perform.
Titus 1:14 and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of men who have rejected the truth.
- βλέπω blépōI look, seetranslated this way 4 times of its 128 uses · Strong’s G991Verb · Translated: see 53, seeing 10, saw 8, sees 6Full study and all 117 verses →
Matthew 22:16 They sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are honest and that You teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You seek favor from no one, because You pay no attention to external appearance.
Mark 4:24 He went on to say, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and even more will be added to you.
- ἐπέχω epéchōI hold forth, pay attention, note, delaytranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G1907Verb · Translated: when 1, gave them his attention 1, stayed 1, hold forth 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Acts 3:5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
1 Timothy 4:16 Pay close attention to your life and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for by so doing you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
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.