Word study
Borrow
4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: borrow, borrowed, borrows. 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 “borrow” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- שָׁאַל shâalask, inquiretranslated this way 3 times of its 165 uses · Strong’s H7592Verb · Translated: ask 31, asked 28, inquired 16, requested 7Full study and all 156 verses →
Exodus 22:14 If a man borrows an animal from his neighbor and it is injured or dies while its owner is not present, he must make full restitution.
2 Kings 4:3 “Go,” said Elisha, “borrow empty jars from all your neighbors. Do not gather just a few.
- לָוָה lâvâhjointranslated this way 3 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s H3867Verb · Translated: join 8, lend 4, borrow 2, joined 2Full study and all 22 verses →
Deuteronomy 28:12 The LORD will open the heavens, His abundant storehouse, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations, but borrow from none.
Nehemiah 5:4 Still others were saying, “We have borrowed money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards.
- עָבַט âbaṭtake or give a pledgetranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s H5670Verb · Translated: lend 1, borrow 1, freely loan 1, collect 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Deuteronomy 15:6 When the LORD your God blesses you as He has promised, you will lend to many nations but borrow from none; you will rule over many nations but be ruled by none.
- נָשָׁה nâshâhlend, borrowtranslated this way 1 time of its 11 uses · Strong’s H5383Verb · Translated: creditor 3, lending 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Jeremiah 15:10 Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife and conflict in all the land. I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.
Greek words (New Testament)
- δανείζω daneízōI lend, borrowtranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s G1155Verb · Translated: lend 3, borrow 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 5:42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from 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.