Word study
Bother
3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: bother, bothering. 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 “bother” or one of its forms.
Compare the Greek words side by side
Greek words (New Testament)
- παρέχω paréchōI offer, providetranslated this way 2 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G3930Verb · Translated: bothering 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Matthew 26:10 Aware of this, Jesus asked, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful deed to Me.
Mark 14:6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone; why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful deed to Me.
- σκύλλω skýllōI flay, trouble, annoytranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G4660Verb · Translated: bother 2, harassed 1, trouble 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Mark 5:35 While He was still speaking, messengers from the house of Jairus arrived and said, “Your daughter is dead; why bother the Teacher anymore?”
Luke 8:49 While He was still speaking, someone arrived from the house of the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he told Jairus. “Do not bother the Teacher anymore.”
- κόπος kópostrouble, toil, labortranslated this way 1 time of its 15 uses · Strong’s G2873Noun · Translated: labor 11, labors 2, bother 1, trouble 1Full study and all 15 verses →
Luke 11:7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Do not bother me. My door is already shut, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’
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. Short definition: Dodson Greek Lexicon (2010, public domain). Full entry: G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922, public domain). Strong’s Greek Dictionary (1890) in the edition by Ulrik Sandborg-Petersen (CC0). 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.