Word study
Business
2 Hebrew and 6 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “business”. 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 “business” 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)
- מַעֲשֶׂה maăsehdeed, worktranslated this way 1 time of its 223 uses · Strong’s H4639Noun · Translated: work 71, works 38, deeds 8, made 7Full study and all 211 verses →
1 Samuel 25:2 Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very wealthy man with a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.
- מְלָאכָה melâkâhoccupation, worktranslated this way 1 time of its 142 uses · Strong’s H4399Noun · Translated: work 86, regular work 10, craft 3, service 3Full study and all 131 verses →
Daniel 8:27 I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was confounded by the vision; it was beyond understanding.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐργασία ergasíaworking, activity, trade, performancetranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G2039Noun · Translated: business 2, effort 1, income 1, making money 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Acts 19:24 It began with a silversmith named Demetrius who made silver shrines of Artemis, bringing much business to the craftsmen.
Acts 19:25 Demetrius assembled the craftsmen, along with the workmen in related trades. “Men,” he said, “you know that this business is our source of prosperity.
- ἐμπορία emporíatrading, trade, trafficking, businesstranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G1711Noun · Translated: business 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Matthew 22:5 But they paid no attention and went away, one to his field, another to his business.
- πραγματεύομαι pragmateúomaiI transact business, tradetranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G4231Verb · Translated: Conduct business 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Luke 19:13 Beforehand, he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Conduct business with this until I return,’ he said.
- μέρος mérosa part, portiontranslated this way 1 time of its 38 uses · Strong’s G3313Noun · Translated: part 9, parts 4, district 3, place 3Full study and all 37 verses →
Acts 19:27 There is danger not only that our business will fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited and her majesty deposed — she who is worshiped by all the province of Asia and the whole world.”
- ἐγώ egṓItranslated this way 1 time of its 2,450 uses · Strong’s G1473Personal / Possessive Pronoun · Translated: me 622, my 472, i 392, us 267Full study and all 1,768 verses →
- ἐμπορεύομαι emporeúomaiI travel as a merchant, engage in tradetranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1710Verb · Translated: carry on business 1, exploit 1Full study and all 2 verses →
James 4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”
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.