Word study
Care
9 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: care, cared, cares, caressed, caressing, caring. 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 “care” 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)
- יָד yâdhandtranslated this way 17 times of its 1,403 uses · Strong’s H3027Noun · Translated: hand 664, hands 349, through 64, power 22Full study and all 1,290 verses →
Genesis 30:35 That very day Laban removed all the streaked or spotted male goats and every speckled or spotted female goat— every one that had any white on it— and every dark-colored lamb, and he placed them under the care of his sons.
Genesis 39:6 So Potiphar left all that he owned in Joseph’s care; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,
- שָׁמַר shâmarkeep, watch, preservetranslated this way 5 times of its 461 uses · Strong’s H8104Verb · Translated: keep 133, careful 39, kept 33, guard 25Full study and all 436 verses →
Exodus 22:10 If a man gives a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any other animal to be cared for by his neighbor, but it dies or is injured or stolen while no one is watching,
Numbers 3:8 They shall take care of all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting and fulfill obligations for the Israelites by attending to the service of the tabernacle.
- עָשָׂה âsâhdo, maketranslated this way 4 times of its 2,478 uses · Strong’s H6213Verb · Translated: done 292, made 265, make 143, did 112Full study and all 2,206 verses →
- 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 →
- פָּקַד pâqadattend to, visit, muster, appointtranslated this way 3 times of its 294 uses · Strong’s H6485Verb · Translated: punish 41, numbered 26, appointed 15, counted 14Full study and all 267 verses →
2 Kings 9:34 Then Jehu went in and ate and drank. “Take care of this cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was the daughter of a king.”
Psalm 8:4 what is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?
- חוּס chûspity, look upon with compassiontranslated this way 3 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s H2347Verb · Translated: pity 7, spare 2Full study and all 22 verses →
Ezekiel 16:5 No one cared enough for you to do even one of these things out of compassion for you. Instead, you were thrown out into the open field, because you were despised on the day of your birth.
Jonah 4:10 But the LORD said, “You cared about the plant, which you neither tended nor made grow. It sprang up in a night and perished in a night.
- דָּרַשׁ dârashresort to, seektranslated this way 3 times of its 160 uses · Strong’s H1875Verb · Translated: seek 47, inquire 29, sought 14, search 6Full study and all 151 verses →
Deuteronomy 11:12 It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year.
Psalm 142:4 Look to my right and see; no one attends to me. There is no refuge for me; no one cares for my soul.
- סָכַן sâkanbe of use of service, benefittranslated this way 2 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H5532Verb · Translated: before 1, care 1, cared 1, use 1Full study and all 9 verses →
1 Kings 1:2 So his servants said to him, “Let us search for a young virgin for our lord the king, to attend to him and care for him and lie by his side to keep him warm.”
1 Kings 1:4 The girl was unsurpassed in beauty; she cared for the king and served him, but he had no relations with her.
- קָלַל qâlalbe slight, swift, triflingtranslated this way 2 times of its 82 uses · Strong’s H7043Verb · Translated: curse 15, cursed 8, curses 5, swifter 5Full study and all 79 verses →
Jeremiah 6:14 They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.
Jeremiah 8:11 They dress the wound of the daughter of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.
Greek words (New Testament)
- μέλω mélōit is a care, it concernstranslated this way 4 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G3199Verb · Translated: seek favor 2, concern 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Mark 4:38 But Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him and said, “Teacher, don’t You care that we are perishing?”
Luke 10:40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations to be made. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me!”
- ἐπιμελέομαι epimeléomaiI take care of, attend totranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G1959Verb · Translated: took care 1, Take care 1, care 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Luke 10:34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
1 Timothy 3:5 For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for the church of God?
- ἐπισκέπτομαι episképtomaiI look upon, visit, look out, selecttranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G1980Verb · Translated: visited 3, visit 3, care 2, looked 1Full study and all 11 verses →
Hebrews 2:6 But somewhere it is testified in these words: “What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You care for him?
James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
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.
What the Bible says about care: passages by topic →
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.