Word study

Charge

15 Hebrew and 8 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: charge, charges, charged, charging. 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 “charge” 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)

  • עַל alheighttranslated this way 39 times of its 4,859 uses · Strong’s H5921Preposition  ·  Translated: on 777, over 297, in 218, against 216Full study and all 3,996 verses →
  • מִשְׁמֶרֶת mishmerethguard, watchtranslated this way 20 times of its 73 uses · Strong’s H4931Noun  ·  Translated: charge 20, duties 18, responsible 3, service 3

    Genesis 26:5 because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

    Leviticus 8:35 You must remain at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting day and night for seven days and keep the LORD’s charge so that you will not die, for this is what I have been commanded.”

    Full study and all 66 verses →
  • צָוָה tsâvâhlay charge (upon), give charge (to), charge, command, ordertranslated this way 6 times of its 491 uses · Strong’s H6680Verb  ·  Translated: commanded 271, command 41, gave 16, instructed 13

    Genesis 50:12 So Jacob’s sons did as he had charged them.

    Exodus 6:13 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge concerning both the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

    Full study and all 473 verses →
  • פָּקַד pâqadattend to, visit, muster, appointtranslated this way 5 times of its 294 uses · Strong’s H6485Verb  ·  Translated: punish 41, numbered 26, appointed 15, counted 14

    1 Kings 11:28 Now Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor. So when Solomon noticed that the young man was industrious, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph.

    2 Kings 11:15 And Jehoiada the priest ordered the commanders of hundreds in charge of the army, “Bring her out between the ranks, and put to the sword anyone who follows her.” For the priest had said, “She must not be put to death in the house of the LORD.”

    Full study and all 267 verses →
  • יָצָא yâtsâgo or come outtranslated this way 4 times of its 1,035 uses · Strong’s H3318Verb  ·  Translated: brought 108, went 103, go 82, came 78

    Genesis 41:45 Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah, and he gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph took charge of all the land of Egypt.

    Full study and all 975 verses →
  • שָׁמַר shâmarkeep, watch, preservetranslated this way 4 times of its 461 uses · Strong’s H8104Verb  ·  Translated: keep 133, careful 39, kept 33, guard 25Full study and all 436 verses →
  • שׂוּם sûmput, place, settranslated this way 3 times of its 560 uses · Strong’s H7760Verb  ·  Translated: put 84, set 71, make 45, made 39

    Exodus 22:25 If you lend money to one of My people among you who is poor, you must not act as a creditor to him; you are not to charge him interest.

    Full study and all 533 verses →
  • עָלָה âlâhgo up, ascend, climbtranslated this way 3 times of its 873 uses · Strong’s H5927Verb  ·  Translated: go 118, went 107, brought 56, come 42Full study and all 807 verses →
  • יָד yâdhandtranslated this way 3 times of its 1,403 uses · Strong’s H3027Noun  ·  Translated: hand 664, hands 349, through 64, power 22Full study and all 1,290 verses →
  • רוּץ rûtsruntranslated this way 3 times of its 103 uses · Strong’s H7323Verb  ·  Translated: ran 22, run 21, guards 11, couriers 6

    2 Samuel 22:30 For in You I can charge an army; with my God I can scale a wall.

    Psalm 18:29 For in You I can charge an army, and with my God I can scale a wall.

    Full study and all 92 verses →
  • נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 3 times of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb  ·  Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
  • עִלָּה illâhmatter, affair, occasiontranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H5931Noun  ·  Translated: charge 3

    Daniel 6:4 Thus the administrators and satraps sought a charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no charge or corruption, because he was trustworthy, and no negligence or corruption was found in him.

    Daniel 6:5 Finally these men said, “We will never find any charge against this Daniel unless we find something against him concerning the law of his God.”

    Full study and all 2 verses →
  • פְּקֻדָּה pequddâhoversight, mustering, visitation, storetranslated this way 2 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H6486Noun  ·  Translated: punishment 8, oversight 2

    1 Chronicles 26:30 From the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his relatives, 1,700 capable men, had charge of the affairs of Israel west of the Jordan for all the work of the LORD and for the service of the king.

    Ezekiel 44:11 Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and ministering there. They shall slaughter the burnt offerings and other sacrifices for the people and stand before them to minister to them.

    Full study and all 29 verses →
  • מֶלֶךְ melekkingtranslated this way 2 times of its 2,416 uses · Strong’s H4428Noun  ·  Translated: king 1,810, kings 267, king's 134, royal 58Full study and all 1,901 verses →
  • רִיב rîbstrife, disputetranslated this way 2 times of its 61 uses · Strong’s H7379Noun  ·  Translated: case 11, strife 9, dispute 8, cause 8Full study and all 60 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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 charge: 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.