Word study
Collect
4 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: collect, collected, collects. 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 “collect” 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)
- קָבַץ qâbatsgather, collecttranslated this way 8 times of its 126 uses · Strong’s H6908Verb · Translated: gather 42, gathered 25, assembled 10, assemble 9Full study and all 121 verses →
Genesis 41:35 Under the authority of Pharaoh, let them collect all the excess food from these good years, that they may come and lay up the grain to be preserved as food in the cities.
2 Chronicles 24:5 So he gathered the priests and Levites and said, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect the money due annually from all Israel, to repair the house of your God. Do it quickly.” The Levites, however, did not make haste.
- לָקַח lâqachtaketranslated this way 4 times of its 938 uses · Strong’s H3947Verb · Translated: take 247, took 245, taken 40, get 26Full study and all 890 verses →
Genesis 38:20 Now when Judah sent his friend Hirah the Adullamite with the young goat to collect the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her.
Numbers 3:47 you are to collect five shekels for each one, according to the sanctuary shekel of twenty gerahs.
- אָסַף âsaphgather, removetranslated this way 3 times of its 193 uses · Strong’s H622Verb · Translated: gathered 56, gather 27, assembled 13, assemble 8Full study and all 183 verses →
2 Kings 22:4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him count the money that has been brought into the house of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people.
2 Chronicles 34:9 So they went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites who guarded the doors had collected from the people of Manasseh and Ephraim, from all the remnant of Israel, from all Judah and Benjamin, and from the people of Jerusalem.
- נָגַשׂ nâgaspress, drive, oppress, exacttranslated this way 2 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s H5065Verb · Translated: taskmasters 4, oppressor 4, oppressors 2, collect 2Full study and all 23 verses →
Deuteronomy 15:2 This is the manner of remission: Every creditor shall cancel what he has loaned to his neighbor. He is not to collect anything from his neighbor or brother, because the LORD’s time of release has been proclaimed.
Deuteronomy 15:3 You may collect something from a foreigner, but you must forgive whatever your brother owes you.
Greek words (New Testament)
- λαμβάνω lambánōI receive, taketranslated this way 6 times of its 241 uses · Strong’s G2983Verb · Translated: receive 43, received 37, took 36, take 25Full study and all 227 verses →
Matthew 17:25 “Yes,” he answered. When Peter entered the house, Jesus preempted him. “What do you think, Simon?” He asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs and taxes: from their own sons, or from others?”
Mark 12:2 At harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard.
- συλλέγω syllégōI collect, gathertranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G4816Verb · Translated: pull 2Full study and all 8 verses →
Matthew 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat into my barn.’”
Matthew 13:40 As the weeds are collected and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of the age.
- αἴρω aírōI raise, lift uptranslated this way 2 times of its 100 uses · Strong’s G142Verb · Translated: take 15, picked 10, pick 8, taken away 7Full study and all 96 verses →
Mark 8:19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces did you collect?” “Twelve,” they answered.
Mark 8:20 “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces did you collect?” “Seven,” they said.
- πράσσω prássōI do, fare, requiretranslated this way 2 times of its 36 uses · Strong’s G4238Verb · Translated: done 8, do 4, to do 3, practice 2Full study and all 34 verses →
Luke 3:13 “Collect no more than you are authorized,” he answered.
Luke 19:23 Why then did you not deposit my money in the bank, and upon my return I could have collected it with interest?’
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.