Word study

Companion

4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: companions, companion. 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 “companion” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • חָבֵר châbêrunited, associate, companiontranslated this way 6 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s H2270Noun  ·  Translated: companions 4, associated 3, companion 2, united 1

    Psalm 45:7 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you above your companions with the oil of joy.

    Proverbs 28:24 He who robs his father or mother, saying, “It is not wrong,” is a companion to the man who destroys.

    Full study and all 11 verses →
  • רֵעַ rêashouting, roartranslated this way 5 times of its 185 uses · Strong’s H7453Noun  ·  Translated: neighbor 60, another 30, friend 26, neighbor's 22

    Exodus 2:13 The next day Moses went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your companion?”

    1 Kings 20:35 Meanwhile, by the word of the LORD, one of the sons of the prophets said to his companion, “Strike me, please!” But the man refused to strike him.

    Full study and all 172 verses →
  • רָעָה rââhpasture, tend, grazetranslated this way 3 times of its 170 uses · Strong’s H7462Verb  ·  Translated: shepherd 42, shepherds 39, feed 18, graze 8

    Proverbs 13:20 He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

    Proverbs 28:7 A discerning son keeps the law, but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father.

    Full study and all 146 verses →
  • אַלּוּף allûphtametranslated this way 2 times of its 31 uses · Strong’s H441Noun  ·  Translated: chiefs 18, companion 2

    Psalm 55:13 But it is you, a man like myself, my companion and close friend.

    Micah 7:5 Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.

    Full study and all 25 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ὁ hothetranslated this way 15 times of its 9,898 uses · Strong’s G3588Article  ·  Translated: the 6,410, of the 748, of 344, who 329

    Matthew 12:3 Jesus replied, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?

    Full study and all 5,117 verses →
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.

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.