Word study

Compare

3 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: compare, compared, compares. 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 “compare” 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)

  • עָרַךְ ârakarrange or set in ordertranslated this way 5 times of its 75 uses · Strong’s H6186Verb  ·  Translated: arrayed 14, prepared 5, compare 5, set 4

    Job 28:17 Neither gold nor crystal can compare to it, nor jewels of fine gold be exchanged for it.

    Psalm 40:5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us — none can compare to You — if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count.

    Full study and all 71 verses →
  • דָּמָה dâmâhbe like, resembletranslated this way 5 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s H1819Verb  ·  Translated: like 9, compare 4, liken 3, planned 2

    Song of Solomon 1:9 I compare you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.

    Lamentations 2:13 What can I say for you? To what can I compare you, O Daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may console you, O Virgin Daughter of Zion? For your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can ever heal you?

    Full study and all 28 verses →
  • שָׁוָה shâvâhbe even, smoothtranslated this way 2 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s H7737Verb  ·  Translated: makes 2, set 2, compares 2

    Proverbs 3:15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire compares with her.

    Proverbs 8:11 For wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire compares with her.

    Full study and all 22 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ὁμοιόω homoióōI make like, liken, comparetranslated this way 5 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G3666Verb  ·  Translated: like 7, compare 5, human form 1, resembled 1

    Matthew 11:16 To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:

    Mark 4:30 Then He asked, “To what can we compare the kingdom of God? With what parable shall we present it?

    Full study and all 15 verses →
  • συγκρίνω synkrínōI combine, comparetranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G4793Verb  ·  Translated: compare 2, expressing 1

    2 Corinthians 10:12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they show their ignorance.

    Full study and all 2 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.