Word study
Compete
2 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: compete, competes. 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 “compete” 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)
- שָׂחַק sâchaqlaughtranslated this way 1 time of its 36 uses · Strong’s H7832Verb · Translated: laugh 5, laughs 5, celebrating 3, mock 3Full study and all 36 verses →
2 Samuel 2:14 Then Abner said to Joab, “Let us have the young men get up and compete before us.” “Let them get up,” Joab replied.
- תַּחָרָה tachârâhvie with a rivaltranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H8474Verb · Translated: compete 1, excel 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Jeremiah 12:5 “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀγωνίζομαι agōnízomaiI strive, contendtranslated this way 1 time of its 8 uses · Strong’s G75Verb · Translated: fight 2Full study and all 8 verses →
1 Corinthians 9:25 Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable.
- ἀθλέω athléōI competetranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G118Verb · Translated: competitor 1, competes 1Full study and its 1 verse →
2 Timothy 2:5 Likewise, a competitor does not receive the crown unless he competes according to the rules.
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.