Word study
Complain
5 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: complain, complained, complaining. 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 “complain” 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)
- אָנַן ânancomplain, murmurtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H596Verb · Translated: began to complain 1, complain 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Numbers 11:1 Soon the people began to complain about their hardship in the hearing of the LORD, and when He heard them, His anger was kindled, and fire from the LORD blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.
Lamentations 3:39 Why should any mortal man complain, in view of his sins?
- רִיב rîbstrive, contendtranslated this way 2 times of its 64 uses · Strong’s H7378Verb · Translated: contend 13, quarreled 4, plead 4, rebuked 4Full study and all 58 verses →
Judges 21:22 When their fathers or brothers come to us to complain, we will tell them, ‘Do us a favor by helping them, since we did not get wives for each of them in the war. Since you did not actually give them your daughters, you have no guilt.’”
Job 33:13 Why do you complain to Him that He answers nothing a man asks?
- יָכַח yâkachdecide, adjudge, provetranslated this way 1 time of its 56 uses · Strong’s H3198Verb · Translated: rebuke 13, rebukes 3, appointed 2, judge 2Full study and all 54 verses →
Genesis 21:25 But when Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized,
- אָמַר âmarutter, saytranslated this way 1 time of its 4,555 uses · Strong’s H559Verb · Translated: said 1,531, says 576, say 352, replied 341Full study and all 3,827 verses →
- שִׂיחַ sîachmuse, complaintranslated this way 1 time of its 20 uses · Strong’s H7878Verb · Translated: meditate 6, ponder 2, tell 2, speak 2Full study and all 20 verses →
Job 7:11 Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Greek words (New Testament)
- γογγύζω gongýzōI whisper, murmur, grumbletranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G1111Verb · Translated: began to grumble 2, grumbling 2, complained 1, whispering 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Luke 5:30 But the Pharisees and their scribes complained to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
1 Corinthians 10:10 And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel.
- γογγυσμός gongysmósmurmuring, grumblingtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G1112Noun · Translated: complaining 2, whispering 1, grumble 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Philippians 2:14 Do everything without complaining or arguing,
1 Peter 4:9 Show hospitality to one another without complaining.
- στενάζω stenázōI groantranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s G4727Verb · Translated: groan 3, sighed deeply 1, grief 1, complain 1Full study and all 6 verses →
James 5:9 Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look, the Judge is standing at the door!
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.