Word study
Complete
8 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: complete, completed, completing. 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 “complete” 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)
- מָלֵא mâlêbe full, filltranslated this way 12 times of its 242 uses · Strong’s H4390Verb · Translated: filled 66, full 34, fill 31, complete 8Full study and all 235 verses →
Genesis 29:21 Finally Jacob said to Laban, “Grant me my wife, for my time is complete, and I want to sleep with her.”
Leviticus 8:33 You must not go outside the entrance to the Tent of Meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are complete; for it will take seven days to ordain you.
- כָּלָה kâlâhbe complete, at an end, finished, accomplished, spenttranslated this way 9 times of its 206 uses · Strong’s H3615Verb · Translated: finished 54, fail 12, consumed 9, completed 7Full study and all 200 verses →
Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
Exodus 39:32 So all the work for the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, was completed. The Israelites did everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
- שַׁבָּתוֹן shabbâthônsabbath observance, sabbatismtranslated this way 9 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H7677Noun · Translated: complete rest 8, day of complete rest 1, day of rest 1, and 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Exodus 16:23 He told them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of complete rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil. Then set aside whatever remains and keep it until morning.’”
Leviticus 16:31 It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, that you may humble yourselves; it is a permanent statute.
- שָׁלַם shâlambe complete, soundtranslated this way 4 times of its 109 uses · Strong’s H7999Verb · Translated: repay 20, fulfill 14, make restitution 7, made peace 6Full study and all 106 verses →
1 Kings 7:51 So all the work that King Solomon had performed for the house of the LORD was completed. Then Solomon brought in the items his father David had dedicated— the silver, the gold, and the furnishings— and he placed them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.
2 Chronicles 5:1 So all the work that Solomon had performed for the house of the LORD was completed. Then Solomon brought in the items his father David had dedicated— the silver, the gold, and all the furnishings— and he placed them in the treasuries of the house of God.
- תָּמַם tâmambe complete, finishedtranslated this way 3 times of its 56 uses · Strong’s H8552Verb · Translated: gone 6, finished 4, consumed 4, meet their end 3Full study and all 54 verses →
Joshua 4:10 Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until the people had completed everything the LORD had commanded Joshua to tell them, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried across,
1 Kings 7:22 And the tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work of the pillars was completed.
- שָׁלֵם shâlêmcomplete, safe, at peacetranslated this way 2 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s H8003Adjective · Translated: fully devoted 5, whole 3, accurate 2, uncut 2Full study and all 25 verses →
Genesis 15:16 In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
2 Chronicles 8:16 Thus all the work of Solomon was carried out, from the day the foundation was laid for the house of the LORD until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was completed.
- בָּצַע bâtsacut off, break off, gain by violencetranslated this way 2 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H1214Verb · Translated: greedy 5, cut 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Isaiah 10:12 So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes.
Zechariah 4:9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent me to you.
- חָרַם châramban, devote, exterminatetranslated this way 2 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s H2763Verb · Translated: devoted to destruction 12, devote to destruction 6, devote them to destruction 5, set apart for destruction 4Full study and all 47 verses →
Deuteronomy 7:2 and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.
Deuteronomy 20:17 For you must devote them to complete destruction— the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites— as the LORD your God has commanded you,
Greek words (New Testament)
- πληρόω plēróōI fill, fulfill, completetranslated this way 11 times of its 85 uses · Strong’s G4137Verb · Translated: fulfilled 25, fulfill 13, filled 13, complete 8Full study and all 85 verses →
John 3:29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.
Acts 13:25 As John was completing his course, he said, ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not that One. But there is One coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’
- τελέω teléōI end, accomplish, paytranslated this way 5 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s G5055Verb · Translated: finished 8, fulfilled 4, complete 3, pay 2Full study and all 28 verses →
Revelation 15:1 Then I saw another great and marvelous sign in heaven: seven angels with the seven final plagues, with which the wrath of God is completed.
Revelation 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
- ἐπιτελέω epiteléōI complete, accomplish, perfecttranslated this way 3 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G2005Verb · Translated: completed 1, perfecting 1, help complete 1, finish 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Romans 15:28 So after I have completed this service and have safely delivered this bounty to them, I will set off to Spain by way of you.
2 Corinthians 8:6 So we urged Titus to help complete your act of grace, just as he had started it.
- πᾶς pâsall, the whole, every kind oftranslated this way 3 times of its 1,133 uses · Strong’s G3956Adjective · Translated: all 462, everyone 131, every 116, everything 87Full study and all 998 verses →
- πλήθω plḗthōI filltranslated this way 2 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s G4130Verb · Translated: filled 16, complete 2, came 2, passed 1Full study and all 23 verses →
Luke 1:23 And when the days of his service were complete, he returned home.
Luke 2:22 And when the time of purification according to the Law of Moses was complete, His parents brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord
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.