Word study
Conspire
5 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: conspired, conspire. 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 “conspire” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- קָשַׁר qâsharbind, league together, conspiretranslated this way 18 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s H7194Verb · Translated: conspired 18, Tie 4, tied 3, bind 3Full study and all 44 verses →
1 Samuel 22:8 Is that why all of you have conspired against me? Not one of you told me that my own son had made a covenant with the son of Jesse. Not one of you has shown concern for me or revealed to me that my son has stirred up my own servant to lie in wait against me, as is the case today.”
1 Kings 15:27 Then Baasha son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against Nadab, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon of the Philistines while Nadab and all Israel were besieging the city.
- יָעַד yâadappointtranslated this way 2 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s H3259Verb · Translated: meet 8, assembled 3, conspired 2, challenge 2Full study and all 29 verses →
Numbers 14:35 I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this entire wicked congregation, which has conspired against Me. They will meet their end in the wilderness, and there they will die.”
Numbers 16:11 Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the LORD! As for Aaron, who is he that you should grumble against him?”
- בָּקַשׁ bâqashseektranslated this way 2 times of its 222 uses · Strong’s H1245Verb · Translated: seek 78, sought 21, seeking 13, search 13Full study and all 212 verses →
Esther 2:21 In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, grew angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.
Esther 6:2 And there it was found recorded that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs who guarded the king’s entrance, when they had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.
- גּוּר gûrsojourntranslated this way 2 times of its 88 uses · Strong’s H1481Verb · Translated: residing 8, reside 6, living 6, dwell 6Full study and all 85 verses →
Psalm 56:6 They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps while they wait to take my life.
Psalm 59:3 See how they lie in wait for me. Fierce men conspire against me for no transgression or sin of my own, O LORD.
- יָעַץ yâatsadvise, counseltranslated this way 2 times of its 75 uses · Strong’s H3289Verb · Translated: counselor 11, counselors 9, advise 6, consulted 5Full study and all 69 verses →
Psalm 71:10 For my enemies speak against me, and those who lie in wait for my life conspire,
Psalm 83:3 With cunning they scheme against Your people and conspire against those You cherish,
Greek words (New Testament)
- συμβουλεύω symbouleúōI give advicetranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G4823Verb · Translated: conspired 2, advised 1, counsel 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Matthew 26:4 and they conspired to arrest Jesus covertly and kill Him.
Acts 9:23 After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him,
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.