Word study

Content

7 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: content, contents, contented. 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 “content” 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)

  • שָׂבֵעַ sâbêasated, satisfied, surfeitedtranslated this way 2 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H7649Adjective  ·  Translated: full 6, contented 1, abounding 1, well-fed 1

    Genesis 25:8 And at a ripe old age he breathed his last and died, old and contented, and was gathered to his people.

    Proverbs 19:23 The fear of the LORD leads to life, that one may rest content, without visitation from harm.

    Full study and all 10 verses →
  • נוֹצָה nôtsâhplumagetranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s H5133Noun  ·  Translated: feathers 3, contents 1

    Leviticus 1:16 And he is to remove the crop with its contents and throw it to the east side of the altar, in the place for ashes.

    Full study and all 4 verses →
  • עַל alheighttranslated this way 1 time of its 4,859 uses · Strong’s H5921Preposition  ·  Translated: on 777, over 297, in 218, against 216Full study and all 3,996 verses →
  • יָאַל yâalshew willingness, be pleased, determine, undertaketranslated this way 1 time of its 18 uses · Strong’s H2974Verb  ·  Translated: determined 4, please 3, ventured 2, agreed 2

    Joshua 7:7 “O, Lord GOD,” Joshua said, “why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to be destroyed? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan!

    Full study and all 18 verses →
  • שֹׂבַע sôbasatiety, abundancetranslated this way 1 time of its 8 uses · Strong’s H7648Noun  ·  Translated: fill 5, meal 1, abundance 1, content 1

    Proverbs 13:25 A righteous man eats to his heart’s content, but the stomach of the wicked is empty.

    Full study and all 8 verses →
  • מָלֵא mâlêbe full, filltranslated this way 1 time of its 242 uses · Strong’s H4390Verb  ·  Translated: filled 66, full 34, fill 31, complete 8Full study and all 235 verses →
  • שָׂבַע sâbabe sated, satisfied, surfeitedtranslated this way 1 time of its 97 uses · Strong’s H7646Verb  ·  Translated: satisfied 39, filled 11, satisfy 10, fill 7

    Ecclesiastes 4:8 There is a man all alone, without even a son or brother. And though there is no end to his labor, his eyes are still not content with his wealth: “For whom do I toil and bereave my soul of enjoyment?” This too is futile — a miserable task.

    Full study and all 93 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ἀρκέω arkéōI am sufficient, I suffice, am content, satisfiedtranslated this way 3 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G714Verb  ·  Translated: content 3, enough 2, would not 1, sufficient 1

    Luke 3:14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” “Do not take money by force or false accusation,” he said. “Be content with your wages.”

    1 Timothy 6:8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.

    Full study and all 8 verses →
  • αὐτάρκης autárkēsself-sufficient, contented, satisfiedtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G842Adjective  ·  Translated: content 1

    Philippians 4:11 I am not saying this out of need, for I have learned to be content regardless of my circumstances.

    Full study and its 1 verse →
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.