Word study
Debt
5 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: debt, debts. 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 “debt” 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)
- חָבַל châbalbind, pledgetranslated this way 2 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s H2254Verb · Translated: destroy 3, security 2, broken 2, get collateral 2Full study and all 23 verses →
Deuteronomy 24:6 Do not take a pair of millstones or even an upper millstone as security for a debt, because that would be taking one’s livelihood as security.
Job 24:9 The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized for a debt.
- שְׁמִטָּה shemiṭṭâha letting drop of exactionstranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s H8059Noun · Translated: remission 2, cancel debts 1, time of release 1, release 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Deuteronomy 15:1 At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.
- מַשָּׁאָה mashshââhloantranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H4859Noun · Translated: anything 1, debts 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Proverbs 22:26 Do not be one who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts.
- נְשִׁי neshîdebttranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H5386Noun · Translated: debt 1Full study and its 1 verse →
2 Kings 4:7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt. Then you and your sons can live on the remainder.”
- מַשָּׁא mashshâlending on interest, or usurytranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H4855Noun · Translated: usury 2, debt 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Nehemiah 10:31 When the people of the land bring merchandise or any kind of grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we will not buy from them on a Sabbath or holy day. Every seventh year we will let the fields lie fallow and will cancel every debt.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ὀφείλημα opheílēmaa debt, offense, sintranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G3783Noun · Translated: debts 1, obligation 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
- δάνειον dáneiona loan, debttranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G1156Noun · Translated: debt 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Matthew 18:27 His master had compassion on him, forgave his debt, and released him.
- ὀφείλω opheílōI owe, oughttranslated this way 1 time of its 35 uses · Strong’s G3784Verb · Translated: ought 9, should 4, owed 3, owe 3Full study and all 34 verses →
Matthew 18:30 But he refused. Instead, he went and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay his debt.
- ὀφειλή opheilḗa debt, dutytranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3782Noun · Translated: debt 1, owe 1, duty 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 18:32 Then the master summoned him and said, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave all your debt because you begged me.
- χειρόγραφον cheirógraphona handwriting, bondtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G5498Noun · Translated: debt ascribed 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Colossians 2:14 having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!
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.
What the Bible says about debt: passages by topic →
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.