Word study
Doing
4 Hebrew and 6 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “doing”. 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 “doing” 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)
- עָשָׂה âsâhdo, maketranslated this way 58 times of its 2,478 uses · Strong’s H6213Verb · Translated: done 292, made 265, make 143, did 112Full study and all 2,206 verses →
Genesis 2:2 And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work.
Exodus 18:14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he asked, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone as judge, with all the people standing around you from morning till evening?”
- רָעַע râabe evil, badtranslated this way 4 times of its 97 uses · Strong’s H7489Verb · Translated: wicked 9, harm 8, evil 8, evildoers 8Full study and all 97 verses →
1 Samuel 12:25 But if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”
Isaiah 1:16 Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!
- שָׁלוֹם shâlômcompleteness, soundness, welfare, peacetranslated this way 2 times of its 223 uses · Strong’s H7965Noun · Translated: peace 135, safely 10, prosperity 8, well 5Full study and all 200 verses →
1 Samuel 17:22 Then David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing.
2 Samuel 11:7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going.
- יָטַב yâṭabbe good, well, glad, pleasingtranslated this way 2 times of its 110 uses · Strong’s H3190Verb · Translated: good 14, well 8, pleased 8, go well 6Full study and all 106 verses →
Psalm 36:3 The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and well-doing.
Jeremiah 32:40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ποιέω poiéōI do, maketranslated this way 42 times of its 544 uses · Strong’s G4160Verb · Translated: do 50, done 44, doing 40, made 34Full study and all 494 verses →
Matthew 5:47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same?
Mark 2:24 So the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
- ἐργάζομαι ergázomaiI word, trade, dotranslated this way 4 times of its 39 uses · Strong’s G2038Verb · Translated: work 10, doing 4, worked 4, done 2Full study and all 37 verses →
Acts 13:41 ‘Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish! For I am doing a work in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.’”
1 Corinthians 16:10 If Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, just as I am.
- ἀγαθοποιέω agathopoiéōI do that which is goodtranslated this way 3 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G15Verb · Translated: good 6, doing good 3, right 1Full study and all 9 verses →
1 Peter 2:15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorance of foolish men.
1 Peter 2:20 How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
- ἀργός argósidle, lazy, thoughtlesstranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G692Adjective · Translated: doing nothing 2, idle 2, careless 1, lazy 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Matthew 20:3 About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.
Matthew 20:6 About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ he asked.
- γίνομαι gínomaiI come into being, am borntranslated this way 2 times of its 544 uses · Strong’s G1096Verb · Translated: become 58, came 42, became 34, happened 28Full study and all 515 verses →
Luke 13:17 When Jesus said this, all His adversaries were humiliated. And the whole crowd rejoiced at all the glorious things He was doing.
- πράσσω prássōI do, fare, requiretranslated this way 2 times of its 36 uses · Strong’s G4238Verb · Translated: done 8, do 4, to do 3, practice 2Full study and all 34 verses →
Romans 7:19 For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.
Ephesians 6:21 Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know about me and what I am doing.
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.