Word study
Drink
11 Hebrew and 7 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: drink, drunk, drank, drinking, drinks. 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 “drink” 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)
- שָׁתָה shâthâhdrinktranslated this way 200 times of its 212 uses · Strong’s H8354Verb · Translated: drink 137, drank 24, drinking 20, drinks 6Full study and all 192 verses →
Genesis 9:21 But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.
Exodus 7:18 The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water.’”
- נֶסֶךְ nesekdrink-offeringtranslated this way 50 times of its 56 uses · Strong’s H5262Noun · Translated: drink offering 26, drink offerings 22, molten images 2Full study and all 54 verses →
Genesis 35:14 So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God had spoken with him— a stone marker— and he poured out a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil.
Exodus 29:40 With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with a quarter hin of oil from pressed olives, and a drink offering of a quarter hin of wine.
- שָׁקָה shâqâhquaff, irrigate, furnish a potion totranslated this way 35 times of its 62 uses · Strong’s H8248Verb · Translated: drink 16, water 10, watered 6, drunk 3Full study and all 60 verses →
Genesis 19:32 Come, let us get our father drunk with wine so we can sleep with him and preserve his line.”
Exodus 32:20 Then he took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered the powder over the face of the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink it.
- שֵׁכָר shêkârintoxioating drink, strong drinktranslated this way 22 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s H7941Noun · Translated: strong drink 21, fermented drink 1Full study and all 19 verses →
Leviticus 10:9 “You and your sons are not to drink wine or strong drink when you enter the Tent of Meeting, or else you will die; this is a permanent statute for the generations to come.
Numbers 6:3 he is to abstain from wine and strong drink. He must not drink vinegar made from wine or strong drink, and he must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins.
- שָׁכַר shâkarbe, or beocme, drunk, drunkentranslated this way 16 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H7937Verb · Translated: drunk 7, get drunk 2Full study and all 19 verses →
Genesis 9:21 But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.
Deuteronomy 32:42 I will make My arrows drunk with blood, while My sword devours flesh— the blood of the slain and captives, the heads of the enemy leaders.”
- מִנְחָה minchâhgift, tribute, offeringtranslated this way 8 times of its 201 uses · Strong’s H4503Noun · Translated: grain offering 86, offering 21, grain offerings 21, tribute 16Full study and all 190 verses →
Numbers 29:18 along with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to the number prescribed.
Numbers 29:21 along with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to the number prescribed.
- מִשְׁתֶּה mishtehfeasttranslated this way 6 times of its 42 uses · Strong’s H4960Noun · Translated: feast 15, banquet 10, feasting 8, drink 3Full study and all 40 verses →
Ezra 3:7 They gave money to the masons and carpenters, and food and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to Joppa by sea, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia.
Esther 5:6 And as they drank their wine, the king said to Esther, “What is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.”
- שְׁתָה shethâhdrinktranslated this way 5 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H8355Verb · Translated: drank 4, drink 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Daniel 5:1 Later, King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he drank wine with them.
Daniel 5:2 Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king could drink from them, along with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines.
- שִׁכּוֹר shikkôrdrunkentranslated this way 3 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s H7910Adjective · Translated: drunk 3, drunkards 3, like drunkards 2, drunkard 2Full study and all 11 verses →
1 Samuel 1:13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. So Eli thought she was drunk
1 Kings 20:16 They marched out at noon while Ben-hadad and the 32 kings allied with him were in their tents getting drunk.
- מַשְׁקֶה mashqehbutler, cup-bearertranslated this way 3 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H4945Noun · Translated: cupbearer 10, cupbearers 2, drinking 2Full study and all 17 verses →
1 Kings 10:21 All King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, because it was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.
2 Chronicles 9:20 All King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, because it was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.
- נָסַךְ nâsakpour outtranslated this way 2 times of its 27 uses · Strong’s H5258Verb · Translated: poured 9, pour 6, pouring drink offerings 2, instead 2Full study and all 24 verses →
Exodus 25:29 You are also to make the plates and dishes, as well as the pitchers and bowls for pouring drink offerings. Make them out of pure gold.
Exodus 37:16 He also made the utensils for the table out of pure gold: its plates and dishes, as well as its bowls and pitchers for pouring drink offerings.
Greek words (New Testament)
- πίνω pínōI drink, imbibetranslated this way 72 times of its 73 uses · Strong’s G4095Verb · Translated: drink 45, drinking 10, drinks 9, drank 5Full study and all 64 verses →
Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
Mark 10:38 “You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus replied. “Can you drink the cup I will drink, or be baptized with the baptism I will undergo?”
- μεθύω methýōI am drunktranslated this way 5 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G3184Verb · Translated: drunk 3, drunkards 1, gets drunk 1, get drunk 1Full study and all 6 verses →
John 2:10 and said, “Everyone serves the fine wine first, and then the cheap wine after the guests are drunk. But you have saved the fine wine until now!”
Acts 2:15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It is only the third hour of the day!
- μεθύσκω methýskōI make drunktranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G3182Verb · Translated: get drunk 3, intoxicated 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Luke 12:45 But suppose that servant says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and he begins to beat the menservants and maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk.
Ephesians 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
- ποτίζω potízōI cause to drink, give to drinktranslated this way 3 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G4222Verb · Translated: gives 2, gave 2, held 2, waters 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Matthew 25:42 For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink,
Romans 12:20 On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
- πόσις pósisdrinktranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G4213Noun · Translated: drink 2, drinking 1Full study and all 3 verses →
John 6:55 For My flesh is real food, and My blood is real drink.
Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
- πόμα pómadrinktranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4188Noun · Translated: drink 2Full study and all 2 verses →
1 Corinthians 10:4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
Hebrews 9:10 They consist only in food and drink and special washings — external regulations imposed until the time of reform.
- σπένδω spéndōI pour out as a libationtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4689Verb · Translated: poured out like a drink offering 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Philippians 2:17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
2 Timothy 4:6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.
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 drink: 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.