Word study
Eat
5 Hebrew and 10 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: eat, ate, eaten, eating, eats. 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 “eat” 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)
- אָכַל âkaleattranslated this way 536 times of its 784 uses · Strong’s H398Verb · Translated: eat 341, ate 64, eaten 63, consumed 39Full study and all 696 verses →
Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden,
Exodus 2:20 “So where is he?” their father asked. “Why did you leave the man behind? Invite him to have something to eat.”
- בָּרָה bârâheattranslated this way 3 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H1262Verb · Translated: eat 3, Choose 1, give me something 1, food 1Full study and all 6 verses →
2 Samuel 3:35 Then all the people came and urged David to eat something while it was still day, but David took an oath, saying, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun sets!”
2 Samuel 13:6 So Amnon lay down and feigned illness. When the king came to see him, Amnon said, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my sight, so that I may eat from her hand.”
- לָחַם lâchamfight, do battletranslated this way 3 times of its 175 uses · Strong’s H3898Verb · Translated: fight 77, fought 45, fighting 16, waged war 6Full study and all 170 verses →
Proverbs 4:17 For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
Proverbs 9:5 “Come, eat my bread and drink the wine I have mixed.
- אׇכְלָה oklâhfood, eatingtranslated this way 2 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H402Noun · Translated: food 11, fuel 3, eat 2, devour 2Full study and all 18 verses →
Exodus 16:15 When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. So Moses told them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.
Leviticus 11:39 If an animal that you may eat dies, anyone who touches the carcass will be unclean until evening.
- שָׂבַע sâbabe sated, satisfied, surfeitedtranslated this way 2 times of its 97 uses · Strong’s H7646Verb · Translated: satisfied 39, filled 11, satisfy 10, fill 7Full study and all 93 verses →
Ezekiel 32:4 I will abandon you on the land and hurl you into the open field. I will cause all the birds of the air to settle upon you, and all the beasts of the earth to eat their fill of you.
Ezekiel 39:20 And at My table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, of mighty men and warriors of every kind,’ declares the Lord GOD.
Greek words (New Testament)
- φάγω phágōI eattranslated this way 87 times of its 92 uses · Strong’s G5315Verb · Translated: eat 61, ate 16, eaten 3, food 2Full study and all 86 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 2:26 During the high priesthood of Abiathar, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which was lawful only for the priests. And he gave some to his companions as well.”
- ἐσθίω esthíōI eattranslated this way 54 times of its 61 uses · Strong’s G2068Verb · Translated: eat 30, eating 16, eats 7, fed 2Full study and all 55 verses →
Matthew 9:11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Mark 2:16 When the scribes who were Pharisees saw Jesus eating with these people, they asked His disciples, “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
- συνεσθίω synesthíōI eat withtranslated this way 5 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G4906Verb · Translated: ate 2, eats 1, eat 1, used to eat 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Luke 15:2 So the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Acts 10:41 not by all the people, but by the witnesses God had chosen beforehand, by us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.
- τρώγω trṓgōI eattranslated this way 4 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G5176Verb · Translated: eats 3, eating 1, feeds 1, shares 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Matthew 24:38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark.
John 6:54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
- γεύομαι geúomaiI taste, experiencetranslated this way 3 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G1089Verb · Translated: taste 6, tasted 4, eat 2, tasting 1Full study and all 15 verses →
Acts 10:10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.
Acts 20:11 Then Paul went back upstairs, broke bread, and ate. And after speaking until daybreak, he departed.
- βρῶσις brōsiseating, food, a meal, rusttranslated this way 3 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G1035Noun · Translated: food 5, rust 2, eating 2, eat 1Full study and all 10 verses →
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.
1 Corinthians 8:4 So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.
- μεταλαμβάνω metalambánōI share in, partake oftranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G3335Verb · Translated: sharing 1, find 1, eat 1, eat something 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Acts 27:33 Right up to daybreak, Paul kept urging them all to eat: “Today is your fourteenth day in constant suspense, without taking any food.
Acts 27:34 So for your own preservation, I urge you to eat something, because not a single hair of your head will be lost.”
- κατεσθίω katesthíōI eat till it is finishedtranslated this way 2 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s G2719Verb · Translated: devoured 3, defraud 2Full study and all 14 verses →
Revelation 10:9 And I went to the angel and said, “Give me the small scroll.” “Take it and eat it,” he said. “It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.”
Revelation 10:10 So I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach turned bitter.
- συνανάκειμαι synanákeimaiI recline at table withtranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G4873Verb · Translated: guests 2, table 2, ate 1, eating 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Matthew 9:10 Later, as Jesus was dining at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Him and His disciples.
Mark 2:15 While Jesus was dining at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Him and His disciples — for there were many who followed Him.
- κατάκειμαι katákeimaiI recline, am lying illtranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G2621Verb · Translated: sick in bed 2, dining 2, lying 2, eating 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Luke 5:29 Then Levi hosted a great banquet for Jesus at his house. A large crowd of tax collectors was there, along with others who were eating with them.
1 Corinthians 8:10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you who are well informed eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged to eat food sacrificed to idols?
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.