Word study
Enslave
3 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: enslaved, enslave, enslaves, enslaving. 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 “enslave” 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)
- עָבַד âbadwork, servetranslated this way 7 times of its 286 uses · Strong’s H5647Verb · Translated: serve 110, served 44, worship 32, work 9Full study and all 259 verses →
Genesis 15:13 Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
Exodus 6:5 Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered My covenant.
- כָּבַשׁ kâbashsubdue, bring into bondagetranslated this way 1 time of its 14 uses · Strong’s H3533Verb · Translated: subdued 5, forced 2Full study and all 13 verses →
Nehemiah 5:5 We and our children are just like our countrymen and their children, yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless to redeem them because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”
- עָבַר âbarpass over, through, by, pass ontranslated this way 1 time of its 542 uses · Strong’s H5674Verb · Translated: pass 62, crossed 57, cross 52, passed 35Full study and all 487 verses →
Jeremiah 15:14 Then I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for My anger will kindle a fire that will burn against you.”
Greek words (New Testament)
- δουλεύω douleúōI am a slave, am subject to, obeytranslated this way 3 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s G1398Verb · Translated: serve 11, served 3, serving 3, slaves 2Full study and all 23 verses →
Acts 7:7 ‘But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come forth and worship Me in this place.’
Galatians 4:9 But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
- δουλόω doulóōI enslavetranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G1402Verb · Translated: enslaved 2, become slaves 2, bound 1, make myself a slave 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Acts 7:6 God told him that his descendants would be foreigners in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
Galatians 4:3 So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world.
- καταδουλόω katadoulóōI enslavetranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G2615Verb · Translated: enslaves 1, enslave 1Full study and all 2 verses →
2 Corinthians 11:20 In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face.
Galatians 2:4 This issue arose because some false brothers had come in under false pretenses to spy on our freedom in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us.
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.