Word study
Entertain
2 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: entertain, entertained, entertaining. 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 “entertain” 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)
- שָׂחַק sâchaqlaughtranslated this way 2 times of its 36 uses · Strong’s H7832Verb · Translated: laugh 5, laughs 5, celebrating 3, mock 3Full study and all 36 verses →
Judges 16:25 And while their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
Judges 16:27 Now the temple was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them.
- צָחַק tsâchaqlaughtranslated this way 1 time of its 13 uses · Strong’s H6711Verb · Translated: laugh 4, laughed 2, make sport 2Full study and all 12 verses →
Judges 16:25 And while their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ξενίζω xenízōI entertain a stranger, I startletranslated this way 2 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G3579Verb · Translated: staying 2, entertained 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Acts 28:7 Nearby stood an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days.
Hebrews 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
- παραδέχομαι paradéchomaiI receive, accept, acknowledgetranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s G3858Verb · Translated: receive 1, welcomed 1, adopt 1, accept 1Full study and all 6 verses →
1 Timothy 5:19 Do not entertain an accusation against an elder, except on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
- ξενοδοχέω xenodochéōI entertain strangerstranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G3580Verb · Translated: entertaining strangers 1Full study and its 1 verse →
1 Timothy 5:10 and well known for good deeds such as bringing up children, entertaining strangers, washing the feet of the saints, imparting relief to the afflicted, and devoting herself to every good work.
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.