Word study

Expect

1 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: expect, expecting, expected, expects. 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 “expect” or one of its forms.

Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • קָוָה qâvâhwait fortranslated this way 2 times of its 48 uses · Strong’s H6960Verb  ·  Translated: wait 20, hope 6, waited 4, hoped 3

    Isaiah 5:4 What more could have been done for My vineyard than I have done for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit?

    Isaiah 64:3 When You did awesome works that we did not expect, You came down, and the mountains trembled at Your presence.

    Full study and all 45 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • προσδοκάω prosdokáōI expect, awaittranslated this way 5 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s G4328Verb  ·  Translated: look 3, waiting 3, expecting 3, expect 2

    Matthew 24:50 The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not anticipate.

    Luke 12:46 The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not anticipate. Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

    Full study and all 15 verses →
  • ἐλπίζω elpízōI hope, hope for, expecttranslated this way 2 times of its 31 uses · Strong’s G1679Verb  ·  Translated: hope 13, put their hope 4, hoping 4, hopes 2

    Luke 6:34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.

    2 Corinthians 8:5 And not only did they do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us, through the will of God.

    Full study and all 31 verses →
  • δοκέω dokéōI think, seem, appear, it seemstranslated this way 2 times of its 62 uses · Strong’s G1380Verb  ·  Translated: think 17, thinks 6, thought 5, seems 4

    Matthew 24:44 For this reason, you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.

    Luke 12:40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.”

    Full study and all 61 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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.