Word study
Fattened
4 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “fattened”. 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 “fattened” 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)
- מְרִיא merîfatling, fatlingstranslated this way 6 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H4806Noun · Translated: fattened calves 3, fattened calf 1, well-fed cattle 1, fatling 1Full study and all 8 verses →
2 Samuel 6:13 When those carrying the ark of the LORD had advanced six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.
1 Kings 1:9 And Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened calves near the stone of Zoheleth, which is next to En-rogel. He invited all his royal brothers and all the men of Judah who were servants of the king.
- מַרְבֵּק marbêqstalltranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H4770Noun · Translated: stall 2, fattened 1, like fattened 1Full study and all 4 verses →
1 Samuel 28:24 The woman had a fattened calf at her house, and she quickly slaughtered it. She also took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread.
Jeremiah 46:21 Even the mercenaries among her are like fattened calves. They too will turn back; together they will flee, they will not stand their ground, for the day of calamity is coming upon them — the time of their punishment.
- אָבַס âbasfeed, fattentranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H75Verb · Translated: fattened 2Full study and all 2 verses →
1 Kings 4:23 ten fat oxen, twenty range oxen, and a hundred sheep, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened poultry.
Proverbs 15:17 Better a dish of vegetables where there is love than a fattened ox with hatred.
- בָּרִיא bârîfattranslated this way 1 time of its 12 uses · Strong’s H1277Adjective · Translated: well-fed 5, plump 2Full study and all 12 verses →
Ezekiel 34:3 You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened sheep, but you do not feed the flock.
Greek words (New Testament)
- σιτευτός siteutósfattenedtranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G4618Adjective · Translated: fattened 3Full study and all 3 verses →
Luke 15:23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate.
Luke 15:27 ‘Your brother has returned,’ he said, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has him back safe and sound.’
- σιτιστός sitistósfattenedtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G4619Adjective · Translated: fattened cattle 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Matthew 22:4 Again, he sent other servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
- τρέφω tréphōI feed, reartranslated this way 1 time of its 9 uses · Strong’s G5142Verb · Translated: feeds 2, nourished 2Full study and all 9 verses →
James 5:5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter.
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.