Word study
Fee
4 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: feed, fed, feeds, feeding, fee, fees. 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 “fee” 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)
- רָעָה rââhpasture, tend, grazetranslated this way 23 times of its 170 uses · Strong’s H7462Verb · Translated: shepherd 42, shepherds 39, feed 18, graze 8Full study and all 146 verses →
Psalm 80:13 The boar from the forest ravages it, and the creatures of the field feed upon it.
Proverbs 10:21 The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of judgment.
- אָכַל âkaleattranslated this way 20 times of its 784 uses · Strong’s H398Verb · Translated: eat 341, ate 64, eaten 63, consumed 39Full study and all 696 verses →
Exodus 16:32 Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Keep an omer of manna for the generations to come, so that they may see the bread I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”
Numbers 11:4 Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?
- מִסְפּוֹא mispôfoddertranslated this way 4 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H4554Noun · Translated: feed 4, food 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Genesis 24:25 Then she added, “We have plenty of straw and feed, as well as a place for you to spend the night.”
Judges 19:19 even though there is both straw and feed for our donkeys, and bread and wine for me and the maidservant and young man with me. There is nothing that we, your servants, lack.”
- טְעַם ṭeamfeedtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H2939Verb · Translated: feed 2, ate 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Daniel 4:25 You will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field. You will feed on grass like an ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.
Daniel 4:32 You will be driven away from mankind to live with the beasts of the field, and you will feed on grass like an ox. And seven times will pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.”
Greek words (New Testament)
- βόσκω bóskōI feedtranslated this way 6 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s G1006Verb · Translated: feeding 3, tending 3, Feed 3Full study and all 9 verses →
Matthew 8:30 In the distance a large herd of pigs was feeding.
Mark 5:11 There on the nearby hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding.
- χορτάζω chortázōI feed, satisfytranslated this way 4 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G5526Verb · Translated: satisfied 5, filled 3, feed 2, fill 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Matthew 15:33 The disciples replied, “Where in this desolate place could we find enough bread to feed such a large crowd?”
Mark 8:4 His disciples replied, “Where in this desolate place could anyone find enough bread to feed all these people?”
- τρέφω tréphōI feed, reartranslated this way 3 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s G5142Verb · Translated: feeds 2, nourished 2Full study and all 9 verses →
Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Luke 12:24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storehouse or barn; yet God feeds them. How much more valuable you are than the birds!
- ἐσθίω esthíōI eattranslated this way 2 times of its 61 uses · Strong’s G2068Verb · Translated: eat 30, eating 16, eats 7, fed 2Full study and all 55 verses →
Matthew 14:21 About five thousand men were fed, besides women and children.
Matthew 15:38 A total of four thousand men were fed, besides women and children.
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.