Word study
Finish
6 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: finished, finish, finishing. 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 “finish” 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)
- כָּלָה kâlâhbe complete, at an end, finished, accomplished, spenttranslated this way 67 times of its 206 uses · Strong’s H3615Verb · Translated: finished 54, fail 12, consumed 9, completed 7Full study and all 200 verses →
Genesis 2:2 And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work.
Exodus 34:33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.
- תָּמַם tâmambe complete, finishedtranslated this way 5 times of its 56 uses · Strong’s H8552Verb · Translated: gone 6, finished 4, consumed 4, meet their end 3Full study and all 54 verses →
Joshua 4:1 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua,
1 Kings 6:22 So he overlaid with gold the whole interior of the temple, until everything was completely finished. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.
- אָכַל âkaleattranslated this way 4 times of its 784 uses · Strong’s H398Verb · Translated: eat 341, ate 64, eaten 63, consumed 39Full study and all 696 verses →
Ruth 3:7 After Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then Ruth went in secretly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.
1 Samuel 1:9 So after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the temple of the LORD.
- מָלֵא mâlêbe full, filltranslated this way 2 times of its 242 uses · Strong’s H4390Verb · Translated: filled 66, full 34, fill 31, complete 8Full study and all 235 verses →
Genesis 29:27 Finish this week’s celebration, and we will give you the younger one in return for another seven years of work.”
Genesis 29:28 And Jacob did just that. He finished the week’s celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.
- גָּזִית gâzîtha cutting, hewingtranslated this way 2 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H1496Noun · Translated: dressed stone 2, cut 2Full study and all 9 verses →
1 Chronicles 22:2 So David gave orders to gather the foreigners in the land of Israel, from whom he appointed stonecutters to prepare finished stones for building the house of God.
Isaiah 9:10 “The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with finished stone; the sycamores have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”
- כָּלָה kâlâhcompletion, complete destruction, consumption, annihilationtranslated this way 2 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H3617Noun · Translated: destruction 4, end 4, destroy 2Full study and all 17 verses →
Jeremiah 4:27 For this is what the LORD says: “The whole land will be desolate, but I will not finish its destruction.
Jeremiah 5:10 Go up through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not finish them off. Strip off her branches, for they do not belong to the LORD.
Greek words (New Testament)
- τελέω teléōI end, accomplish, paytranslated this way 8 times of its 28 uses · Strong’s G5055Verb · Translated: finished 8, fulfilled 4, complete 3, pay 2Full study and all 28 verses →
Matthew 7:28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at His teaching,
John 19:30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished.” And bowing His head, He yielded up His spirit.
- παύω paúōI cause to ceasetranslated this way 2 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G3973Verb · Translated: stopped 3, finished 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Luke 5:4 When Jesus had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
Luke 11:1 One day in a place where Jesus had just finished praying, one of His disciples requested, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
- ἐκτελέω ekteléōI complete, performtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1615Verb · Translated: finish 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Luke 14:29 Otherwise, if he lays the foundation and is unable to finish the work, everyone who sees it will ridicule him,
Luke 14:30 saying, ‘This man could not finish what he started to build.’
- τελειόω teleióōI complete, accomplish, make perfecttranslated this way 2 times of its 23 uses · Strong’s G5048Verb · Translated: made perfect 5, perfected 4, finish 2Full study and all 23 verses →
John 4:34 Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.
Acts 20:24 But I consider my life of no value to me, if only I may finish my course and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus — the ministry of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
- ἐπιτελέω epiteléōI complete, accomplish, perfecttranslated this way 2 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G2005Verb · Translated: completed 1, perfecting 1, help complete 1, finish 1Full study and all 9 verses →
2 Corinthians 8:11 Now finish the work, so that you may complete it with the same eager desire, according to your means.
Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh?
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.