Word study
Food
14 Hebrew and 6 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: food, foods. 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 “food” 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)
- לֶחֶם lechembread, foodtranslated this way 101 times of its 277 uses · Strong’s H3899Noun · Translated: bread 150, food 98, meal 6, showbread 4Full study and all 260 verses →
Genesis 28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,
Exodus 16:22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much food — two omers per person — and all the leaders of the congregation came and reported this to Moses.
- אִשָּׁה ishshâhan offering made by firetranslated this way 65 times of its 65 uses · Strong’s H801Noun · Translated: food offering 46, food offerings 18, part of the food offerings 1Full study and all 64 verses →
Exodus 29:18 Then burn the entire ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD.
Leviticus 1:9 The entrails and legs must be washed with water, and the priest shall burn all of it on the altar as a burnt offering, a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
- אֹכֶל ôkelfoodtranslated this way 36 times of its 41 uses · Strong’s H400Noun · Translated: food 33, excess food 2Full study and all 38 verses →
Genesis 14:11 The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food, and they went on their way.
Leviticus 11:34 Any food coming into contact with water from that pot will be unclean, and any drink in such a container will be unclean.
- מַאֲכָל maăkâlfoodtranslated this way 22 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s H3978Noun · Translated: food 21, fruit 2Full study and all 28 verses →
Genesis 2:9 Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Leviticus 19:23 When you enter the land and plant any kind of tree for food, you shall regard the fruit as forbidden. For three years it will be forbidden to you and must not be eaten.
- אׇכְלָה oklâhfood, eatingtranslated this way 11 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H402Noun · Translated: food 11, fuel 3, eat 2, devour 2Full study and all 18 verses →
Genesis 1:29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. They will be yours for food.
Leviticus 25:6 Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year shall be food for you— for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, the hired hand or foreigner who stays with you,
- אָכַל âkaleattranslated this way 8 times of its 784 uses · Strong’s H398Verb · Translated: eat 341, ate 64, eaten 63, consumed 39Full study and all 696 verses →
Leviticus 25:7 and for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. All its growth may serve as food.
1 Kings 17:15 So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and there was food every day for Elijah and the woman and her household.
- פַּתְבַּג pathbagportiontranslated this way 5 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H6598Noun · Translated: food 4, choice food 1, provisions 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Daniel 1:5 The king assigned them daily provisions of the royal food and wine. They were to be trained for three years, after which they were to enter the king’s service.
Daniel 1:8 But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or wine. So he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself.
- טֶרֶף ṭerephprey, food; leaftranslated this way 4 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s H2964Noun · Translated: prey 16, food 4, filled with game 1, kill 1Full study and all 22 verses →
Job 24:5 Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go to work foraging for food; the wasteland is food for their children.
Psalm 111:5 He provides food for those who fear Him; He remembers His covenant forever.
- מַטְעַם maṭamtasty or savoury food, daintiestranslated this way 3 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H4303Noun · Translated: tasty dish 3, tasty food 3, delicacies 2Full study and all 8 verses →
Genesis 27:14 So Jacob went and got two goats and brought them to his mother, who made the tasty food his father loved.
Genesis 27:17 Then she handed her son Jacob the tasty food and bread she had made.
- אָוָה âvâhincline, desiretranslated this way 2 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s H183Verb · Translated: desires 4, desire 3, desired 3, crave 2Full study and all 25 verses →
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?
Numbers 11:34 So they called that place Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food.
- כּוּל kûlcomprehend, containtranslated this way 2 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s H3557Verb · Translated: provide 4, provided 4, hold 4, contain 4Full study and all 37 verses →
1 Kings 4:7 Solomon had twelve governors over all Israel to provide food for the king and his household. Each one would arrange provisions for one month of the year,
1 Kings 4:27 Each month the governors in turn provided food for King Solomon and all who came to his table. They saw to it that nothing was lacking.
- צַיִד tsayidhunting, gametranslated this way 2 times of its 19 uses · Strong’s H6718Noun · Translated: game 8, hunter 3, provisions 2, food 2Full study and all 18 verses →
Nehemiah 13:15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, and figs. All kinds of goods were being brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them against selling food on that day.
Job 38:41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?’’
- מָזוֹן mâzônfoodtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H4203Noun · Translated: food 1, providing food 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Daniel 4:12 Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit was abundant, and upon it was food for all. Under it the beasts of the field found shelter, in its branches the birds of the air nested, and from it every creature was fed.
Daniel 4:21 whose foliage was beautiful and whose fruit was abundant, providing food for all, under which the beasts of the field lived, and in whose branches the birds of the air nested—
- דֶּשֶׁן deshenfatness, fat ashestranslated this way 2 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H1880Noun · Translated: ashes 7Full study and all 14 verses →
Psalm 63:5 My soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods; with joyful lips my mouth will praise You.
Isaiah 55:2 Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.
Greek words (New Testament)
- βρῶμα brōmafood of any kindtranslated this way 14 times of its 14 uses · Strong’s G1033Noun · Translated: food 10, foods 2, solid food 1, certain foods 1Full study and all 13 verses →
Matthew 14:15 When evening came, the disciples came to Him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is already late. Dismiss the crowds so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
Mark 7:19 because it does not enter his heart, but it goes into the stomach and then is eliminated.” (Thus all foods are clean.)
- τροφή trophḗfood, nourishmenttranslated this way 11 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s G5160Noun · Translated: food 11, provisions 1, meals 1Full study and all 13 verses →
Matthew 3:4 John wore a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
Luke 12:23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.
- βρῶσις brōsiseating, food, a meal, rusttranslated this way 5 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G1035Noun · Translated: food 5, rust 2, eating 2, eat 1Full study and all 10 verses →
John 4:32 But He told them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
2 Corinthians 9:10 Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your store of seed and will increase the harvest of your righteousness.
- εἰδωλόθυτον eidōlóthytonsacrificed to an imagetranslated this way 5 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G1494Adjective · Translated: food sacrificed to idols 4, sacrificed to idols 3, sacrificed to an idol 1, food sacrificed to an idol 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Acts 15:29 You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.
1 Corinthians 8:4 So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.
- ἄρτος ártosbread, a loaf, foodtranslated this way 2 times of its 90 uses · Strong’s G740Noun · Translated: bread 60, loaves 20, consecrated bread 3, loaf 3Full study and all 82 verses →
Luke 15:17 Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food, but here I am, starving to death!
2 Thessalonians 3:8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. Instead, in labor and toil, we worked night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you.
- φάγω phágōI eattranslated this way 2 times of its 92 uses · Strong’s G5315Verb · Translated: eat 61, ate 16, eaten 3, food 2Full study and all 86 verses →
John 4:33 So the disciples asked one another, “Could someone have brought Him food?”
1 Corinthians 9:4 Have we no right to food and to drink?
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.
What the Bible says about food: passages by topic →
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.