Word study
Inquire
4 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: inquire, inquired, inquiring, inquires. 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 “inquire” 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)
- דָּרַשׁ dârashresort to, seektranslated this way 34 times of its 160 uses · Strong’s H1875Verb · Translated: seek 47, inquire 29, sought 14, search 6Full study and all 151 verses →
Genesis 25:22 But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So Rebekah went to inquire of the LORD,
Exodus 18:15 “Because the people come to me to inquire of God,” Moses replied.
- שָׁאַל shâalask, inquiretranslated this way 21 times of its 165 uses · Strong’s H7592Verb · Translated: ask 31, asked 28, inquired 16, requested 7Full study and all 156 verses →
Judges 1:1 After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the LORD, “Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?”
1 Samuel 10:22 So again they inquired of the LORD, “Has the man come here yet?” And the LORD replied, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.”
- אָמַר âmarutter, saytranslated this way 8 times of its 4,555 uses · Strong’s H559Verb · Translated: said 1,531, says 576, say 352, replied 341Full study and all 3,827 verses →
Genesis 29:6 “Is he well?” Jacob inquired. “Yes,” they answered, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with his sheep.”
Genesis 38:16 Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” “What will you give me for sleeping with you?” she inquired.
- בָּעָה bââhinquire, cause to swell or boil uptranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H1158Verb · Translated: inquire 2, bulge 1, boil 1, sought 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Isaiah 21:12 The watchman replies, “Morning has come, but also the night. If you would inquire, then inquire. Come back yet again.”
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἔπω épōto speak or say (by word or writing)translated this way 4 times of its 962 uses · Strong’s G2036Verb · Translated: said 426, asked 95, told 88, replied 69Full study and all 891 verses →
Matthew 19:16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and inquired, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to obtain eternal life?”
Mark 10:36 “What do you want Me to do for you?” He inquired.
- ἐπερωτάω eperōtáōI interrogate, question, demand oftranslated this way 3 times of its 56 uses · Strong’s G1905Verb · Translated: asked 25, questioned 12, ask 7, question 5Full study and all 56 verses →
Mark 7:17 After Jesus had left the crowd and gone into the house, His disciples inquired about the parable.
Luke 20:21 “Teacher,” they inquired, “we know that You speak and teach correctly. You show no partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
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.