Word study
Maintain
9 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: maintain, maintains, maintaining, maintained. 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 “maintain” 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)
- שָׁמַר shâmarkeep, watch, preservetranslated this way 4 times of its 461 uses · Strong’s H8104Verb · Translated: keep 133, careful 39, kept 33, guard 25Full study and all 436 verses →
1 Kings 3:6 Solomon replied, “You have shown much loving devotion to Your servant, my father David, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart. And You have maintained this loving devotion by giving him a son to sit on his throne this very day.
- נָצַר nâtsarwatch, guard, keeptranslated this way 2 times of its 59 uses · Strong’s H5341Verb · Translated: keep 10, guard 9, obey 7, preserve 5Full study and all 58 verses →
Exodus 34:7 maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
Deuteronomy 33:9 He said of his father and mother, ‘I do not consider them.’ He disregarded his brothers and did not know his own sons, for he kept Your word and maintained Your covenant.
- הָיָה hâyâhfall out, come to pass, become, betranslated this way 2 times of its 2,848 uses · Strong’s H1961Verb · Translated: will be 206, become 178, came 169, was 151Full study and all 2,573 verses →
- נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 2 times of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb · Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
- בָּנָה bânâhbuildtranslated this way 1 time of its 368 uses · Strong’s H1129Verb · Translated: built 132, build 98, rebuilt 34, rebuild 19Full study and all 342 verses →
Deuteronomy 25:9 his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal, spit in his face, and declare, “This is what is done to the man who will not maintain his brother’s line.”
- לֹא lônottranslated this way 1 time of its 4,657 uses · Strong’s H3808Adverb · Translated: no 309, not 269, never 218, will not 156Full study and all 3,775 verses →
- קַר qarcool, quiettranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s H7119Adjective · Translated: maintains a calm 1, cold 1, cool 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Proverbs 17:27 A man of knowledge restrains his words, and a man of understanding maintains a calm spirit.
- סָעַד sâadsupport, sustain, staytranslated this way 1 time of its 12 uses · Strong’s H5582Verb · Translated: refresh 4, sustain 3Full study and all 12 verses →
Proverbs 20:28 Loving devotion and faithfulness preserve a king; by these he maintains his throne.
- אָרַךְ ârakbe longtranslated this way 1 time of its 33 uses · Strong’s H748Verb · Translated: prolong 6, live long 5, long 3, lingered 2Full study and all 33 verses →
Proverbs 28:2 A land in rebellion has many rulers, but a man of understanding and knowledge maintains order.
Greek words (New Testament)
- κατέχω katéchōI hold fast, bind, restraintranslated this way 1 time of its 17 uses · Strong’s G2722Verb · Translated: hold firmly 2, hold 2Full study and all 17 verses →
1 Corinthians 11:2 Now I commend you for remembering me in everything and for maintaining the traditions, just as I passed them on to you.
- τηρέω tēréōI keep, guard, observetranslated this way 1 time of its 69 uses · Strong’s G5083Verb · Translated: keep 23, kept 12, keeps 7, held 4Full study and all 63 verses →
Mark 7:9 He went on to say, “You neatly set aside the command of God to maintain your own tradition.
- ἔχω échōI have, hold, possesstranslated this way 1 time of its 624 uses · Strong’s G2192Verb · Translated: has 63, have 52, with 35, you have 29Full study and all 560 verses →
- λογίζομαι logízomaiI reckon, count, decidetranslated this way 1 time of its 40 uses · Strong’s G3049Verb · Translated: credited 11, consider 4, think 2, regarded 2Full study and all 39 verses →
Romans 3:28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
- φυλάσσω phylássōI keep, guard, observetranslated this way 1 time of its 31 uses · Strong’s G5442Verb · Translated: guard 7, keep 5, kept 4, obey 2Full study and all 31 verses →
1 Timothy 5:21 I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels to maintain these principles without bias, and to do nothing out of partiality.
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.