Word study
Master
4 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: master, masters, mastered. 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 “master” 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)
- אָדוֹן âdônlordtranslated this way 125 times of its 320 uses · Strong’s H113Noun · Translated: lord 174, master 94, master's 25, lord's 6Full study and all 282 verses →
Genesis 18:12 So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
Exodus 21:4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.
- גְּבִיר gebîrlordtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H1376Noun · Translated: master 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Genesis 27:29 May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be the master of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.”
Genesis 27:37 But Isaac answered Esau: “Look, I have made him your master and given him all his relatives as servants; I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”
- עָשָׂה âsâhdo, maketranslated this way 2 times of its 2,478 uses · Strong’s H6213Verb · Translated: done 292, made 265, make 143, did 112Full study and all 2,206 verses →
Exodus 31:5 to cut gemstones for settings, and to carve wood, so that he may be a master of every craft.
Exodus 35:33 to cut gemstones for settings, and to carve wood, so that he may be a master of every artistic craft.
- בַּעַל baalowner, lordtranslated this way 2 times of its 76 uses · Strong’s H1167Noun · Translated: owner 15, leaders 15, husband 6, bound 2Full study and all 72 verses →
Ecclesiastes 12:11 The words of the wise are like goads, and the anthologies of the masters are like firmly embedded nails driven by a single Shepherd.
Greek words (New Testament)
- κύριος kýrioslord, Lord, master, sirtranslated this way 53 times of its 713 uses · Strong’s G2962Noun · Translated: Lord 549, of 55, master 42, Lord's 18Full study and all 658 verses →
Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Mark 13:35 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know when the master of the house will return — whether in the evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or in the morning.
- ἐπιστάτης epistátēsmaster, teachertranslated this way 7 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G1988Noun · Translated: Master 7Full study and all 6 verses →
Luke 5:5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we have worked hard all night without catching anything. But because You say so, I will let down the nets.”
Luke 8:24 The disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters, and they subsided, and all was calm.
- δεσπότης despótēsa lord, master, or princetranslated this way 7 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G1203Noun · Translated: masters 4, Master 3, Sovereign Lord 2, Lord 1Full study and all 10 verses →
1 Timothy 6:1 All who are under the yoke of slavery should regard their masters as fully worthy of honor, so that God’s name and our teaching will not be discredited.
2 Timothy 2:21 So if anyone cleanses himself of what is unfit, he will be a vessel for honor: sanctified, useful to the Master, and prepared for every good work.
- ἀρχιτρίκλινος architríklinosmaster of the feasttranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G755Noun · Translated: master of the banquet 2Full study and all 2 verses →
John 2:8 “Now draw some out,” He said, “and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so,
John 2:9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not know where it was from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside
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 master: 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.