Word study
Meal
7 Hebrew and 6 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: meal, meals. 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 “meal” 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 6 times of its 277 uses · Strong’s H3899Noun · Translated: bread 150, food 98, meal 6, showbread 4Full study and all 260 verses →
Genesis 31:54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain.
1 Samuel 20:27 But on the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today?”
- אָכַל âkaleattranslated this way 2 times of its 784 uses · Strong’s H398Verb · Translated: eat 341, ate 64, eaten 63, consumed 39Full study and all 696 verses →
Exodus 12:16 On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You must not do any work on those days, except to prepare the meals — that is all you may do.
- יָשַׂם yâsamplace, be placedtranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H3455Verb · Translated: meal was set 1, placed 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Genesis 24:33 Then a meal was set before the man, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I came to say.” So Laban said, “Please speak.”
- שֹׂבַע sôbasatiety, abundancetranslated this way 1 time of its 8 uses · Strong’s H7648Noun · Translated: fill 5, meal 1, abundance 1, content 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Ruth 2:18 She picked up the grain and went into the town, where her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. And she brought out what she had saved from her meal and gave it to Naomi.
- בִּרְיָה biryâhfoodtranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s H1279Noun · Translated: meal 1, food 1Full study and all 2 verses →
2 Samuel 13:7 Then David sent word to Tamar at the palace: “Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare a meal for him.”
- קֶמַח qemachflour, mealtranslated this way 1 time of its 14 uses · Strong’s H7058Noun · Translated: flour 13, meal 1Full study and all 14 verses →
1 Kings 4:22 Solomon’s provisions for a single day were thirty cors of fine flour, sixty cors of meal,
- מַרְזֵחַ marzêachcrytranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H4798Noun · Translated: funeral meal 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Jeremiah 16:5 Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal. Do not go to mourn or show sympathy, for I have removed from this people My peace, My loving devotion, and My compassion,” declares the LORD.
Greek words (New Testament)
- δεῖπνον deîpnona dinner, an afternoon or evening mealtranslated this way 2 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s G1173Noun · Translated: banquet 5, supper 5, banquets 3, dinner 1Full study and all 16 verses →
John 13:2 The evening meal was underway, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.
1 Corinthians 11:21 For as you eat, each of you goes ahead without sharing his meal. While one remains hungry, another gets drunk.
- ἄριστον áristonbreakfast or a mid-day mealtranslated this way 1 time of its 3 uses · Strong’s G712Noun · Translated: dinner 2, meal 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Luke 11:38 But the Pharisee was surprised to see that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.
- δειπνέω deipnéōI dinetranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s G1172Verb · Translated: supper 2, meal 1, dine 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Luke 17:8 Instead, won’t he tell him, ‘Prepare my meal and dress yourself to serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you may eat and drink’?
- παρασκευάζω paraskeuázōI preparetranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s G3903Verb · Translated: prepared 2, meal was being prepared 1, prepare 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Acts 10:10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.
- βρῶσις brōsiseating, food, a meal, rusttranslated this way 1 time of its 11 uses · Strong’s G1035Noun · Translated: food 5, rust 2, eating 2, eat 1Full study and all 10 verses →
Hebrews 12:16 See to it that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his birthright.
- τροφή trophḗfood, nourishmenttranslated this way 1 time of its 13 uses · Strong’s G5160Noun · Translated: food 11, provisions 1, meals 1Full study and all 13 verses →
Acts 2:46 With one accord they continued to meet daily in the temple courts and to break bread from house to house, sharing their meals with gladness and sincerity of heart,
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 meal: 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.