Word study
Minister
1 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: minister, ministered, ministers, ministering. 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 “minister” or one of its forms.
Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- שָׁרַת shârathminister, servetranslated this way 50 times of its 94 uses · Strong’s H8334Verb · Translated: minister 32, serve 9, ministering 6, ministers 6Full study and all 88 verses →
Exodus 28:35 Aaron must wear the robe whenever he ministers, and its sound will be heard when he enters or exits the sanctuary before the LORD, so that he will not die.
Numbers 16:9 Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel and brought you near to Himself to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?
Greek words (New Testament)
- διακονέω diakonéōI wait at table, servetranslated this way 9 times of its 37 uses · Strong’s G1247Verb · Translated: serve 6, serves 6, ministered 5, served 4Full study and all 32 verses →
Matthew 4:11 Then the devil left Him, and angels came and ministered to Him.
Mark 1:13 and He was there for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels ministered to Him.
- διάκονος diákonosa waiter, servant, administratortranslated this way 4 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s G1249Noun · Translated: servant 14, servants 8, minister 3, deacons 2Full study and all 27 verses →
2 Corinthians 3:6 And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Galatians 2:17 But if, while we seek to be justified in Christ, we ourselves are found to be sinners, does that make Christ a minister of sin? Certainly not!
- λειτουργός leitourgósa minister, servanttranslated this way 3 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G3011Noun · Translated: servants 2, minister 2, ministers 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Romans 15:16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Philippians 2:25 But I thought it necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my needs.
- ὑπηρετέω hypēretéōI minister to, servetranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G5256Verb · Translated: served 1, ministered 1, minister 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Acts 20:34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have ministered to my own needs and those of my companions.
Acts 24:23 He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard, but to allow him some freedom and permit his friends to minister to his needs.
- λειτουργέω leitourgéōI minister, serve publiclytranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3008Verb · Translated: minister 2, worshiping 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Romans 15:27 They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual blessings, they are obligated to minister to them with material blessings.
Hebrews 10:11 Day after day every priest stands to minister and to offer again and again the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
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.