Word study

Payment

8 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “payment”. 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 “payment” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • כֶּסֶף kesephsilver, moneytranslated this way 2 times of its 386 uses · Strong’s H3701Noun  ·  Translated: silver 293, money 58, price 8, like silver 4

    Exodus 21:11 If, however, he does not provide her with these three things, she is free to go without monetary payment.

    Job 31:39 if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,

    Full study and all 337 verses →
  • יָד yâdhandtranslated this way 1 time of its 1,403 uses · Strong’s H3027Noun  ·  Translated: hand 664, hands 349, through 64, power 22

    Genesis 31:39 I did not bring you anything torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or night.

    Full study and all 1,290 verses →
  • כֹּפֶר kôpherthe price of a life, ransomtranslated this way 1 time of its 17 uses · Strong’s H3724Noun  ·  Translated: ransom 9, bribe 2

    Exodus 21:30 If payment is demanded of him instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount demanded of him.

    Full study and all 17 verses →
  • מָלֵא mâlêbe full, filltranslated this way 1 time of its 242 uses · Strong’s H4390Verb  ·  Translated: filled 66, full 34, fill 31, complete 8

    1 Samuel 18:27 David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented them as payment in full to become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David in marriage.

    Full study and all 235 verses →
  • חָדַל châdalceasetranslated this way 1 time of its 57 uses · Strong’s H2308Verb  ·  Translated: stopped 9, stop 6, refrain 5, cease 4

    Psalm 49:8 For the redemption of his soul is costly, and never can payment suffice,

    Full study and all 55 verses →
  • מְחִיר mechîrprice, hiretranslated this way 1 time of its 12 uses · Strong’s H4242Noun  ·  Translated: price 6

    Isaiah 45:13 I will raise up Cyrus in righteousness, and I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild My city and set My exiles free, but not for payment or reward, says the LORD of Hosts.”

    Full study and all 12 verses →
  • רִאשׁוֹן rishônformer, first, chieftranslated this way 1 time of its 171 uses · Strong’s H7223Adjective  ·  Translated: first 85, beginning 10, former 9, former things 6Full study and all 164 verses →
  • אֶתְנַן ethnanhiretranslated this way 1 time of its 11 uses · Strong’s H868Noun  ·  Translated: wages 4, hire 2

    Ezekiel 16:31 But when you built your mounds at the head of every street and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were not even like a prostitute, because you scorned payment.

    Full study and all 8 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • φόρος phórosa tax, tributetranslated this way 1 time of its 5 uses · Strong’s G5411Noun  ·  Translated: taxes 4, payment of taxes 1

    Luke 23:2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this man subverting our nation, forbidding payment of taxes to Caesar, and proclaiming Himself to be Christ, a King.”

    Full study and all 4 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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.