Word study
Perform
7 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: perform, performed, performing, performs. 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 “perform” 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)
- עָשָׂה âsâhdo, maketranslated this way 29 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 3:20 So I will stretch out My hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders I will perform among them. And after that, he will release you.
Exodus 4:17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.”
- עָבַד âbadwork, servetranslated this way 8 times of its 286 uses · Strong’s H5647Verb · Translated: serve 110, served 44, worship 32, work 9Full study and all 259 verses →
Numbers 8:11 Aaron is to present the Levites before the LORD as a wave offering from the sons of Israel, so that they may perform the service of the LORD.
Isaiah 28:21 For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim. He will rouse Himself as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do His work, His strange work, and to perform His task, His disturbing task.
- שׂוּם sûmput, place, settranslated this way 4 times of its 560 uses · Strong’s H7760Verb · Translated: put 84, set 71, make 45, made 39Full study and all 533 verses →
Exodus 10:2 and that you may tell your children and grandchildren how severely I dealt with the Egyptians when I performed miraculous signs among them, so that all of you may know that I am the LORD.”
Psalm 78:43 when He performed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the fields of Zoan.
- שָׁמַר shâmarkeep, watch, preservetranslated this way 3 times of its 461 uses · Strong’s H8104Verb · Translated: keep 133, careful 39, kept 33, guard 25Full study and all 436 verses →
Numbers 3:7 They are to perform duties for him and for the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, attending to the service of the tabernacle.
Nehemiah 12:45 They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, along with the singers and gatekeepers, as David and his son Solomon had prescribed.
- יָבַם yâbammarrytranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H2992Verb · Translated: Perform your duty as her brother-in-law 1, fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law 1, perform the duty of a brother-in-law 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Genesis 38:8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and raise up offspring for your brother.”
Deuteronomy 25:7 But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, she is to go to the elders at the city gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel. He is not willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me.”
- 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 →
Exodus 7:9 “When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ you are to say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a serpent.”
- עֲבַד ăbaddo, make, preparetranslated this way 2 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s H5648Verb · Translated: made 4, done 4, carried 3, cut 2Full study and all 23 verses →
Daniel 4:2 I am pleased to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.
Daniel 6:27 He delivers and rescues; He performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth, for He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”
Greek words (New Testament)
- ποιέω poiéōI do, maketranslated this way 28 times of its 544 uses · Strong’s G4160Verb · Translated: do 50, done 44, doing 40, made 34Full study and all 494 verses →
Matthew 6:1 “Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Mark 6:5 So He could not perform any miracles there, except to lay His hands on a few of the sick and heal them.
- γίνομαι gínomaiI come into being, am borntranslated this way 12 times of its 544 uses · Strong’s G1096Verb · Translated: become 58, came 42, became 34, happened 28Full study and all 515 verses →
Matthew 11:20 Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles had been performed, because they did not repent.
Mark 6:2 When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished. “Where did this man get these ideas?” they asked. “What is this wisdom He has been given? And how can He perform such miracles?
- δίδωμι dídōmiI offer, givetranslated this way 2 times of its 403 uses · Strong’s G1325Verb · Translated: give 110, given 107, gave 72, gives 14Full study and all 370 verses →
Matthew 24:24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
Mark 13:22 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
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.