Word study
Plead
6 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: plead, pleaded, pleading, pleads. 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 “plead” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- רִיב rîbstrive, contendtranslated this way 8 times of its 64 uses · Strong’s H7378Verb · Translated: contend 13, quarreled 4, plead 4, rebuked 4Full study and all 58 verses →
Judges 6:31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Are you contending for Baal? Are you trying to save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If Baal is a god, let him contend for himself with the one who has torn down his altar.”
1 Samuel 24:15 May the LORD be our judge and decide between you and me. May He take notice and plead my case and deliver me from your hand.”
- חָנַן chânanshew favour, be gracioustranslated this way 6 times of its 76 uses · Strong’s H2603Verb · Translated: gracious 17, mercy 14, merciful 7, favor 4Full study and all 72 verses →
Genesis 42:21 Then they said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”
Deuteronomy 3:23 At that time I also pleaded with the LORD:
- אָמַר âmarutter, saytranslated this way 5 times of its 4,555 uses · Strong’s H559Verb · Translated: said 1,531, says 576, say 352, replied 341Full study and all 3,827 verses →
Genesis 19:7 “Please, my brothers,” he pleaded, “don’t do such a wicked thing!
- חָלָה châlâhbe weak, sicktranslated this way 3 times of its 75 uses · Strong’s H2470Verb · Translated: ill 8, sick 8, grievous 5, sought 4Full study and all 73 verses →
Zechariah 7:2 Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, along with their men, to plead before the LORD
Zechariah 8:21 and the residents of one city will go to another, saying: ‘Let us go at once to plead before the LORD and to seek the LORD of Hosts. I myself am going.’
- בָּקַשׁ bâqashseektranslated this way 2 times of its 222 uses · Strong’s H1245Verb · Translated: seek 78, sought 21, seeking 13, search 13Full study and all 212 verses →
2 Samuel 12:16 David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted and went into his house and spent the night lying in sackcloth on the ground.
Esther 4:8 Mordecai also gave Hathach a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for the destruction of the Jews, to show and explain to Esther, urging her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead before him for her people.
- שָׁוַע shâvacry out for helptranslated this way 2 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H7768Verb · Translated: cry for help 5, cry 4, help 4, call for help 2Full study and all 21 verses →
Job 35:9 Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.
Lamentations 3:8 Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
Greek words (New Testament)
- παρακαλέω parakaléōI summon, entreat, admonish, comforttranslated this way 7 times of its 106 uses · Strong’s G3870Verb · Translated: urge 20, encourage 14, begged 13, urged 7Full study and all 104 verses →
Matthew 8:5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came and pleaded with Him,
Mark 5:23 and pleaded with Him urgently, “My little daughter is near death. Please come and place Your hands on her, so that she will be healed and live.”
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.