Word study
Pray
7 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: pray, prayed, praying, prays. 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 “pray” 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)
- פָּלַל pâlalintervene, interposetranslated this way 72 times of its 84 uses · Strong’s H6419Verb · Translated: pray 31, prayed 25, praying 10, prays 5Full study and all 82 verses →
Genesis 20:7 Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet; he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, be aware that you will surely die — you and all who belong to you.”
Numbers 11:2 And the people cried out to Moses, and he prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down.
- עָתַר âtharpray, supplicafetranslated this way 10 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s H6279Verb · Translated: pray 6, prayed 3, answered their prayers 2Full study and all 19 verses →
Genesis 25:21 Later, Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.
Exodus 8:8 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the LORD to take the frogs away from me and my people. Then I will let your people go, that they may sacrifice to the LORD.”
- נָא nâI (we) pray, nowtranslated this way 9 times of its 254 uses · Strong’s H4994Interjection · Translated: Please 165, now 59, pray 9, beg 2Full study and all 244 verses →
Numbers 14:17 So now I pray, may the power of my Lord be magnified, just as You have declared:
Numbers 14:19 Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your loving devotion, just as You have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”
- דָבַר dâbarspeaktranslated this way 5 times of its 1,113 uses · Strong’s H1696Verb · Translated: speak 209, said 157, spoken 142, spoke 110Full study and all 1,025 verses →
Genesis 24:15 Before the servant had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor.
Genesis 24:45 And before I had finished praying in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’
- צְלָא tselâpraytranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H6739Verb · Translated: pray 1, prayed 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Ezra 6:10 Then they will be able to offer sacrifices of a sweet aroma to the God of heaven and to pray for the lives of the king and his sons.
Daniel 6:10 Now when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house, where the windows of his upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
- שָׁאַל shâalask, inquiretranslated this way 2 times of its 165 uses · Strong’s H7592Verb · Translated: ask 31, asked 28, inquired 16, requested 7Full study and all 156 verses →
1 Kings 19:4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
Psalm 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you prosper.
- אָמַר âmarutter, saytranslated this way 2 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 24:12 “O LORD, God of my master Abraham,” he prayed, “please grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
Greek words (New Testament)
- προσεύχομαι proseúchomaiI pray, pray fortranslated this way 80 times of its 83 uses · Strong’s G4336Verb · Translated: pray 46, prayed 15, praying 15, prays 3Full study and all 78 verses →
Matthew 5:44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
Mark 1:35 Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and went out to a solitary place to pray.
- δέομαι déomaiI request, begtranslated this way 7 times of its 22 uses · Strong’s G1189Verb · Translated: beg 6, pray 4, begged 3, prayed 3Full study and all 22 verses →
Luke 21:36 So keep watch at all times, and pray that you may have the strength to escape all that is about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Acts 4:31 After they had prayed, their meeting place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
- εὔχομαι eúchomaiI pray, wishtranslated this way 4 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G2172Verb · Translated: pray 3, wish 2, prayed 1, prayer 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Acts 27:29 Fearing that we would run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daybreak.
2 Corinthians 13:7 Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong — not that we will appear to have stood the test, but that you will do what is right, even if we appear to have failed.
- προσευχή proseuchḗprayer, a place for prayertranslated this way 4 times of its 36 uses · Strong’s G4335Noun · Translated: prayer 20, prayers 12, praying 2, prayed earnestly 1Full study and all 36 verses →
Acts 12:5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was fervently praying to God for him.
Romans 15:30 Now I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.
- δέησις déēsissupplication, prayertranslated this way 3 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s G1162Noun · Translated: prayers 6, prayer 5, pray 2, petition 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Luke 2:37 and then was a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.
Philippians 1:4 In every prayer for all of you, I always pray with joy,
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.