Word study
Provide
7 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: provide, provided, providing, provides. 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 “provide” 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)
- נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 24 times of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb · Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
Genesis 28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,
Exodus 10:25 But Moses replied, “You must also provide us with sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the LORD our God.
- עָשָׂה âsâhdo, maketranslated this way 15 times of its 2,478 uses · Strong’s H6213Verb · Translated: done 292, made 265, make 143, did 112Full study and all 2,206 verses →
Genesis 30:30 Indeed, you had very little before my arrival, but now your wealth has increased many times over. The LORD has blessed you wherever I set foot. But now, when may I also provide for my own household?”
Exodus 21:11 If, however, he does not provide her with these three things, she is free to go without monetary payment.
- כּוּל kûlcomprehend, containtranslated this way 11 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s H3557Verb · Translated: provide 4, provided 4, hold 4, contain 4Full study and all 37 verses →
Genesis 45:11 And there I will provide for you, because there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise, you and your household and everything you own will come to destitution.’
2 Samuel 19:32 Barzillai was quite old, eighty years of age, and since he was a very wealthy man, he had provided for the king while he stayed in Mahanaim.
- כּוּן kûnbe firmtranslated this way 10 times of its 213 uses · Strong’s H3559Verb · Translated: established 43, prepared 23, prepare 16, establish 15Full study and all 204 verses →
1 Chronicles 12:39 They spent three days there eating and drinking with David, for their relatives had provided for them.
2 Chronicles 2:7 Send me, therefore, a craftsman skilled in engraving to work with gold and silver, with bronze and iron, and with purple, crimson, and blue yarn. He will work with my craftsmen in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided.
- רָאָה rââhseetranslated this way 3 times of its 1,266 uses · Strong’s H7200Verb · Translated: see 354, saw 285, seen 124, look 45Full study and all 1,181 verses →
Genesis 22:8 Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two walked on together.
Genesis 22:14 And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
- שׂוּם sûmput, place, settranslated this way 3 times of its 560 uses · Strong’s H7760Verb · Translated: put 84, set 71, make 45, made 39Full study and all 533 verses →
2 Samuel 7:10 And I will provide a place for My people Israel and will plant them so that they may dwell in a place of their own and be disturbed no more. No longer will the sons of wickedness oppress them as they did at the beginning
1 Kings 8:21 And there I have provided a place for the ark, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”
- הָיָה hâyâhfall out, come to pass, become, betranslated this way 2 times of its 2,848 uses · Strong’s H1961Verb · Translated: will be 206, become 178, came 169, was 151Full study and all 2,573 verses →
Exodus 5:13 The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Fulfill your quota each day, just as you did when straw was provided.”
Greek words (New Testament)
- ποιέω poiéōI do, maketranslated this way 3 times of its 544 uses · Strong’s G4160Verb · Translated: do 50, done 44, doing 40, made 34Full study and all 494 verses →
Luke 12:33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide yourselves with purses that will not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it.
- 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 →
Luke 11:8 I tell you, even though he will not get up to provide for him because of his friendship, yet because of the man’s persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
James 2:16 If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that ?
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.