Word study

Pursue

5 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: pursue, pursued, pursuing, pursues. 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 “pursue” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • רָדַף râdaphpursue, chase, persecutetranslated this way 85 times of its 142 uses · Strong’s H7291Verb  ·  Translated: pursued 36, pursue 35, pursues 9, pursuers 9

    Genesis 14:15 During the night, Abram divided his forces and routed Chedorlaomer’s army, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.

    Exodus 14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. But I will gain honor by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” So this is what the Israelites did.

    Full study and all 135 verses →
  • אַחַר acharbehindtranslated this way 7 times of its 556 uses · Strong’s H310Preposition  ·  Translated: after 123, behind 56, and after 22, after that 19Full study and all 533 verses →
  • דָּלַק dâlaqburntranslated this way 3 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s H1814Verb  ·  Translated: hotly pursued 1, pursuit 1, fire 1, pursue 1

    Genesis 31:36 Then Jacob became incensed and challenged Laban. “What is my crime?” he said. “For what sin of mine have you so hotly pursued me?

    Psalm 10:2 In pride the wicked pursue the needy; let them be caught in the schemes they devise.

    Full study and all 9 verses →
  • הָלַךְ hâlakgo, come, walktranslated this way 3 times of its 1,461 uses · Strong’s H1980Verb  ·  Translated: go 338, went 173, walk 116, Come 84Full study and all 1,299 verses →
  • בָּקַשׁ bâqashseektranslated this way 2 times of its 222 uses · Strong’s H1245Verb  ·  Translated: seek 78, sought 21, seeking 13, search 13

    Proverbs 18:1 He who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound judgment.

    Jeremiah 2:33 How skillfully you pursue love! Even the most immoral of women could learn from your ways.

    Full study and all 212 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • διώκω diṓkōI pursue, persecutetranslated this way 10 times of its 45 uses · Strong’s G1377Verb  ·  Translated: persecute 13, persecuted 11, pursue 7, persecuting 4

    Romans 9:30 What then will we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;

    1 Corinthians 14:1 Earnestly pursue love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.

    Full study and all 44 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.