Word study
Ransom
2 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: ransom, ransomed. 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 “ransom” 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)
- כֹּפֶר kôpherthe price of a life, ransomtranslated this way 9 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H3724Noun · Translated: ransom 9, bribe 2Full study and all 17 verses →
Exodus 30:12 “When you take a census of the Israelites to number them, each man must pay the LORD a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will come upon them when they are numbered.
Numbers 35:31 You are not to accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who deserves to die; he must surely be put to death.
- פָּדָה pâdâhransomtranslated this way 4 times of its 54 uses · Strong’s H6299Verb · Translated: redeemed 22, redeem 21, ransomed 2, redeems 2Full study and all 48 verses →
Leviticus 27:29 No person set apart for destruction may be ransomed; he must surely be put to death.
Psalm 69:18 Draw near to my soul and redeem me; ransom me because of my foes.
Greek words (New Testament)
- λύτρον lýtrona ransom, an offering of expiationtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G3083Noun · Translated: ransom 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
- ἀντίλυτρον antílytrona ransomtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G487Noun · Translated: ransom 1Full study and its 1 verse →
1 Timothy 2:6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all — the testimony that was given at just the right time.
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.
What the Bible says about ransom: passages by topic →
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.