Word study
Receive
10 Hebrew and 10 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: received, receive, receives, receiving. 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 “receive” 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)
- לָקַח lâqachtaketranslated this way 39 times of its 938 uses · Strong’s H3947Verb · Translated: take 247, took 245, taken 40, get 26Full study and all 890 verses →
Genesis 4:11 Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
Exodus 18:2 After Moses had sent back his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro had received her,
- הָיָה hâyâhfall out, come to pass, become, betranslated this way 8 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 →
- נָחַל nâchalget or take as a possessiontranslated this way 7 times of its 58 uses · Strong’s H5157Verb · Translated: inheritance 11, inherit 7, receive an inheritance 3, possess 2Full study and all 56 verses →
Numbers 18:23 The Levites are to perform the work of the Tent of Meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. This is a permanent statute for the generations to come. The Levites will not receive an inheritance among the Israelites.
Deuteronomy 19:14 You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker, which was set up by your ancestors to mark the inheritance you shall receive in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
- שָׁמַע shâmaheartranslated this way 6 times of its 1,132 uses · Strong’s H8085Verb · Translated: heard 311, hear 253, listen 218, obey 60Full study and all 1,063 verses →
- נָשָׂא nâsâlift, take, carrytranslated this way 3 times of its 642 uses · Strong’s H5375Verb · Translated: bear 49, lift 45, lifted 41, carried 38Full study and all 601 verses →
- קְבַל qebalreceivetranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H6902Verb · Translated: receive 2, received 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Daniel 2:6 But if you tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. So tell me the dream and its interpretation.”
Daniel 5:31 and Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.
- נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 2 times of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb · Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
- נָכָה nâkâhsmitetranslated this way 2 times of its 496 uses · Strong’s H5221Verb · Translated: struck 145, strike 59, put 31, defeated 28Full study and all 460 verses →
Deuteronomy 25:3 He may receive no more than forty lashes, lest your brother be beaten any more than that and be degraded in your sight.
- בּוֹא bôcome in, come, go in, gotranslated this way 2 times of its 2,442 uses · Strong’s H935Verb · Translated: come 358, came 298, bring 209, brought 201Full study and all 2,217 verses →
Genesis 43:23 “It is fine,” said the steward. “Do not be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, gave you the treasure that was in your sacks. I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.
- חָזָה châzâhsee, beholdtranslated this way 2 times of its 54 uses · Strong’s H2372Verb · Translated: see 18, seen 6, saw 5, sees 3Full study and all 50 verses →
Isaiah 13:1 This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:
Habakkuk 1:1 This is the burden that Habakkuk the prophet received in a vision:
Greek words (New Testament)
- λαμβάνω lambánōI receive, taketranslated this way 97 times of its 241 uses · Strong’s G2983Verb · Translated: receive 43, received 37, took 36, take 25Full study and all 227 verses →
Matthew 7:8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Mark 4:16 Some are like the seeds sown on rocky ground. They hear the word and at once receive it with joy.
- δέχομαι déchomaiI take, receive, accept, welcometranslated this way 18 times of its 56 uses · Strong’s G1209Verb · Translated: welcomes 10, welcome 9, receives 6, receive 6Full study and all 45 verses →
Matthew 10:40 He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives the One who sent Me.
Mark 10:15 Truly I tell you, anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
- παραλαμβάνω paralambánōI take, receivetranslated this way 13 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s G3880Verb · Translated: took 21, received 10, taken 4, Take 4Full study and all 49 verses →
John 1:11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
1 Corinthians 11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread,
- ἀναβλέπω anablépōI look up, recover my sighttranslated this way 10 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s G308Verb · Translated: looking 4, looked 4, see 4, received his sight 4Full study and all 23 verses →
Matthew 11:5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.
Mark 10:52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
- κομίζω komízōI bring, receive, recovertranslated this way 7 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G2865Verb · Translated: receive 4Full study and all 10 verses →
Matthew 25:27 Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received it back with interest.
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.
- ἀπολαμβάνω apolambánōI get back, receive backtranslated this way 6 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G618Verb · Translated: received 2, receive 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Luke 16:25 But Abraham answered, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.
Romans 1:27 Likewise, the men abandoned natural relations with women and burned with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
- ἐλεέω eleéōI pity, have mercy ontranslated this way 4 times of its 31 uses · Strong’s G1653Verb · Translated: mercy 21, shown mercy 3, received mercy 3Full study and all 29 verses →
Romans 11:30 Just as you who formerly disobeyed God have now received mercy through their disobedience,
1 Peter 2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
- παραδέχομαι paradéchomaiI receive, accept, acknowledgetranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G3858Verb · Translated: receive 1, welcomed 1, adopt 1, accept 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Mark 4:20 Still others are like the seeds sown on good soil. They hear the word, receive it, and produce a crop — thirtyfold, sixtyfold, or a hundredfold.”
Hebrews 12:6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.”
- τυγχάνω tynchánōI obtain, I happen, perhapstranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G5177Verb · Translated: extraordinary 2Full study and all 11 verses →
Acts 27:3 The next day we landed at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul with consideration, allowing him to visit his friends and receive their care.
Hebrews 8:6 Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises.
- ὠφελέω ōpheléōI help, benefit, do goodtranslated this way 2 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s G5623Verb · Translated: value 4, profit 3, received 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Matthew 15:5 But you say that if anyone says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever you would have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’
Mark 7:11 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever you would have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God),
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.