Word study
Redeem
4 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
In brief
Two Hebrew verbs stand behind redeem. Gaal is what a kinsman does: buy back a relative's land or freedom, as Boaz does in Ruth. Padah is to ransom by paying a price. Both are used of God rescuing Israel from Egypt. In Greek, lytroō is to set free by a ransom, and exagorazō is to buy out of the marketplace.
Written and reviewed by our editorial team.
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: redeem, redeemed, redeems, redeeming. 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 “redeem” 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)
- גָּאַל gâalredeem, act as kinsmantranslated this way 52 times of its 100 uses · Strong’s H1350Verb · Translated: redeemed 25, redeem 21, Redeemer 19, avenger 12Full study and all 84 verses →
Genesis 48:16 the angel who has redeemed me from all harm— may He bless these boys. And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth.”
Exodus 6:6 Therefore tell the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
- פָּדָה pâdâhransomtranslated this way 48 times of its 54 uses · Strong’s H6299Verb · Translated: redeemed 22, redeem 21, ransomed 2, redeems 2Full study and all 48 verses →
Exodus 13:13 You must redeem every firstborn donkey with a lamb, and if you do not redeem it, you are to break its neck. And every firstborn of your sons you must redeem.
Leviticus 19:20 If a man lies carnally with a slave girl promised to another man but who has not been redeemed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. But they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed.
- גְּאֻלָּה geullâhkin (?), redemptiontranslated this way 4 times of its 13 uses · Strong’s H1353Noun · Translated: redemption 6, right of redemption 2, redeemed 2, redeem his land 1Full study and all 12 verses →
Leviticus 25:26 Or if a man has no one to redeem it for him, but he prospers and acquires enough to redeem his land,
Leviticus 25:29 If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains his right of redemption until a full year after its sale; during that year it may be redeemed.
- פָּדוּי pâdûyransomtranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H6302Noun · Translated: redeem 1, redemption price 1, number redeemed 1, redemption 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Numbers 3:46 To redeem the 273 firstborn Israelites who outnumber the Levites,
Numbers 3:49 So Moses collected the redemption money from those in excess of the number redeemed by the Levites.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἐξαγοράζω exagorázōI ransom, redeemtranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G1805Verb · Translated: redeeming 2, redeemed 1, redeem 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
Ephesians 5:16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
- λυτρόω lytróōI ransom, liberate, delivertranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G3084Verb · Translated: redeem 2, redeemed 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Luke 24:21 But we were hoping He was the One who would redeem Israel. And besides all this, it is the third day since these things took place.
Titus 2:14 He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
- ἀγοράζω agorázōI buytranslated this way 2 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s G59Verb · Translated: buy 13, bought 9, buying 3, redeemed 2Full study and all 30 verses →
Revelation 14:3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
Revelation 14:4 These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been redeemed from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.
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.