Word study
Repay
4 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: repay, repays, repaying. 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 “repay” 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)
- שָׁלַם shâlambe complete, soundtranslated this way 29 times of its 109 uses · Strong’s H7999Verb · Translated: repay 20, fulfill 14, make restitution 7, made peace 6Full study and all 106 verses →
Exodus 22:1 “If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he must repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.
Deuteronomy 7:10 But those who hate Him He repays to their faces with destruction; He will not hesitate to repay to his face the one who hates Him.
- שׁוּב shûbturn back, returntranslated this way 13 times of its 1,007 uses · Strong’s H7725Verb · Translated: return 218, returned 105, restore 62, turn 56Full study and all 920 verses →
Genesis 50:15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge? Then he will surely repay us for all the evil that we did to him.”
Leviticus 25:27 he shall calculate the years since its sale, repay the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and return to his property.
- נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 8 times of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb · Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
- גָּמַל gâmaldeal fully or adequately with, deal out totranslated this way 3 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s H1580Verb · Translated: weaned 8, rewarded 5, done 3, repay 2Full study and all 31 verses →
Deuteronomy 32:6 Is this how you repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? Is He not your Father and Creator? Has He not made you and established you?
2 Samuel 19:36 Your servant will go with the king only a short distance past the Jordan; why should the king repay me with such a reward?
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀποδίδωμι apodídōmiI give back, return, selltranslated this way 11 times of its 47 uses · Strong’s G591Verb · Translated: repay 9, pay 8, give 8, reward 3Full study and all 45 verses →
Matthew 16:27 For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.
Luke 7:42 When they were unable to repay him, he forgave both of them. Which one, then, will love him more?”
- ἀνταποδίδωμι antapodídōmiI give in returntranslated this way 5 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G467Verb · Translated: repay 4, repaid 1, God should repay 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Luke 14:14 and you will be blessed. Since they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Romans 11:35 “Who has first given to God, that God should repay him?”
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.