Word study
Soldier
6 Hebrew and 5 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: soldiers, soldier. 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 “soldier” 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)
- רַגְלִי raglîon foottranslated this way 6 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H7273Adjective · Translated: foot soldiers 6, foot 3, men on foot 1Full study and all 10 verses →
1 Samuel 4:10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great — thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell.
2 Samuel 10:6 When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth-rehob and Zoba, as well as a thousand men from the king of Maacah and twelve thousand men from Tob.
- אֱנוֹשׁ ĕnôshman, mankindtranslated this way 4 times of its 470 uses · Strong’s H582Noun · Translated: men 368, man 25, people 5, husbands 4Full study and all 447 verses →
Numbers 31:21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, “This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded Moses:
2 Samuel 11:16 So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the strongest enemy soldiers were.
- מִלְחָמָה milchâmâhbattle, wartranslated this way 3 times of its 298 uses · Strong’s H4421Noun · Translated: battle 135, war 96, fight 11, army 5Full study and all 289 verses →
Numbers 31:28 Set aside a tribute for the LORD from what belongs to the soldiers who went into battle: one out of every five hundred, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, or sheep.
Jeremiah 41:3 Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were there.
- עַם ampeopletranslated this way 3 times of its 1,751 uses · Strong’s H5971Noun · Translated: people 1,346, peoples 111, troops 89, nations 65Full study and all 1,601 verses →
Numbers 31:32 and this plunder remained from the spoils the soldiers had taken: 675,000 sheep,
- אִישׁ îshmantranslated this way 3 times of its 1,399 uses · Strong’s H376Noun · Translated: man 650, men 198, one 79, each 79Full study and all 1,278 verses →
Numbers 31:53 Each of the soldiers had taken plunder for himself.
2 Samuel 8:4 David captured from him a thousand chariots, seven thousand charioteers, and twenty thousand foot soldiers, and he hamstrung all the horses except a hundred he kept for the chariots.
- עֶבֶד ebedslave, servanttranslated this way 3 times of its 793 uses · Strong’s H5650Noun · Translated: servant 327, servants 282, officials 31, slaves 24Full study and all 712 verses →
2 Samuel 3:22 Just then David’s soldiers and Joab returned from a raid, bringing with them a great plunder. But Abner was not with David in Hebron, because David had sent him on his way in peace.
2 Samuel 11:11 Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camped in the open field. How can I go to my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!”
Greek words (New Testament)
- στρατιώτης stratiṓtēsa soldiertranslated this way 26 times of its 26 uses · Strong’s G4757Noun · Translated: soldiers 22, soldier 4Full study and all 24 verses →
Matthew 8:9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one to go, and he goes, and another to come, and he comes. I tell my servant to do something, and he does it.”
Mark 15:16 Then the soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called the whole company together.
- στρατεύομαι strateúomaiI wage war, fighttranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G4754Verb · Translated: war 2, soldiers 1, serves as a soldier 1, wage war 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Luke 3:14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” “Do not take money by force or false accusation,” he said. “Be content with your wages.”
1 Corinthians 9:7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Who tends a flock and does not drink of its milk?
- στράτευμα stráteumaan armytranslated this way 2 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G4753Noun · Translated: troops 3, soldiers 2, armies 2, army 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Luke 23:11 And even Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked Him. Dressing Him in a fine robe, they sent Him back to Pilate.
Acts 23:10 The dispute grew so violent that the commander was afraid they would tear Paul to pieces. He ordered the soldiers to go down and remove him by force and bring him into the barracks.
- σπεῖρα speîraa cohorttranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G4686Noun · Translated: Regiment 3, company 2, band of soldiers 2Full study and all 7 verses →
John 18:3 So Judas brought a band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees. They arrived at the garden carrying lanterns, torches, and weapons.
John 18:12 Then the band of soldiers, with its commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him.
- συστρατιώτης systratiṓtēsa fellow soldiertranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4961Noun · Translated: fellow soldier 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Philippians 2:25 But I thought it necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my needs.
Philemon 1:2 to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church that meets at your house:
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.