Word study
Stay
10 Hebrew and 6 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: stay, stayed, staying, stays. 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 “stay” 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)
- יָשַׁב yâshabsit, remain, dwelltranslated this way 76 times of its 1,049 uses · Strong’s H3427Verb · Translated: lived 103, dwell 89, live 84, sit 70Full study and all 960 verses →
Genesis 13:6 But the land was unable to support both of them while they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they were unable to coexist.
Exodus 2:21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.
- גּוּר gûrsojourntranslated this way 8 times of its 88 uses · Strong’s H1481Verb · Translated: residing 8, reside 6, living 6, dwell 6Full study and all 85 verses →
Genesis 20:1 Now Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar,
Exodus 3:22 Every woman shall ask her neighbor and any woman staying in her house for silver and gold jewelry and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.”
- עָמַד âmadtake one's stand, standtranslated this way 8 times of its 508 uses · Strong’s H5975Verb · Translated: stood 99, stand 95, standing 50, stands 12Full study and all 485 verses →
Exodus 9:28 Pray to the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go; you do not need to stay any longer.”
Deuteronomy 10:10 I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, like the first time, and that time the LORD again listened to me and agreed not to destroy you.
- הָיָה hâyâhfall out, come to pass, become, betranslated this way 7 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 →
Exodus 22:30 You shall do likewise with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but on the eighth day you are to give them to Me.
Exodus 24:12 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay here, so that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”
- לוּן lûnlodge, pass the nighttranslated this way 5 times of its 80 uses · Strong’s H3885Verb · Translated: spend the night 17, spent the night 7, grumbled 7, remain 6Full study and all 76 verses →
Judges 19:6 So they sat down and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the girl’s father said to the man, “Please agree to stay overnight and let your heart be merry.”
Ruth 3:13 Stay here tonight, and in the morning, if he wants to redeem you, good. Let him redeem you. But if he does not want to redeem you, as surely as the LORD lives, I will. Now lie here until morning.”
- הָלַךְ hâlakgo, come, walktranslated this way 4 times of its 1,461 uses · Strong’s H1980Verb · Translated: go 338, went 173, walk 116, Come 84Full study and all 1,299 verses →
Numbers 20:17 Please let us pass through your land. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will stay on the King’s Highway; we will not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”
Numbers 21:22 “Let us pass through your land. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will stay on the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”
- רָחַק râchaqbe, or become, far, distanttranslated this way 4 times of its 57 uses · Strong’s H7368Verb · Translated: far 19, far away 6, removed 3, remove 3Full study and all 56 verses →
Exodus 23:7 Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty.
Job 21:16 Still, their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
- דָּבַק dâbaqcling, cleave, keep closetranslated this way 3 times of its 54 uses · Strong’s H1692Verb · Translated: cling 12, hold fast 6, overtook 4, clung 3Full study and all 52 verses →
Ruth 2:21 Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also told me, ‘Stay with my young men until they have finished gathering all my harvest.’”
2 Samuel 20:2 So all the men of Israel deserted David to follow Sheba son of Bichri. But the men of Judah stayed by their king all the way from the Jordan to Jerusalem.
- יָצַב yâtsabset or station oneself, take one's standtranslated this way 2 times of its 47 uses · Strong’s H3320Verb · Translated: stand 10, stood 7, present 7, able to stand 3Full study and all 44 verses →
Numbers 23:3 “Stay here by your burnt offering while I am gone,” Balaam said to Balak. “Perhaps the LORD will meet with me. And whatever He reveals to me, I will tell you.” So Balaam went off to a barren height,
Numbers 23:15 Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offering while I meet the LORD over there.”
- עָצָר âtsârrestrain, retaintranslated this way 2 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s H6113Verb · Translated: halted 6, slave 5, shut 4, confined 3Full study and all 44 verses →
Judges 13:15 “Please stay here,” Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.”
Judges 13:16 And the angel of the LORD replied, “Even if I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.” For Manoah did not know that it was the angel of the LORD.
Greek words (New Testament)
- μένω ménōI remain, abidetranslated this way 25 times of its 115 uses · Strong’s G3306Verb · Translated: remain 29, remains 20, stay 13, stayed 10Full study and all 101 verses →
Matthew 10:11 Whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy there and stay at his house until you move on.
Mark 6:10 And He told them, “When you enter a house, stay there until you leave that area.
- ἐπιμένω epiménōI remain, tarry, persist intranslated this way 5 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s G1961Verb · Translated: stayed 3, continue 3, stay 2, spend 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Acts 10:48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay for a few days.
1 Corinthians 16:8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,
- εἰμί eimíI am, existtranslated this way 4 times of its 2,236 uses · Strong’s G1510Verb · Translated: is 523, are 214, was 183, am 83Full study and all 1,922 verses →
Matthew 2:13 When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”
Mark 1:45 But the man went out and openly began to proclaim and spread the news. Consequently, Jesus could no longer enter a town in plain view, but He stayed out in solitary places. Yet people came to Him from every quarter.
- διατρίβω diatríbōI tarry, continue, staytranslated this way 3 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s G1304Verb · Translated: spent some time 2, spent 2, stayed 2, remained 1Full study and all 9 verses →
Acts 16:12 From there we went to the Roman colony of Philippi, the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
Acts 20:6 And after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we sailed from Philippi, and five days later we rejoined them in Troas, where we stayed seven days.
- ξενίζω xenízōI entertain a stranger, I startletranslated this way 3 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G3579Verb · Translated: staying 2, entertained 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Acts 10:6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
Acts 10:18 They called out to ask if Simon called Peter was staying there.
- ἀγρυπνέω agrypnéōI am awaketranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s G69Verb · Translated: stay alert 2, keep watch 1, watch 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Mark 13:33 Be on your guard and stay alert! For you do not know when the appointed time will come.
Ephesians 6:18 Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.
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.