Word study

Steward

8 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: steward, stewards. 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 “steward” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • אֲשֶׁר ăsherparticle of relationtranslated this way 3 times of its 3,225 uses · Strong’s H834Pronoun  ·  Translated: that 886, who 451, as 247, which 160

    Genesis 43:16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with his brothers, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for they shall dine with me at noon.”

    Genesis 44:1 Then Joseph instructed his steward: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each one’s silver in the mouth of his sack.

    Full study and all 2,844 verses →
  • אָמַר âmarutter, saytranslated this way 2 times of its 4,555 uses · Strong’s H559Verb  ·  Translated: said 1,531, says 576, say 352, replied 341Full study and all 3,827 verses →
  • מֶלְצָר meltsârguardian ?translated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H4453Noun  ·  Translated: steward 2

    Daniel 1:11 Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

    Daniel 1:16 So the steward continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and he gave them vegetables instead.

    Full study and all 2 verses →
  • אִישׁ îshmantranslated this way 1 time of its 1,399 uses · Strong’s H376Noun  ·  Translated: man 650, men 198, one 79, each 79

    Genesis 43:19 So they approached Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house.

    Full study and all 1,278 verses →
  • חָפַשׂ châphassearchtranslated this way 1 time of its 23 uses · Strong’s H2664Verb  ·  Translated: search 4, disguised 4, disguise 2

    Genesis 44:12 The steward searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest — and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.

    Full study and all 20 verses →
  • נַעַר naara shaking, scatteringtranslated this way 1 time of its 227 uses · Strong’s H5288Noun  ·  Translated: boy 48, young men 30, young man 27, servant 25

    2 Samuel 19:17 along with a thousand men of Benjamin, as well as Ziba the steward of the house of Saul and his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They rushed down to the Jordan before the king

    Full study and all 214 verses →
  • עַל alheighttranslated this way 1 time of its 4,859 uses · Strong’s H5921Preposition  ·  Translated: on 777, over 297, in 218, against 216Full study and all 3,996 verses →
  • סָכַן sâkanbe of use of service, benefittranslated this way 1 time of its 10 uses · Strong’s H5532Verb  ·  Translated: before 1, care 1, cared 1, use 1

    Isaiah 22:15 This is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “Go, say to Shebna, the steward in charge of the palace:

    Full study and all 9 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • οἰκονόμος oikonómosa stewardtranslated this way 4 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G3623Noun  ·  Translated: manager 4, stewards 3, treasurer 1, trustees 1

    1 Corinthians 4:1 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

    Titus 1:7 As God’s steward, an overseer must be above reproach — not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not greedy for money.

    Full study and all 10 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. 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.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. 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.

What the Bible says about steward: passages by topic →

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.