Word study

Subject

2 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: subject, subjected, subjects, subjecting. 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 “subject” 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)

  • עֶבֶד ebedslave, servanttranslated this way 9 times of its 793 uses · Strong’s H5650Noun  ·  Translated: servant 327, servants 282, officials 31, slaves 24

    2 Samuel 6:20 When David returned home to bless his own household, Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today!” she said. “He has uncovered himself today in the sight of the maidservants of his subjects, like a vulgar person would do.”

    1 Chronicles 18:2 David also defeated the Moabites, and they became subject to David and brought him tribute.

    Full study and all 712 verses →
  • עָבַד âbadwork, servetranslated this way 4 times of its 286 uses · Strong’s H5647Verb  ·  Translated: serve 110, served 44, worship 32, work 9

    Genesis 14:4 For twelve years they had been subject to Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

    2 Samuel 10:19 When all the kings who were subject to Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subject to them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.

    Full study and all 259 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • ὑποτάσσω hypotássōI place under, subject totranslated this way 10 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s G5293Verb  ·  Translated: submit 17, subjected 5, subject 4, put 4

    Romans 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope

    1 Corinthians 14:32 The spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.

    Full study and all 31 verses →
  • ἔνοχος énochosinvolved in, liabletranslated this way 4 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s G1777Adjective  ·  Translated: subject 4, guilty 2, deserves 1, deserving 1

    Matthew 5:21 You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not murder’ and ‘Anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’

    Matthew 5:22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire of hell.

    Full study and all 8 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.

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.