Word study
Trade
6 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: trade, traded, trading, trades. 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 “trade” 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)
- סָחַר sâchartravel round, palpitatetranslated this way 6 times of its 21 uses · Strong’s H5503Verb · Translated: merchants 5, trade 3, traders 3, traded 2Full study and all 20 verses →
Genesis 34:21 “These men are at peace with us. Let them live and trade in our land; indeed, it is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage and give our daughters to them.
Isaiah 47:15 This is what they are to you — those with whom you have labored and traded from youth— each one strays in his own direction; not one of them can save you.’’
- רָכַל râkalgo about, from one to anothertranslated this way 4 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H7402Verb · Translated: merchants 6, traded 4, merchant 3, traders 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Ezekiel 27:17 Judah and the land of Israel traded with you; they exchanged wheat from Minnith, cakes and honey, oil and balm for your merchandise.
Ezekiel 27:22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah traded with you; for your wares they exchanged gold, the finest of all spices, and precious stones.
- רְכֻלָּה rekullâhtraffictranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H7404Noun · Translated: trading 2, merchandise 1, trade 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Ezekiel 28:5 By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, but your heart has grown proud because of it.
Ezekiel 28:16 By the vastness of your trade, you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mountain of God, and I banished you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
- מְלָאכָה melâkâhoccupation, worktranslated this way 1 time of its 142 uses · Strong’s H4399Noun · Translated: work 86, regular work 10, craft 3, service 3Full study and all 131 verses →
Psalm 107:23 Others went out to sea in ships, conducting trade on the mighty waters.
- תְּמוּרָה temûrâhexchange, recompensetranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s H8545Noun · Translated: substitute 2, exchange of property 1, reward 1, trading 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Job 20:18 He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading.
- נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 1 time of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb · Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- τέχνη téchnēart, skill, tradetranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G5078Noun · Translated: trade 2, skill 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Acts 18:3 and he stayed and worked with them because they were tentmakers by trade, just as he was.
Revelation 18:22 And the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will never ring out in you again. Nor will any craftsmen of any trade be found in you again, nor the sound of a millstone be heard in you again.
- τοιοῦτος toioûtosof such a kind, suchtranslated this way 1 time of its 49 uses · Strong’s G5108Demonstrative Pronoun · Translated: such 18, things 6, man 4, so 3Full study and all 48 verses →
Acts 19:25 Demetrius assembled the craftsmen, along with the workmen in related trades. “Men,” he said, “you know that this business is our source of prosperity.
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.
What the Bible says about trade: 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.