Word study
Treat
7 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: treat, treated, treating, treats. 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 “treat” 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)
- עָשָׂה âsâhdo, maketranslated this way 15 times of its 2,478 uses · Strong’s H6213Verb · Translated: done 292, made 265, make 143, did 112Full study and all 2,206 verses →
Genesis 34:31 But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”
Exodus 5:15 So the Israelite foremen went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way?
- הָיָה hâyâhfall out, come to pass, become, betranslated this way 5 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 →
Genesis 18:25 Far be it from You to do such a thing — to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”
Leviticus 19:34 You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
- נָאַץ nâatscontemn, spurntranslated this way 3 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s H5006Verb · Translated: despised 6, despise 3Full study and all 24 verses →
Numbers 14:11 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?
Numbers 14:23 not one will ever see the land that I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have treated Me with contempt will see it.
- יָטַב yâṭabbe good, well, glad, pleasingtranslated this way 2 times of its 110 uses · Strong’s H3190Verb · Translated: good 14, well 8, pleased 8, go well 6Full study and all 106 verses →
Genesis 12:13 Please say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and on account of you my life will be spared.”
Numbers 10:29 Then Moses said to Hobab, the son of Moses’ father-in-law Reuel the Midianite, “We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said: ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well, for the LORD has promised good things to Israel.”
- קָלַל qâlalbe slight, swift, triflingtranslated this way 2 times of its 82 uses · Strong’s H7043Verb · Translated: curse 15, cursed 8, curses 5, swifter 5Full study and all 79 verses →
Genesis 16:5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I delivered my servant into your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me.”
Ezekiel 22:7 Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.
- עָמַר âmarbind sheavestranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H6014Verb · Translated: treat her as a slave 1, treats him as a slave 1, binder of sheaves 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Deuteronomy 21:14 And if you are not pleased with her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes. But you must not sell her for money or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.
Deuteronomy 24:7 If a man is caught kidnapping one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. So you must purge the evil from among you.
- שָׁאט shâṭone contemningtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H7590Verb · Translated: treat them with contempt 2, despise 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Ezekiel 28:24 For the people of Israel will no longer face a pricking brier or a painful thorn from all around them who treat them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.’
Ezekiel 28:26 And there they will dwell securely, build houses, and plant vineyards. They will dwell securely when I execute judgments against all those around them who treat them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God.’”
Greek words (New Testament)
- ποιέω poiéōI do, maketranslated this way 4 times of its 544 uses · Strong’s G4160Verb · Translated: do 50, done 44, doing 40, made 34Full study and all 494 verses →
Matthew 18:35 That is how My heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
Luke 6:23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For their fathers treated the prophets in the same way.
- ἀτιμάζω atimázōI disgrace, dishonortranslated this way 2 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G818Verb · Translated: dishonor 2, treated 1, treated him shamefully 1, suffering disgrace 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Mark 12:4 Then he sent them another servant, and they struck him over the head and treated him shamefully.
Luke 20:11 So he sent another servant, but they beat him and treated him shamefully, sending him away empty-handed.
- ἐξουθενέω exouthenéōI ignore, despisetranslated this way 2 times of its 11 uses · Strong’s G1848Verb · Translated: belittle 2Full study and all 11 verses →
1 Corinthians 16:11 No one, then, should treat him with contempt. Send him on his way in peace so that he can return to me, for I am expecting him along with the brothers.
1 Thessalonians 5:20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt,
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.