Word study

Urge

3 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: urge, urged, urging. 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 “urge” 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)

  • פָּרַץ pâratsbreak throughtranslated this way 4 times of its 49 uses · Strong’s H6555Verb  ·  Translated: broken 7, break 5, broke 3, spread 2

    1 Samuel 28:23 Saul refused, saying, “I will not eat.” But his servants joined the woman in urging him, and he heeded their voice. He got up from the ground and sat on the bed.

    2 Samuel 13:25 “No, my son,” the king replied, “we should not all go, or we would be a burden to you.” Although Absalom urged him, he was not willing to go, but gave him his blessing.

    Full study and all 48 verses →
  • סוּת sûthincite, allure, instigatetranslated this way 3 times of its 18 uses · Strong’s H5496Verb  ·  Translated: urged 3, stirred 2, incited 2, mislead 2

    Joshua 15:18 One day Acsah came to Othniel and urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you desire?”

    Judges 1:14 One day Acsah came to Othniel and urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you desire?”

    Full study and all 18 verses →
  • פָּגַע pâgameet, encounter, reachtranslated this way 2 times of its 45 uses · Strong’s H6293Verb  ·  Translated: strike 5, struck 4, reached 3, met 2

    Ruth 1:16 But Ruth replied: “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.

    Jeremiah 36:25 Even though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.

    Full study and all 43 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • παρακαλέω parakaléōI summon, entreat, admonish, comforttranslated this way 30 times of its 106 uses · Strong’s G3870Verb  ·  Translated: urge 20, encourage 14, begged 13, urged 7

    Acts 2:40 With many other words he testified, and he urged them, “Be saved from this corrupt generation.”

    Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

    Full study and all 104 verses →
  • ἐρωτάω erōtáōI ask, question, requesttranslated this way 3 times of its 63 uses · Strong’s G2065Verb  ·  Translated: ask 20, asked 18, question 3, asking 3

    Matthew 15:23 But Jesus did not answer a word. So His disciples came and urged Him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

    John 4:31 Meanwhile the disciples urged Him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

    Full study and all 61 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.