Word study
Want
12 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: want, wanted, wants, wanting. 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 “want” 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)
- חָפֵץ châphêtsdelight intranslated this way 5 times of its 73 uses · Strong’s H2654Verb · Translated: delight 14, delighted 13, desire 8, pleases 5Full study and all 70 verses →
Deuteronomy 25:7 But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, she is to go to the elders at the city gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel. He is not willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me.”
Ruth 3:13 Stay here tonight, and in the morning, if he wants to redeem you, good. Let him redeem you. But if he does not want to redeem you, as surely as the LORD lives, I will. Now lie here until morning.”
- בָּקַשׁ bâqashseektranslated this way 5 times of its 222 uses · Strong’s H1245Verb · Translated: seek 78, sought 21, seeking 13, search 13Full study and all 212 verses →
1 Samuel 20:1 Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? How have I sinned against your father, that he wants to take my life?”
1 Kings 11:22 But Pharaoh asked him, “What have you lacked here with me that you suddenly want to go back to your own country?” “Nothing,” Hadad replied, “but please let me go.”
- לָקַח lâqachtaketranslated this way 3 times of its 938 uses · Strong’s H3947Verb · Translated: take 247, took 245, taken 40, get 26Full study and all 890 verses →
Genesis 30:15 But Leah replied, “Is it not enough that you have taken away my husband? Now you want to take my son’s mandrakes as well?” “Very well,” said Rachel, “he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”
Deuteronomy 21:11 if you see a beautiful woman among them, and you desire her and want to take her as your wife,
- אַוָּה avvâhdesiretranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H185Noun · Translated: want 3, earnestness 1, desires 1, desire 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Deuteronomy 12:15 But whenever you want, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you. Both the ceremonially clean and unclean may eat it as they would a gazelle or deer,
Deuteronomy 12:20 When the LORD your God expands your territory as He has promised, and you crave meat and say, “I want to eat meat,” you may eat it whenever you want.
- עָשָׂה âsâhdo, maketranslated this way 3 times of its 2,478 uses · Strong’s H6213Verb · Translated: done 292, made 265, make 143, did 112Full study and all 2,206 verses →
Exodus 12:48 If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover, all the males in the household must be circumcised; then he may come near to celebrate it, and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised man may eat of it.
- בּוֹא bôcome in, come, go in, gotranslated this way 2 times of its 2,442 uses · Strong’s H935Verb · Translated: come 358, came 298, bring 209, brought 201Full study and all 2,217 verses →
Genesis 29:21 Finally Jacob said to Laban, “Grant me my wife, for my time is complete, and I want to sleep with her.”
- יָצָא yâtsâgo or come outtranslated this way 2 times of its 1,035 uses · Strong’s H3318Verb · Translated: brought 108, went 103, go 82, came 78Full study and all 975 verses →
Exodus 21:5 But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children; I do not want to go free,’
- גָּאַל gâalredeem, act as kinsmantranslated this way 2 times of its 100 uses · Strong’s H1350Verb · Translated: redeemed 25, redeem 21, Redeemer 19, avenger 12Full study and all 84 verses →
Ruth 3:13 Stay here tonight, and in the morning, if he wants to redeem you, good. Let him redeem you. But if he does not want to redeem you, as surely as the LORD lives, I will. Now lie here until morning.”
Ruth 4:4 I thought I should inform you that you may buy it back in the presence of those seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you want to redeem it, do so. But if you will not redeem it, tell me so I may know, because there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.” “I will redeem it,” he replied.
- רוּץ rûtsruntranslated this way 2 times of its 103 uses · Strong’s H7323Verb · Translated: ran 22, run 21, guards 11, couriers 6Full study and all 92 verses →
2 Samuel 18:22 Ahimaaz son of Zadok, however, persisted and said to Joab, “No matter what, please let me also run behind the Cushite!” “My son,” Joab replied, “why do you want to run, since you will not receive a reward?”
2 Samuel 18:23 “No matter what, I want to run!” he replied. “Then run!” Joab told him. So Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite.
- חֵפֶץ chêphetsdelight, pleasuretranslated this way 2 times of its 38 uses · Strong’s H2656Noun · Translated: desire 7, delight 6, pleasure 4, desired 3Full study and all 37 verses →
1 Kings 5:10 So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted,
Jeremiah 22:28 Is this man Coniah a despised and shattered pot, a jar that no one wants? Why are he and his descendants hurled out and cast into a land they do not know?
- נֶפֶשׁ nepheshsoul, living being, life, self, person, desire, appetite, emotion, and passiontranslated this way 2 times of its 666 uses · Strong’s H5315Noun · Translated: soul 178, life 119, lives 30, person 22Full study and all 622 verses →
Psalm 35:25 Let them not say in their hearts, “Aha, just what we wanted!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up!”
Jeremiah 34:16 But now you have changed your minds and profaned My name. Each of you has taken back the menservants and maidservants whom you had set at liberty to go wherever they wanted, and you have again forced them to be your slaves.
- דַּי daysufficiency, enoughtranslated this way 2 times of its 32 uses · Strong’s H1767Noun · Translated: enough 6, whenever 5, from 2, often 2Full study and all 29 verses →
Jeremiah 49:9 If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings? Were thieves to come in the night, would they not steal only what they wanted?
Obadiah 1:5 “If thieves came to you, if robbers by night — oh, how you will be ruined — would they not steal only what they wanted? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings?
Greek words (New Testament)
- θέλω thélōI will, wish, desiretranslated this way 106 times of its 207 uses · Strong’s G2309Verb · Translated: want 65, wants 21, willing 16, wanted 15Full study and all 198 verses →
Matthew 5:40 if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well;
Mark 3:13 Then Jesus went up on the mountain and called for those He wanted, and they came to Him.
- βούλομαι boúlomaiI will, intend, desiretranslated this way 16 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s G1014Verb · Translated: want 8, wanted 4, chooses 3, wanting 3Full study and all 35 verses →
John 18:39 But it is your custom that I release to you one prisoner at the Passover. So then, do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
Acts 15:37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark.
- ζητέω zētéōI seek, search for, desiretranslated this way 6 times of its 117 uses · Strong’s G2212Verb · Translated: seek 17, seeking 14, looking 11, trying 9Full study and all 114 verses →
Matthew 12:46 While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, His mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to Him.
John 1:38 Jesus turned and saw them following. “What do you want?” He asked. They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are You staying?”
- γνωρίζω gnōrízōI make known, declare, knowtranslated this way 3 times of its 25 uses · Strong’s G1107Verb · Translated: made known 9, tell 3, make 2, want you to know 2Full study and all 24 verses →
1 Corinthians 15:1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand firm.
2 Corinthians 8:1 Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the churches of Macedonia.
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.