Word study

Withheld

8 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “withheld”. 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 “withheld” 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)

  • מָנַע mânawithhold, hold backtranslated this way 7 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s H4513Verb  ·  Translated: withheld 7, withhold 5, denied 2, withholds 2

    Genesis 30:2 Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld children from you?”

    Job 22:7 You gave no water to the weary and withheld food from the famished,

    Full study and all 29 verses →
  • חָשַׂךְ châsakwithhold, refraintranslated this way 3 times of its 27 uses · Strong’s H2820Verb  ·  Translated: withheld 3, restrained 3, restrain 2, restrains 2

    Genesis 22:12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”

    Genesis 22:16 saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son,

    Full study and all 27 verses →
  • כָּלָא kâlâshut up, restrain, withholdtranslated this way 2 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H3607Verb  ·  Translated: restrained 3, withhold 2, kept 2, imprisoned 2

    Haggai 1:10 Therefore, on account of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth has withheld its crops.

    Full study and all 16 verses →
  • עָזַב âzableave, forsake, loosetranslated this way 1 time of its 214 uses · Strong’s H5800Verb  ·  Translated: forsaken 47, forsake 36, leave 23, abandoned 22

    Genesis 24:27 saying, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld His kindness and faithfulness from my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”

    Full study and all 206 verses →
  • אֵת êthwithtranslated this way 1 time of its 640 uses · Strong’s H854Preposition  ·  Translated: with 144, with you 64, with him 62, with me 35Full study and all 585 verses →
  • אָסַף âsaphgather, removetranslated this way 1 time of its 193 uses · Strong’s H622Verb  ·  Translated: gathered 56, gather 27, assembled 13, assemble 8

    Psalm 85:3 You withheld all Your fury; You turned from Your burning anger.

    Full study and all 183 verses →
  • שׁוּב shûbturn back, returntranslated this way 1 time of its 1,007 uses · Strong’s H7725Verb  ·  Translated: return 218, returned 105, restore 62, turn 56Full study and all 920 verses →
  • לֹא lônottranslated this way 1 time of its 4,657 uses · Strong’s H3808Adverb  ·  Translated: no 309, not 269, never 218, will not 156Full study and all 3,775 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • κρατέω kratéōI lay hold of, obtaintranslated this way 1 time of its 47 uses · Strong’s G2902Verb  ·  Translated: arrest 8, arrested 5, took 4, seized 3

    John 20:23 If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”

    Full study and all 46 verses →
  • ἀποστερέω aposteréōI deprive one of something, robtranslated this way 1 time of its 6 uses · Strong’s G650Verb  ·  Translated: cheat 2, cheated 1, deprive 1, devoid 1

    James 5:4 Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

    Full study and all 6 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.