עֲבֹדָה

מְלָאכָה mᵉlâʼkâh · H4399 · work, task, craft

The target lexeme and מְלָאכָה both denote types of work, labor, or service, and are true near-synonyms — two distinct words that can substitute for each other in similar contexts of labor.

מַעֲשֶׂה maʻăseh · H4639 · deed, deeds, practices

Both words denote work, labor and service in overlapping but distinct registers. מַעֲשֶׂה emphasizes the deed, product or action, while עֲבֹדָה emphasizes service, labor or task.

פֹּעַל pôʻal · H6467 · deed, deeds

Both words denote work, labor or service as concrete action or output, and can substitute for each other in contexts of work or deed.

ἔργον érgon · G2041 · act, deed, work

Greek ἔργον emphasizes the concrete result or product of activity (a 'work' or 'deed'), while Hebrew עֲבֹדָה focuses on the ongoing process and effort of labor, service, or worship itself; both denote purposeful human activity but from different aspectual perspectives.

λειτουργία leitourgía · G3009 · to serve, service, ministry

Greek λειτουργία specifically denotes formal, cultic, or public religious service (priestly ministry), whereas Hebrew עֲבֹדָה covers the broader semantic range of work/service including labor, bondage, tillage, and general service alongside cultic ministry; the equivalence holds for the temple/priestly ministry subset of עֲבֹדָה's usage.

עֲבִידָה ʻăbîydâh · H5673 · affairs, service, work

Aramaic cognate of Hebrew עֲבֹדָה, sharing the same semantic range of service, work, and labor; the forms are sister-language reflexes of the common Semitic root ע-ב-ד.

δουλεία douleía · G1397 · slavery, subservience

עֲבֹדָה (ʻăbôdâh, H5656) encompasses the broad spectrum of labor/service/work (including temple service, agricultural tillage, and general servitude), while δουλεία (douleía, G1397) δουλεία specifically denotes the state or condition of slavery/bondage (both literal enslavement and figurative spiritual bondage in Pauline theology).

ἐργασία ergasía · G2039 · practice, behavior, trade

Hebrew עֲבֹדָה covers cultic/ritual service, agricultural labor, and general work/service broadly; Greek ἐργασία narrows to occupation, trade, or gainful employment, emphasizing the productive/profit aspect of labor rather than service or worship contexts.

λατρεία latreía · G2999 · to perform religious rites, to worship, to venerate

Hebrew עֲבֹדָה denotes service/labor broadly (cultic, agricultural, or bondage contexts), while Greek λατρεία specifically denotes religious service or worship rendered to God, representing a register-narrowed subset of the Hebrew term's semantic range attested primarily in cultic/tabernacle contexts.

Serve002003002023

Its most frequent sense, labor or service, as when Jacob completes his week of service to Laban for Rachel, or when Israel's forced labor in Egypt grows increasingly bitter and burdensome.

Happen002002003003

A broader attested sense of an accomplished act or effect, not directly shown by the labor-related citations sampled here.

Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.

Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.