Definition

to work (in any sense); by implication, to serve, till, (causatively) enslave, etc.

Etymology

a primitive root;

Where the KJV renders it

• be
• keep in bondage
• be bondmen
• bond-service
• compel
• do
• dress
• ear
• execute
• husbandman
• keep
• labour(-ing man
• bring to pass
• (cause to
• make to) serve(-ing
• self)
• (be
• become) servant(-s)
• do (use) service
• till(-er)
• transgress (from margin)
• (set a) work
• be wrought
• worshipper

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.