The meaning of Get; Getting in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
A great many Hebrew words are in the Old Testament translated "get," "got," etc. The word "get" has two meanings: (1) with the idea of movement, "to go," etc.; (2) with that of acquisition, "to gain," "obtain," etc. (1) In the first sense the most frequent words are bo', "to come, or go in" (Genesis 45:17; I Samuel 22:5, etc.); yalakh "to go on" (Genesis 12:1; Genesis 22:2; Exodus 5:4; Jeremiah 5:5, etc.); yaradh, "to go down" (Genesis 42:2; Joel 3:13); 'alah, "to go up" (Genesis 44:17; Isaiah 40:9; Jeremiah 49:31, etc.). Other words are nudh, "to move off" (Jeremiah 49:30 the King James Version; Daniel 4:14); nasa', "to remove" (Numbers 14:25); yatsa', "to go out" (Genesis 19:14; Genesis 31:13; Exodus 11:8). (2) In the sense of acquisition, the words most frequently translated "get," etc., are 'asah, "to do," "to make" (Genesis 12:5; Genesis 31:1; Deuteronomy 8:17-18); qanah, "to get," "obtain" (Genesis 4:1; Proverbs 4:5, Proverbs 4:7; Ecclesiastes 2:7 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "bought"; Jeremiah 13:1, the Revised Version (British and American) "buy"); matsa' "to find" (Numbers 31:50; II Samuel 20:6); rakhash, "to acquire," "gain" (Genesis 31:18; Genesis 36:6 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "gathered"; Genesis 46:6).
Getting is the translation of po'al (Proverbs 21:6), of qinyan "obtaining" (Genesis 31:18; Proverbs 4:7, the English Revised Version text and the American Standard Revised Version margin "all thou hast gotten"). In the New Testament "get" in the first sense is the translation of exerchomai, "to go out or forth" (Luke 13:31; Acts 7:3; Acts 22:18); of exeimi, "to go out or forth" (Acts 27:43); of katabaino, "to go down" (Acts 10:20); hupago, "to go away or under," "Get .... behind" (Matthew 16:23; Luke 4:8 the King James Version, "Get .... hence"; Matthew 4:10). The only separate word translated "get" in the second sense is heurisko, "to begin to find" (usually translated "find") (Luke 9:12 the King James Version, "that they may go .... and get victuals").
For "get" the Revised Version (British and American) has "mount" (Deuteronomy 28:43), "buy" (Proverbs 17:16; Jeremiah 13:1; Jeremiah 19:1); for "get you down" (Joel 3:13), "tread ye," margin "get you down"; "get" for "possess" (Luke 18:12); "get them away" for "gather themselves together" (Psalms 104:22); "get us" for "apply" (Psalms 90:12); "let us get grain" for "therefore we take up corn for them," and for "that we might buy corn" (Nehemiah 5:2-3); "get you no" for "provide neither" (Matthew 10:9); "getteth prudence" for "is prudent," margin "dealeth prudently" (Proverbs 15:5); "getteth" for "coveteth" (Habakkuk 2:9).
W. L. Walker
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