"To esteem" means sometimes simply "to think" or "reckon"; in other connections it means "to regard as honorable" or "valuable." We have examples of both senses in the Bible. The word most often so translated in the Old Testament is chashabh, meaning perhaps originally, "to bind," hence, "combine," "think," "reckon" (
Job 41:27 the King James Version;
Isa 29:16,
17;
53:4;
La 4:2). In
Isa 53:3 we have the word in the higher sense, "We esteemed him not." This sense is expressed also by ‘arakh, "to set in array," "in order" (
Job 36:19, the King James Version "Will he esteem thy riches?" the English Revised Version "Will thy riches suffice?" margin "Will thy cry avail?" which the American Standard Revised Version adopts as the text); also by tsaphan, "to hide," "to conceal" (
Job 23:12, the King James Version "I have esteemed the words of his mouth," the Revised Version (British and American) "treasured up"); qalah, "to be light," is translated "lightly esteemed" (
1Sa 18:23, "I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed"), also qalal, same meaning (
1Sa 2:30, "They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed"). In the New Testament, hegeomai, "to lead out," is used in the sense of "counting honorable," etc. (
Php 2:3 the Revised Version (British and American) "counting";
1Th 5:13; perhaps
Heb 11:26, but the Revised Version (British and American) has simply "accounting"); krino, "to judge," is used in the sense of "to reckon" (
Ro 14:5 twice); also logizomai, "to reckon" (
Ro 14:14, the Revised Version (British and American) "accounteth"); hupselos, "high," "exalted," is rendered "highly esteemed" in
Lu 16:15 the King James Version, but in the Revised Version (British and American) "exalted"; exoutheneo, "to think nothing of," is translated "least esteemed" (
1Co 6:4 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "of no account").