Bible Dictionary
CARRY
To carry may mean to take up, transport, lead, sustain, endure, overwhelm, or influence. Scripture uses the word both for physical movement and for being spiritually or morally led astray.
Definition
To carry may mean to take up, bear, transport, lead, drive, sustain, endure, overwhelm, destroy, influence, or move. The sense depends on whether the object is a person, burden, thing, or inward disposition.
Biblical Usage
Scripture speaks of carrying corpses, goods, cattle, people, sorrows, and burdens, and of being carried away to Babylon or to Pilate. It also describes being carried away by error, dissimulation, or strange teachings, as well as God’s sustaining care.
Historical Background
The English word translates several Hebrew and Greek expressions. These range from physical transportation and leading to bearing burdens, overwhelming like a flood, and influencing conduct or belief.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>kar'-i (nasa', nahagh): The English Versions of the Bible rendering of a number of Hebrew and Greek words, and it has several shades of meaning, of which the following are the most important:</p><p>(1) "To take up," "to bear," "to transport from one place to another," as, "to carry away handkerchiefs" (Ac 19:12), "to carry a corpse" (Ge 50:13), and "to be carried away by the wind" (Da 2:35).</p><p>(2) "To cause to go" or "come," "to lead," "to drive" as, "to be carried away to Babylon" (2Ki 20:17), "to be carried away to Pilate" (Mr 15:1), "to carry away cattle" (Ge 31:18), and "to carry daughters" (Ge 31:26).</p><p>(3) "To uphold," or "sustain," "and even to hoar hairs will I carry you" (Isa 46:4).</p><p>(4) "To bear," or "endure," as, "to carry sorrows" (Isa 53:4).</p><p>(5) "To overwhelm," "to bear away," "to destroy," as, "to carry away as with a flood" (Ps 90:5).</p><p>(6) "To influence," "to move," as, "to carry away with dissimulation" (Ga 2:13), "to carry away with error" (2Pe 3:17), "to be carried away by strange teachings" (Hebrew 13:9).</p><p>A. W. Fortune</p>