zēteō

• the Greek verb stretches all the way from a literal hunt for a lost object to a deadly plot against a person and a wholehearted pursuit of God, so one word does the work English splits among look for, try, demand, and strive after.Luk 15:8Mat 6:33Mrk 11:18

• both name an active effort directed toward something not yet had.Mat 7:7

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• the Greek word can carry an aim and an intensity that go far beyond scanning for something: when the authorities seek Jesus it is an active plot, not casual watching.Mrk 14:1Jhn 7:30

• both fit the plain search for someone or something not in sight.Mrk 1:37Luk 2:48

• English look for suggests calm searching with the eyes and rarely implies hostility or a goal to be achieved, so it understates the drive the Greek often carries.

• the Greek word keeps the picture of reaching after a goal even when it is best translated try; it is not a bare auxiliary but an active pursuit of the thing attempted.Luk 5:18Luk 6:19

• both can describe attempting to do something.Act 16:10

• English try can sound tentative or half-hearted, as if success is doubtful, where the Greek pictures a real and determined effort to get the thing.

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• English want names a desire felt inside, which may never move to action, whereas this Greek verb names the outward effort of going after something; translating it want loses the active searching or striving the word actually carries.