ἀκοή
akoḗ · G189 · Greek · 24 occurrences
Meanings
-
to hear, hearing
The act of hearing
ExamplesLuke 7:1 When He had completed all His teaching in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum.
Acts 17:20 “For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.”
Galatians 3:2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
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ability to hear, hearing
The faculty of hearing
ExamplesMark 7:35 And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly.
1 Corinthians 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
-
what is heard, message
(Derivative of ἀκούω ‘to hear,’) That which is heard by someone
ExamplesJohn 12:38 This happened so that the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke would be fulfilled: “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?”
Romans 10:16 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?”
Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
-
news, report, information
(Derivative of ἀκούω ‘to receive news,’) The content of the news which is heard
ExamplesMatthew 4:24 And the news about Him spread throughout Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and severe pain, demon-possessed, people with epilepsy, and people who were paralyzed; and He healed them.
Matthew 14:1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus,
Matthew 24:6 “And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.
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to accept, to listen to, to listen and respond, to pay attention and respond, to heed
To believe something and to respond to it on the basis of having heard
Examples2 Timothy 4:4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
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to listen carefully, to listen and listen
(A Semitic idiom, literally: to hear with hearing) To listen intently and with presumed continuity
ExamplesActs 28:26 saying, ‘GO TO THIS PEOPLE AND SAY, “YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, AND WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; AND YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, AND WILL NOT PERCEIVE;
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to have itching ears, to desire to hear what one wants to hear, to be desirous of hearing
(An idiom, literally: to itch with respect to hearing) To have one’s ears tickled by what is heard
Examples2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires,
How it’s used In 7 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Whose, or of whatGenitive or possessive
12 occurrences in 6 groups
- ἐγώI, we 3
- αὐτόςhe, she, it, same 3
- πίστιςfaith, trust, faithfulness 2
- πόλεμοςwar, battle 2
- ἸησοῦςJesus 1
- λαόςpeople 1
What it doesIt is the subject
3 occurrences in 3 groups
- ἐξέρχομαιto go out, to depart 1
- ἀνοίγωto open 1
- ἀπέρχομαιto go away, to depart, to leave 1
What is done to itIt is the object
7 occurrences in 4 groups
- ἀκούωto hear 3
- πιστεύωto believe 2
- κνήθωto have itching ears 1
- ἀποστρέφωto cause to turn away from 1
What it is said to bePredicate
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- ποῦwhere? 1
What is said to be itIt is the predicate
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- ὅλοςwhole, all 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
5 occurrences in 2 groups
- εἰςto 4
- ἐκfrom 3
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
2 occurrences in 1 groups
- λόγοςword, saying, message 2
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
In the other Testament 3 words
- שָׁמַע shâmaʻ · H8085 · to hear, to listen, to cause to hear
- Greek ἀκοή specifically denotes the noun forms (hearing as act/sense/thing heard), while Hebrew שָׁמַע is the verbal root meaning 'to hear' from which the nominal sense derives; they represent the same semantic domain across noun/verb grammatical categories.
- שְׁמוּעָה shᵉmûwʻâh · H8052 · news, report, rumor
- Greek ἀκοή encompasses both the act/sense of hearing and the thing heard (report, news), while Hebrew שְׁמוּעָה emphasizes the content heard (report, rumor, tidings, news) rather than the physical sense; both share the semantic domain of auditory perception and transmitted information, making them natural translation equivalents across the LXX corpus.
- שֵׁמַע shêmaʻ · H8088 · news, report, rumor
- Greek ἀκοή emphasizes the act or faculty of hearing and what is heard (report/rumor), while Hebrew שֵׁמַע denotes hearing, fame, report, and the auditory content received; both terms share core semantic overlap in denoting both the sensory act of hearing and the message/report heard, functioning as direct translation equivalents across the Septuagint tradition.
Semantic domains 7 entries
- To hear, hearing{N:001}24.52
- In Luke 7:1, Jesus finished “all His teaching in the hearing (akoás) of the people,” where the word names the basic act or occasion of hearing something spoken.
- Ability to hear, hearing24.53
- In Mark 7:35, when Jesus heals a deaf man, “his ears (akoaí) were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed,” where the word names the physical faculty of hearing that was restored.
- What is heard, message24.57
- In John 12:38, Isaiah's prophecy is quoted, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT (tḗ akoḗ hēmōn)?” where the word names the content of the message proclaimed, not the act of hearing it.
- To listen carefully, to listen and listen24.63
- In Matthew 13:14, Isaiah's prophecy is applied to the crowds: “YOU SHALL KEEP ON LISTENING (akoḗ akoúsete), BUT SHALL NOT UNDERSTAND,” where the doubled construction intensifies the act of listening itself.
- To have itching ears, to desire to hear what one wants to hear, to be desirous of hearing25.11
- In 2 Timothy 4:3, people are said to be “wanting to have their ears (tḗn akoḗn) tickled,” accumulating teachers who tell them only what they wish to hear.
- To accept, to listen to, to listen and respond, to pay attention and respond, to heed31.56
- In Hebrews 4:2, the good news proclaimed to Israel “did not benefit them, because they were not united with those who listened (tḗ akoḗ) with faith,” where hearing implies an accepting, faith-filled response, not merely perceiving sound.
- News, report, information33.213
- In Matthew 4:24, “the news (hē akoḗ) about Him spread throughout Syria,” where the word names the report or information that circulated about Jesus.
Word family 11 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon (ῆς, ἡ, (from an assumed perfect form ἤκοα, cf. ἀγορά above (but cf. epic Ακουν; Curtius,…
1. hearing, by which one perceives sounds; sense of hearing 1 Cor 12:17; 2 Pet 2:8. Hebraistically, ἀκοή ἀκούειν by hearing to hear, i. e., to perceive by hearing, Mt 13:14; Acts 28:26 (Isa 6:9); cf. Winers Grammar, § 44, 8 Rem. 3, p. 339; § 54, 3, p. 466; (Buttmann, 183f (159)).
2. the organ of hearing, the ear: Mk 7:35; Lk 7:1; 2 Tim 4:3, 2 Tim 4:4; Acts 17:20; Heb 5:11.
3. a thing heard;
a. instruction, namely oral; specifically, the preaching of the gospel, (A. V. text report): Jn 12:38; Rom 10:16f (τίς ἐπίστευσε τῇ ἀκοή ἡμῶν; from Isa 53:1, Hebrew שְׁמוּעָה, which in 2 Sam 4:4, etc., is rendered ἀγγελία); ἀκοή πίστεως preaching on the necessity of faith, (German Glaubenspredigt), Gal 3:2, Gal 3:5; λόγος ἀκοῆς equivalent to λόγος ἀκουσθείς (cf. Winer's Grammar, 531 (494f)): 1 Thess 2:13; Heb 4:2.
b. hearsay, report, rumor; τίνος, concerning anyone: Mt 4:24; Mt 14:1; Mt 24:6; Mk 1:28; Mk 13:7. (Frequent in Greek writings.)
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain
Topical studies with this word 4 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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