eRhema Explore
Word

ἐπιθυμέω

epithyméō · G1937 · Greek · 16 occurrences

See all 16 in Search

Meanings

  1. to long for, to desire very much

    To greatly desire to do or have something

    Examples

    Matthew 13:17 “For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

    Luke 15:16 “And he longed to have his fill of the carob pods that the pigs were eating, and no one was giving him anything.

    Luke 16:21 and longing to be fed from the scraps which fell from the rich man’s table; not only that, the dogs also were coming and licking his sores.

  2. to covet, to lust, evil desires, lust, desire

    To strongly desire to have what belongs to someone else and/or to engage in an activity which is morally wrong

    Examples

    Acts 20:33 “I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes.

    Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Far from it! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.”

    Romans 13:9 For this, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”

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

Who or what does itSubject

16 occurrences in 13 groups

What it acts on, or what is saidObject

9 occurrences in 12 groups

With prepositionsPrepositional phrases

1 occurrences in 1 groups

With adverbsAdverbs

3 occurrences in 2 groups

Named alongside itApposition

1 occurrences in 1 groups

What is done to itIt is the object

2 occurrences in 2 groups

After prepositionsPrepositional phrases

1 occurrences in 1 groups

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 2 words
אָוָה ʼâvâh · H183 · to crave, to desire, to long for
אָוָה (ʼâvâh, H183) אָוָה and ἐπιθυμέω (epithyméō, G1937) ἐπιθυμέω both denote strong desire or longing, used across righteous desire and sinful coveting; אָוָה emphasizes the craving aspect while ἐπιθυμέω captures the heart-setting motion toward the desired object.
חָמַד châmad · H2530 · to desire, to want to have, desirable
Greek ἐπιθυμέω denotes the act of intense longing or desiring (either rightful or wrongful desire), while Hebrew חָמַד emphasizes the coveting or taking delight in something desirable, often with connotations of beauty or preciousness; both share the semantic core of strong desire directed toward an object.
Semantic domains 2 entries
To long for, to desire very much25.12
Matthew 13:17 records Jesus saying “many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see,” ἐπιθυμέω marking their intense, sustained yearning to witness what the disciples were now seeing.
Coveting, lust, desire25.20
In Matthew 5:28, Jesus warns that “everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” ἐπιθυμέω naming the illicit, covetous desire itself as already morally culpable.
Word family 22 words

Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.

θύω thýō · G2380 · to sacrifice, to make a sacrifice, to slaughter · 14×ἐπιθυμία epithymía · G1939 · longing for, desire, coveting · 38×θυσία thysía · G2378 · sacrifice · 28×θυσιαστήριον thysiastḗrion · G2379 · altar · 23×θυμός thymós · G2372 · anger, fury, wrath · 18×ἐπιθυμέωepithyméō · G1937θυμίαμα thymíama · G2368 · incense, to offer incense, to burn incense · 6×προθυμία prothymía · G4288 · eagerness, desire · 5×ἐνθύμησις enthýmēsis · G1761 · thought, what is thought, opinion · 4×ἐνθυμέομαι enthyméomai · G1760 · to think seriously about, to ponder · 3×εὐθυμέω euthyméō · G2114 · to be encouraged, to take courage, to become encouraged · 3×πρόθυμος próthymos · G4289 · eager, eagerly, willing · 3×εὔθυμος eúthymos · G2115 · encouraged, cheerful · 2×ἀθυμέω athyméō · G120 · to become discouraged, to be disheartened · 1×ἐπιθυμητής epithymētḗs · G1938 · one who greatly desires · 1×θύελλα thýella · G2366 · windstorm, whirlwind, squall · 1×θύϊνος thýïnos · G2367 · of citron wood · 1×θυμιαστήριον thymiastḗrion · G2369 · incense altar · 1×θυμιάω thymiáō · G2370 · to offer incense, to burn incense, incense offering · 1×θυμομαχέω thymomachéō · G2371 · to be violently angry, to be furious, to be angry and quarrel · 1×θυμόω thymóō · G2373 · to be extremely angry · 1×προθύμως prothýmōs · G4290 · eager, eagerly, willing · 1×
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon ἐπιθύμω; (imperfect ἐπεθύμουν); future ἐπιθυμήσω; 1 aorist ἐπεθύμησα; (θυμός); from…
ἐπιθύμω; (imperfect ἐπεθύμουν); future ἐπιθυμήσω; 1 aorist ἐπεθύμησα; (θυμός); from Aeschylus down; the Sept. for אִוָּה and חָמַד; properly, "to keep the θυμός turned upon a thing, hence (cf. our to set one's heart upon) to have a desire for, long for; absolutely, to desire (A. V. lust"), Jas 4:2; to lust after, covet, of those who seek things forbidden, Rom 7:7; Rom 13:9 (from Ex 20:17); 1 Cor 10:6 (4 Macc. 2:6); κατά τίνος, to have desires opposed to (A. V. lust against) a thing (Gal 5:17 (Buttmann, 335 (288)); τίνος, to long for, covet a thing, Acts 20:33; 1 Tim 3:1; of sexual desire, γυναικός, Mt 5:28 Rec. (see below) (παιδός ἤ γυναικός, Xenophon, an. 4, 1, 14; with the genitive also in Ex 34:24; Prov 21:26; Prov 23:3, Prov 23:6; Wis. 6:12; Sir. 24:19 (18), etc.); contrary to the usage of the better Greek writings with the accusative of the object, Mt 5:28 L Tr (WH brackets), and without an object Tdf. (Ex 20:17; Deut 5:21; Mic 2:2; Wis. 16:3; Sir. 1:26 (23), etc.; cf. Winer's Grammar, § 30, 10 b.); as often in Greek writings, followed by the infinitive: Mt 13:17; Lk 15:16; (Lk 16:21); ; 1 Pet 1:12; Rev 9:6; followed by the accusative with the infinitive Heb 6:11; ἐπιθυμία ἐπεθύμησα I have greatly desired, Lk 22:15; cf. Winers Grammar, § 54, 3; Buttmann, § 133, 22 a.

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain

Topical studies with this word 1 entry
Desire Strongly17 occurrences

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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