ἐπιθυμία
epithymía · G1939 · Greek · 38 occurrences
Meanings
-
longing for, desire
Greatly desiring to do or have something
ExamplesMark 4:19 but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Luke 22:15 And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
Ephesians 4:22 that, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
-
coveting, lust, desire
Strongly desiring to have what belongs to someone else and/or to engage in an activity which is morally wrong
ExamplesJohn 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
Romans 1:24 Therefore God gave them up to vile impurity in the lusts of their hearts, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
Romans 6:12 Therefore sin is not to reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,
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
16 occurrences in 12 groups
- σάρξflesh, body, physical body 4
- αὐτόςhe, she, it, same 4
- Other words · 10 groups that occur once or twice (10) 10
Words describing itAdjectives, demonstratives, participles
11 occurrences in 9 groups
- ἴδιοςone’s own 3
- Other words · 8 groups that occur once or twice (10) 10
Named alongside itApposition
6 occurrences in 6 groups
- κόσμοςworld 2
- βυθίζωto sink 1
- ἔρχομαιto come 1
- μέλοςmember, body part 1
- στρατεύομαιto battle 1
- ἀσέλγειαlicentious behavior 1
What it doesIt is the subject
3 occurrences in 5 groups
- εἰσπορεύομαιto enter, to go into 1
- παράγωto move along 1
- συλλαμβάνωto seize 1
- συμπνίγωto cause plants to die 1
- τίκτωto give birth, to bear 1
What is done to itIt is the object
11 occurrences in 11 groups
- Other words · 11 groups that occur once or twice (11) 11
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
15 occurrences in 5 groups
- ἐνin 11
- κατάaccording to, against, down 10
- εἰςto 4
- ὑπόby, under 3
- σύνwith, together with 2
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- ὀπώραripe fruit 1
- πάθοςpassion 1
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
- תַּאֲוָה taʼăvâh · H8378 · craving, desire, longing
- Hebrew תַּאֲוָה (ta'avah) and Greek ἐπιθυμία (epithymia) function as direct cross-linguistic equivalents denoting intense desire or longing, with both terms carrying the full semantic range from neutral appetite to morally censured lust depending on context.
- חָמַד châmad · H2530 · to desire, to want to have, desirable
- חָמַד (châmad, H2530) is the Hebrew verb meaning 'to desire/covet,' serving as the direct lexical source for Greek ἐπιθυμία in LXX renderings of the Tenth Commandment prohibitions (Exodus 20:17, Deuteronomy 5:21) and related covetousness contexts, establishing a core translational equivalence for the 'longing/desire' semantic field across the two testaments.
- אַוָּה ʼavvâh · H185 · desire, craving, lust
- Hebrew אַוָּה (ʼavvâh, H185) and Greek ἐπιθυμία (epithymía, G1939) both denote intense longing or craving, particularly in contexts of forbidden or improper desire, representing the same core concept across the Tanakh and Septuagint/New Testament.
Semantic domains 2 entries
- To long for, to desire very much25.12
- Luke 22:15 has Jesus tell the Twelve, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer,” ἐπιθυμία marking His own intense, personal longing for that final shared meal.
- Coveting, lust, desire25.20
- In Romans 1:24, Paul says God gave idolaters over “to vile impurity in the lusts of their hearts,” ἐπιθυμία naming the illicit, disordered desire that drove their conduct.
Word family 22 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon ἐπιθυμίας, ἡ (ἐπιθυμέω) (from Herodotus on), the Sept. chiefly for תַּאֲוָה, אַוָּה,…
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain
Topical studies with this word 1 entry
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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