ἀγαλλιάω
agalliáō · G21 · Greek · 11 occurrences
Meanings
-
to be extremely joyful, to be overjoyed, to rejoice greatly
To experience a state of great joy and gladness, often involving verbal expression and appropriate body movement
ExamplesMatthew 5:12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Luke 1:47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
Luke 10:21 At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for doing so was well pleasing in Your sight.
How it’s used In 4 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
11 occurrences in 8 groups
- Not stated: you (more than one) 3
- Not stated: he, she or it 2
- ἈβραάμAbraham 1
- γλῶσσαtongue, language 1
- πνεῦμαspirit 1
- Not stated: we 1
With prepositionsPrepositional phrases
4 occurrences in 5 groups
- ἐνin+ ὅςwho, which, that 1
- ἐνin+ φῶςlight 1
- ἐνin+ αὐτόςhe, she, it, same 1
- ἐπίon+ θεόςGod 1
- πρόςto, toward, with+ ὥραhour, time 1
With adverbsAdverbs
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- καίand 1
- πανοικίtogether with an entire household 1
What is done to itIt is the object
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- θέλωto want, to wish, to desire 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.
Near synonyms 1 word
- χαίρω chaírō · G5463 · to rejoice, to be glad, hail
- The target term ἀγαλλιάω denotes intensified, exuberant rejoicing, while χαίρω (“to be cheerful,” i.e. calmly happy or well-off) covers calm happiness and formal greetings. These represent a genuine degree or intensity distinction within the joy semantic field — one is the heightened form of what the other expresses more broadly.
In the other Testament 5 words
- גִּיל gîyl · H1523 · to rejoice, to be glad
- Hebrew גִּיל (gîyl, H1523) and Greek ἀγαλλιάω (agalliáō, G21) are direct translation equivalents denoting exuberant joy or rejoicing, both carrying an intensified or physically expressed sense of gladness beyond mere contentment.
- רָנַן rânan · H7442 · to shout, to shout for joy
- רָנַן (rânan, H7442) emphasizes vocal expression of joy through singing/shouting, while ἀγαλλιάω (agalliáō, G21) emphasizes the physical manifestation of exultation (jumping/leaping); both denote intense, outward expressions of joy, making them natural translation equivalents across Hebrew-Greek.
- עָלַז ʻâlaz · H5937 · to rejoice, to exult
- Hebrew עָלַז emphasizes exultant rejoicing and triumph with physical exuberance; Greek ἀγαλλιάω specifically denotes leaping or jumping for joy, both capturing vigorous, demonstrative celebration rather than quiet gladness.
- עָלַץ ʻâlats · H5970 · to rejoice, to exult
- Both denote exuberant rejoicing with physical/kinetic overtones (Greek 'jump for joy,' Hebrew 'exult/triumph'), representing genuine translation equivalents across the LXX alignment data for intense celebratory joy.
- שׂוּשׂ sûws · H7797 · to rejoice, to be glad, to delight
- Greek ἀγαλλιάω specifically denotes exultant, physical joy (properly 'to jump for joy'), while Hebrew שׂוּשׂ expresses general rejoicing and gladness across a broader semantic range including both exultant and quieter forms of joy.
Semantic domains 1 entry
- To be extremely joyful, to be overjoyed, to rejoice greatly25.133
- This verb denotes exultant rejoicing, as in John 8:56's statement that Abraham was overjoyed that he would see Jesus' day, and he saw it and rejoiced.
Word family 5 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon see ἀγαλλιάω. G21 — ἀγαλλιάω , (ῶ, and (but the active is not used except in Lk 1:47…
G21 — ἀγαλλιάω
, (ῶ, and (but the active is not used except in Lk 1:47 (ἠγαλλίασα), in Rev 19:7 (ἀγαλλιῶμεν) L T Tr WH (and in 1 Pet 1:8 WH Tr marginal reading (ἀγαλλιᾶτε), cf. WH's Appendix, p. 169)); 1 aorist ἠγαλλιασάμην, and (with a middle significance) ἠγαλλιάθην (Jn 5:35; Rec. ἠγαλλιάσθην); a word of Hellenistic coinage (from ἀγάλλομαι to rejoice, glory (yet cf. Buttmann, 51 (45))), often in the Sept. (for גִּיל, עָלַץ, רָנַן, שׂוּשׂ), to exult, rejoice exceedingly: Mt 5:12; Lk 10:21; Acts 2:26; Acts 16:34; 1 Pet 1:8; 1 Pet 4:13; ἔν τίνι, 1 Pet 1:6, dative of the thing in which the joy originates (cf. Winers Grammar, § 33 a.; B. 185 (160)); but Jn 5:35 means, 'to rejoice while his light shone' (i. e. in (the midst of) etc.). ἐπί τίνι, Lk 1:47; followed by ἵνα, Jn 8:56 that he should see, rejoiced because it had been promised him that he should see. This divine promise was fulfilled to him at length in paradise; cf. Winers Grammar, 339 (318); B. 239 (206). On this word see Gelpke in the Studien und Kritiken for 1849, p. 645f.
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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