Word

θέλημα

thélēma · G2307 · Greek · 62 occurrences

See all 62 in Search

Meanings

wish, desire

(Derivative of θέλω ‘to desire,’) That which is desired or wished for

Examples
Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
Matthew 12:50 “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother, and sister, and mother.”
Luke 12:47 “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accordance with his will, will receive many blows,
will, intent, purpose, plan

(Derivative of θέλω ‘to purpose,’) That which is purposed, intended, or willed

Examples
Matthew 6:10 ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 18:14 “So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven for one of these little ones to perish.
Matthew 21:31 “Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.
sexual desire, physical desire

(An idiom, literally: desire of the flesh) Desire for sexual gratification

Examples
John 1:13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God.

How it’s used In 8 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

55 occurrences in 12 groups

θεόςGod 21
αὐτόςhe, she, it, same 11
πατήρfather 5
σύyou 5
πέμπωto send 4
κύριοςLord 3
Other words · 6 groups that occur once or twice (8) 8

Words describing itAdjectives, demonstratives, participles

4 occurrences in 5 groups

ἐμόςmy 2
ἀγαθόςgood 1
εὐάρεστοςpleasing to 1
ἴδιοςone’s own 1
τέλειοςperfect, mature 1

What it doesIt is the subject

5 occurrences in 3 groups

γίνομαιto become, to happen, to be 3
εἰμίto be 1
θέλωto want, to wish, to desire 1

What is done to itIt is the object

20 occurrences in 3 groups

ποιέωto do, to make 16
γινώσκωto know 3
ζητέωto seek, to look for 1

What it is said to bePredicate

6 occurrences in 3 groups

οὗτοςthis 3
τίςwho? what?, why? for what reason? 2
ἀγαθοποιέωto do good 1

What is said to be itIt is the predicate

2 occurrences in 2 groups

οὗτοςthis 1
ἀπόλλυμιto destroy, to perish, to lose 1

After prepositionsPrepositional phrases

18 occurrences in 7 groups

διάthrough 12
κατάaccording to, against, down 6
ἐνin 4
πρόςto, toward, with 3
εἰςto 2
ἐκfrom 2

In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive

4 occurrences in 4 groups

βουλήplan 1
ἐπίγνωσιςknowledge 1
εὐδοκίαwhat pleases 1
μυστήριονsecret, mystery 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 2 words

חֵפֶץ chêphets · H2656 · pleasure, desire: Greek θέλημα emphasizes the volitional determination or decree aspect of will (often divine will as a fixed purpose), while Hebrew חֵפֶץ carries stronger affective connotations of pleasure, delight, or desirability in what is willed, though both denote the content of volition and translate each other in LXX contexts where God's favorable purpose is in view.
רָצוֹן râtsôwn · H7522 · acceptance, favor: רָצוֹן (râtsôwn, H7522) רָצוֹן denotes the Hebrew concept of favorable disposition, delight, or acceptance (often divine favor), while θέλημα (thélēma, G2307) θέλημα emphasizes the determined choice or decree itself (especially God's sovereign will); both share the semantic domain of volitional intent but θέλημα foregrounds the act of willing/decreeing whereas רָצוֹן foregrounds the favorableness of the disposition.

Semantic domains 3 entries

Wish, desire25.2: In Matthew 6:10, Jesus teaches His disciples to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven,” using this word for what one wishes or desires to happen.
Sexual desire, physical desire25.29: In Ephesians 2:3, Paul writes that all once lived “in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind,” using this word for the desires of the body.
Will, intent, purpose, plan30.59: In Acts 21:14, when Paul could not be persuaded to avoid Jerusalem, the believers ceased urging him, saying, “The will of the Lord be done!” using this word for a settled purpose or plan.

Word family 4 words

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

θέλω thélō · G2309 · to purpose, to be of an opinion, to think something is so · 207×θέλημαthélēma · G2307ἐθελοθρησκεία ethelothrēskeía · G1479 · self-imposed religion, religion thought up by oneself · 1×θέλησις thélēsis · G2308 · to desire, to want, to wish · 1×

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon θελήματος, τό (θέλω), a word purely Biblical and ecclesiastical (yet found in Aristotle,…

θελήματος, τό (θέλω), a word purely Biblical and ecclesiastical (yet found in Aristotle, de plant. 1, 1, p. 815b, 21); the Sept. for חֵפֶץ and רָצון; will, i. e., a. what one wishes or has determined shall be done (i. e. objectively, thing willed): Lk 12:47; Jn 5:30; 1 Cor 7:37; 1 Thess 5:18; 2 Tim 2:26; Heb 10:10; Rev 4:11; θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ is used — of the purpose of God to bless mankind through Christ, Acts 22:14; Eph 1:9; Col 1:9; of what God wishes to be done by us, Rom 12:2; Col 4:12 (Winer's Grammar, 111 (105)); 1 Pet 4:2; and simply τό θέλημα, Rom 2:18 (Winer's Grammar, 594 (553)) (Sir. 43:16 (17) (but here the better text now adds αὐτοῦ, see Fritzsche; in patristic Greek, however, θέλημα is so used even without the article; cf. Ignatius ad Rom. 1, 1 [ET]; ad Eph. 20, 1 [ET], etc.)); τοῦ κυρίου, Eph 5:17; plural commands, precepts: (Mk 3:35 WH. marginal reading); Acts 13:22 (Ps 102:7; 2 Macc. 1:3); ἐστι τό θέλημα τίνος, followed by ἵνα, Jn 6:39; 1 Cor 16:12, cf. Mt 18:14; followed by an infinitive, 1 Pet 2:15; by an accusative with an infinitive 1 Thess 4:3. (Cf. Buttmann, 237 (204); 240 (207); Winers Grammar, § 44, 8.)
b. equivalent to τό θέλειν (i. e. the abstract act of willing, the subjective) will, choice: 1 Pet 3:17 (cf. Winer's Grammar, 604 (562)); 2 Pet 1:21; ποιεῖν τό θέλημα τίνος (especially of God), Mt 7:21; Mt 12:50; Mt 21:31; Mk 3:35 (here WH marginal reading the plural, see above); Jn 4:34; Jn 6:38; Jn 7:17; Jn 9:31; Eph 6:6; Heb 10:7, Heb 10:9, Heb 10:36; Heb 13:21; 1 Jn 2:17; τό θέλημα (L T Tr WH βούλημα) τίνος κατεργάζεσθαι, 1 Pet 4:3; γίνεται τό θέλημα τίνος, Mt 6:10; Mt 26:42; Lk 11:2 L R; ; Acts 21:14; ἡ βουλή τοῦ θελήματος, Eph 1:11; ἡ εὐδοκία τοῦ θελήματος Eph 1:5; ἐν τῷ θελημάτω τοῦ Θεοῦ, if God will, Rom 1:10; διά θελήματος Θεοῦ, Rom 15:32; 1 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 1:1; 2 Cor 8:5; Eph 1:1; Col 1:1; 2 Tim 1:1; κατά τό θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ, Gal 1:4; (1 Pet 4:19); 1 Jn 5:14. equivalent to pleasure: Lk 23:25; equivalent to inclination, desire: σαρκός, ἀνδρός, Jn 1:13; plural Eph 2:3. (Synonym: see θέλω, at the end.)

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

Topical studies with this word 3 entries

Desire, Want, Wish27 occurrences Desire Strongly1 occurrence To Intend, To Purpose, To Plan40 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