παραχρῆμα

ἐξαυτῆς exautēs · G1824 · suddenly, at once, immediately

παραχρῆμα and ἐξαυτῆς are both temporal expressions denoting immediate, instantaneous occurrence — 'at once' or 'from that very hour.' They function as stylistic variants for the same concept of temporal immediacy.

αἰφνίδιος aiphnídios · G160 · suddenly, at once, immediately

Both express sudden or immediate occurrence. αἰφνίδιος emphasizes the unexpected quality of the sudden event, while παραχρῆμα focuses on the instantaneous timing itself.

ἐξαίφνης exaíphnēs · G1810 · suddenly, at once, immediately

Both terms describe sudden occurrence. ἐξαίφνης (exaíphnēs, G1810) emphasizes the unexpectedness of an event, while παραχρῆμα (parachrēma, G3916) emphasizes its instantaneous timing, focusing on immediacy rather than surprise.

ἐξάπινα exápina · G1819 · suddenly, at once, immediately

Both terms express sudden or immediate temporal action. παραχρῆμα (parachrēma, G3916) appears with substantially greater frequency in the corpus and may represent the more standard expression, while ἐξάπινα (exápina, G1819) occurs only once and emphasizes the unexpected quality of the sudden event.

εὐθέως euthéōs · G2112 · immediately, right away, then

Both denote immediate temporal succession, with εὐθέως expressing direct temporal sequence ('at once, directly') and παραχρῆμα emphasizing the instantaneous coincidence of action with the moment itself ('instantly, on the spot'). The terms are largely interchangeable in describing actions that follow without delay.

פִּתְאוֹם pithʼôwm · H6597 · suddenly, sudden, at once

Hebrew פִּתְאוֹם denotes suddenness or unexpected occurrence, semantically equivalent to Greek παραχρῆμα's sense of immediacy and instantaneous action.

Suddenly, at once, immediately (in a number of contexts there is the implication of unexpectedness, but this seems to be a derivative of the context as a whole and not a part of the meaning of the lexical items)67.113

παραχρῆμα marks an event occurring without delay, as Matthew describes the withering of the fig tree Jesus cursed: “And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves alone; and He said to it, ‘No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.’ And at once the fig tree withered.” (Matthew 21:19)

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

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.