Word

σπείρω

speírō · G4687 · Greek · 53 occurrences

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Meanings

  1. to sow

    To scatter seed over tilled ground

    Examples

    Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather crops into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more important than they?

    Matthew 13:3 And He told them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;

    Matthew 13:4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.

How it’s used In 13 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

52 occurrences in 14 groups

What it acts on, or what is saidObject

13 occurrences in 7 groups

To or for whomIndirect object

1 occurrences in 1 groups

With prepositionsPrepositional phrases

20 occurrences in 14 groups

With adverbsAdverbs

8 occurrences in 3 groups

Named alongside itApposition

4 occurrences in 4 groups

What it doesIt is the subject

10 occurrences in 5 groups

What is done to itIt is the object

5 occurrences in 4 groups

It is given or told toIndirect object

1 occurrences in 1 groups

What it is said to bePredicate

4 occurrences in 4 groups

What is said to be itIt is the predicate

2 occurrences in 2 groups

After prepositionsPrepositional phrases

3 occurrences in 1 groups

In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive

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 1 word
זָרַע zâraʻ · H2232 · to sow, to scatter, to plant
Hebrew זָרַע and Greek σπείρω both denote the act of sowing/scattering seed in agricultural contexts, with both extending to figurative uses of spiritual/metaphorical sowing; the Greek term is the direct Septuagintal rendering of the Hebrew root across literal and figurative sowing contexts.
Semantic domains 2 entries
To sow43.6
The verb describes the basic agricultural act of scattering seed. Jesus explains, “Behold, the sower went out to sow” (Matthew 13:3).
To sow in addition, to sow on top of43.8
The same verb, with a prefix denoting addition, describes a further, secondary sowing over an existing crop. Jesus explains that an enemy “came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and left” (Matthew 13:25).
Word family 9 words
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon (imperfect 2 person singular ἐσπειρες, Mt 13:27 Tr); 1 aorist ἔσπειρα; passive, present…
(imperfect 2 person singular ἐσπειρες, Mt 13:27 Tr); 1 aorist ἔσπειρα; passive, present σπείρομαι; perfect passive participle ἐσπαρμενος; 2 aorist ἐσπάρην; (derived from the quick, jerky, motion of the hand; cf. our spurn (of the foot); Curtius, § 389); from Hesiod down; the Sept. for זָרַע; to sow, scatter seed;
a. properly: absolutely, Mt 6:26; Mt 13:3f, 18; Mk 4:3f, 14; Lk 8:5; Lk 12:24; (Jn 5:36f (see in b.)); 2 Cor 9:10; with an accusative of the thing, as σπέρμα ζιζάνια, κόκκον (cf. Buttmann, § 131, 5): Mt 13:24f (but in 25 L T Tr WH have ἐπέσπειρεν), 27,37,39; Mk 4:32: Lk 8:5; 1 Cor 15:36f; with specifications of place: εἰς τάς ἀκάνθας, Mt 13:22; Mk 4:18; ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ, Mt 13:24 (31); ἐπί τῆς γῆς. Mk 4:31; ἐπί with an accusative of place, Mt 13:20, Mt 13:23; Mk 4:16, Mk 4:20; παρά τήν ὁδόν, Mt 13:19.
b. in proverbial sayings: absolutely, Mt 25:24, Mt 25:26; Lk 19:21; Jn 4:37; 2 Cor 9:6; τί, Gal 6:7 (on these sayings see θερίζω, b.). in comparisons: σπρίειν εἰς τήν σάρκα, εἰς τό πνεῦμα (σάρξ and πνεῦμα are likened to fields to be sown), to do those things which satisfy the nature and promptings of the σάρξ or of the πνεῦμα, Gal 6:8; τόν λόγον, to scatter the seeds of instruction, i. e. to impart instruction, Mk 4:14f; ὁ λόγος, ὁ ἐσπαρμενος ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν, the ideas and precepts that have been implanted like seed in their hearts, i. e. received in their hearts, Mk 14:15 (here Tr text WH εἰς αὐτούς into their hearts T L marginal reading ἐν αὐτοῖς); οὗτος ἐστιν ὁ παρά τήν ὁδόν σπαρείς, this one experiences the fate of the seed sown by the wayside, Mt 13:19; add, 20-23; Mk 4:16, Mk 4:18, Mk 4:20. τό σῶμα, the body, which after death is committed like seed to the earth, 1 Cor 15:42-44; καρπόν δικαιοσύνης, i. e. that seed which produces καρπόν δικαιοσύνης (see καρπός, 2 b.), Jas 3:18; σπείρειν τίνι τί, to give, manifest, something to one, from whom we may subsequently receive something else akin to a harvest (θερίζομεν), 1 Cor 9:11. (Compare: διασπείρω, ἐπισπείρω.)

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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