τελέω
teléō · G5055 · Greek · 28 occurrences
Meanings
-
to complete, to finish, to end, to accomplish
To bring an activity to a successful finish
ExamplesMatthew 7:28 When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching;
Matthew 10:23 “But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.
Matthew 11:1 When Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.
-
to end, to come to an end
(Derivative of τέλος ‘end,’) To occur or happen at the end of a duration
ExamplesRevelation 15:1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.
Revelation 20:3 and he threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
Revelation 20:5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.
-
to make happen, to fulfill, to bring to fruition, to accomplish, fulfillment
To cause to happen for some end result
ExamplesLuke 12:50 “But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!
Luke 18:31 Now He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that have been written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished.
Luke 22:37 “For I tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in Me: ‘AND HE WAS COUNTED WITH WRONGDOERS’; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment.”
-
to obey, to keep
To obey as a means of fulfilling the purpose of a rule or standard
ExamplesRomans 2:27 And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a violator of the Law?
James 2:8 If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well.
-
to pay taxes, to pay customs duty
To pay tax or tribute (used absolutely or with a noun complement meaning ‘tax’ or ‘tribute’)
ExamplesMatthew 17:24 Now when they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?”
Romans 13:6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.
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
Who or what does itSubject
28 occurrences in 15 groups
- ἸησοῦςJesus 6
- Not stated: you (more than one) 4
- ἔτοςyear 3
- Not stated: they 3
- Other words · 11 groups that occur once or twice (12) 12
What it acts on, or what is saidObject
15 occurrences in 11 groups
- λόγοςword, saying, message 3
- νόμοςlaw, the Law 3
- Other words · 9 groups that occur once or twice (9) 9
With prepositionsPrepositional phrases
6 occurrences in 6 groups
- διάthrough+ οὗτοςthis 1
- ἐνin+ ἐγώI, we 1
- ἐνin+ ἡμέραday 1
- ἐνin+ ἀσθένειαweakness, illness 1
- ἐνin+ αὐτόςhe, she, it, same 1
- κατάaccording to, against, down+ γραφήScripture, the Scriptures 1
With adverbsAdverbs
4 occurrences in 4 groups
- οὐnot 2
- ἤδηalready 1
- καίand 1
- ὅτανwhen, whenever 1
What it doesIt is the subject
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- δέωto bind, to tie 1
What is done to itIt is the object
4 occurrences in 3 groups
- ἔπωto say 2
- λέγωto say 1
- ὀμνύωto swear, to make an oath 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- ἕωςuntil, to, as far as 2
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
- כָּלָה kâlâh · H3615 · to be finished, to be completed, to come to an end
- Hebrew כָּלָה emphasizes the completion or cessation of an action through bringing to total fulfillment or exhaustion, while Greek τελέω focuses on the successful execution or discharge of an obligation to its intended end; both share the core semantic domain of bringing something to completion.
Semantic domains 5 entries
- To make happen, to fulfill, to bring to fruition, to accomplish, fulfillment13.126
- Paul writes, “And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a violator of the Law?” (Romans 2:27).
- To obey, to keep36.20
- James writes, “If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,’ you are doing well” (James 2:8).
- To pay taxes, to pay customs duty57.178
- Paul instructs, “For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing” (Romans 13:6).
- To end, to come to an end67.67
- John records that after the seven angels poured out the seven bowls, “the wrath of God is finished” (Revelation 15:1).
- To complete, to finish, to end, to accomplish68.22
- Matthew records that “when Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching” (Matthew 7:28).
Word family 26 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon τέλω; 1 aorist ἐτελεσα (cf. Winer's Grammar, § 13, 3 c.); perfect τετέλεκα (2 Tim 4:7);…
1. to bring to a close, to finish, to end: ἔτη, passive, passed, finished, Rev 20:3, Rev 20:5, Rev 20:7 ((so from Homer and Hesiod down; Aristotle, h. a. 7, 1 at the beginning, p. 580{a}, 14 ἐν τοῖς ἔτεσι τος δίς ἑπτά τετελεσμενοις); τριῶν τελουμενων ἡμερῶν, Lucian, Alex. 38); τόν δρόμον (Homer, Iliad 23, 373, 768; Sophocles Electr. 726), 2 Tim 4:7; τούς λόγους, Mt 7:28 L T Tr WH; Mt 19:1; ; τάς παραβολάς, Mt 13:53; (ἄχρι τελεσθῶσιν αἱ πληγαί, Rev 15:8); a rare use is τέλειν τάς πόλεις, i. e. your flight or journey through the cities (R. V. ye shall not have gone through the cities, etc.), Mt 10:23 (similar are ἀνύειν τούς τόπους, Polybius 5, 8, 1; τά ἕλη, 3, 79, 5; consummare Italiam, Flor. 1, (13) 18, 1; explere urbes, Tibull. 1, 4, 69; conficere aequor immensum, Vergil Georg. 2, 541; also xii., signorum orbem, Cicero, nat. deor. 2, 20, 52); with the participle of a verb (like ἄρχομαι, παύομαι, cf. Winers Grammar, § 45, 4 a.; Buttmann, § 144, 14), Mt 11:1.
2. to perform, execute, complete, fulfill (so that the thing done corresponds to what has been said, the order, command, etc.), i. e. α. with special reference to the subject-matter, to carry out the contents of a command": τόν νόμον, Rom 2:27 (cf. Winer's Grammar, 134 (127)); Jas 2:8; τήν ἐπιθυμίαν (i. e. τό ἐπιθυμουμενον), Gal 5:16. β. with reference also to the form, to do just as commanded, and generally involving a notion of time, to perform the last act which completes a process, to accomplish, fulfill: ἅπαντα (πάντα) τά κατά νόμον, Lk 2:39; τήν μαρτυρίαν, the duty of testifying, Rev 11:7; τό μυστήριον, passive, Rev 10:7 (cf. Winer's Grammar, 277 (260)); τό βάπτισμα, passive, Lk 12:50; πάντα, passive, Jn 19:28 (the distinction between τελέω and τελειόω may be seen in this verse); τούς λόγους (τά ῤήματα) τοῦ Θεοῦ, passive, Rev 17:17; ἅπαντα (πάντα) τά γεγραμμένα, Acts 13:29; passive, Lk 18:31 (see γράφω, 2 c.); with ἐν ἐμοί (in me) added, in my experience, Lk 22:37; ἐν πληγαῖς, in the infliction of calamities, Rev 15:1; τετέλεσται (A. V. it is finished) everything has been accomplished which by the appointment of the Father as revealed in the Scriptures I must do and bear, Jn 19:30. equivalent to τελειόω, 2, which see (made perfect): 2 Cor 12:9 L T Tr WH.
3. to pay: τά δίδραχμα, Mt 17:24; φόρους, Rom 13:6, (τόν φόρον, Plato, Alc. 1, p. 123 a.; τά τέλη, often in Attic writings). (Compare: ἀποτελέω, διατελέω, ἐκτελέω, ἐπιτελέω, συντελέω.)
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain
Topical studies with this word 5 entries
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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