φωτίζω
phōtízō · G5461 · Greek · 11 occurrences
Meanings
-
to illuminate, to shine upon
To cause light to shine upon some object, in the sense of illuminating it
ExamplesLuke 11:36 “Therefore if your whole body is full of light, without any dark part, it will be wholly illuminated, as when the lamp illuminates you with its light.”
1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of human hearts; and then praise will come to each person from God.
Ephesians 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
-
to make known, to make plain, to reveal, to bring to the light, to disclose, revelation
To cause something to be fully known by revealing clearly and in some detail
ExamplesJohn 1:9 This was the true Light that, coming into the world, enlightens every person.
1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of human hearts; and then praise will come to each person from God.
Ephesians 3:9 and to enlighten all people as to what the plan of the mystery is which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things;
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
11 occurrences in 9 groups
- Not stated (participle) 3
- Other words · 8 groups that occur once or twice (9) 9
What it acts on, or what is saidObject
7 occurrences in 8 groups
- ἄθλησιςstruggle 1
- ζωήlife 1
- κρυπτόςhidden, secret 1
- πᾶςall, every, each 1
- ἄνθρωποςman, person, people 1
- σύyou 1
Second objectAs in “call him Lord”
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- τίςwho? what?, why? for what reason? 1
With prepositionsPrepositional phrases
5 occurrences in 5 groups
- διάthrough+ εὐαγγέλιονthe gospel, the good news 1
- εἰςto+ εἴδωto know 1
- ἐκfrom+ δόξαglory 1
- ἐνin+ ὅςwho, which, that 1
- ἐπίon+ αὐτόςhe, she, it, same 1
With adverbsAdverbs
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- ἅπαξonce 1
Named alongside itApposition
3 occurrences in 3 groups
- ἡμέραday 1
- κύριοςLord 1
- φῶςlight 1
What is done to itIt is the object
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- ἀνακαινίζωto renew 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
- ἐπιφαύω epiphaúō · G2017 · to illuminate, to shine upon
- Both terms denote illumination — shining light upon something. The target extends further into a figurative sense of revelation or enlightenment, while ἐπιφαύω is attested in the more literal, basic illumination sense. Both genuinely share the core concept of shining light on something, with the target having the broader figurative range.
In the other Testament 1 word
- אוֹר ʼôwr · H215 · to be light, to become light, to shine
- Hebrew אוֹר (ʼôwr, H215) denotes the primary act of giving or emitting light (causative stem: 'cause to shine, illuminate'), while Greek φωτίζω (phōtízō, G5461) emphasizes the transitive action of shedding rays or brightening up, whether literally (physical illumination) or figuratively (spiritual enlightenment); both share the core semantic domain of causing light to appear or shine, making them genuine cross-linguistic translation equivalents in LXX rendering contexts.
Semantic domains 2 entries
- To illuminate, to shine upon14.39
- John 1:9 says, “This was the true Light that, coming into the world, enlightens every person.”
- To make known, to make plain, to reveal, to bring to the light, to disclose, revelation28.36
- 1 Corinthians 4:5 says the Lord “will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of human hearts”.
Word family 46 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon future φωτίσω (Rev 22:5 L WH; 1 Cor 4:5), Attic φωτιῶ (Rev 22:5 G T Tr); 1 aorist…
1. intransitive, to give light, to shine (Aristotle, Theophrastus, Plutarch, others; the Sept. for אור, Num 8:2, etc.): ἐπί τινα, Rev 22:5 (Rom. WH brackets ἐπί).
2. transitive,
a. properly, to enlighten, light up, illumine: τινα, Lk 11:36: τήν πόλιν, Rev 21:23 (ἀκτισι τόν κόσμον, of the sun, Diodorus 3, 48; the Sept. for הֵאִיר); ἡ γῆ ἐφωτίσθη ἐκ τῆς δόξης (A. V. was lightened) shone with his glory, Rev 18:1.
b. to bring to light, render evident: τά κρυπτά τοῦ σκότους, 1 Cor 4:5; (Eph 3:9 according to the reading of T L brackets WH text (but see c.)) (τήν αἵρεσιν τίνος, the preference, opinion, of one, Polybius 23, 3, 10; τήν ἀλήθειαν, Epictetus diss. 1, 4, 31; πεφωτισμενων τῶν πραγματον ὑπό τῆς ἀληθείας, Lucian, cal. non tem. cred. 32); to cause something to exist and thus to come to light and become clear to all: ζωήν καί ἀφθαρσίαν διά τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, opposed to καταργῆσαι τόν θάνατον, 2 Tim 1:10.
c. by a use only Biblical and ecclesiastical, to enlighten spiritually, imbue with saving knowledge: τινα, Jn 1:9; with a saving knowledge of the gospel: hence, φωτισθέντες of those who have been made Christians, Heb 6:4; Heb 10:32; followed by an indirect question Eph 3:9 (see b. above) (Sir. 45:17; for הֵאִיר, Psalm 118:130 (; for הורָה, to instruct, inform, teach, Judg 13:8, Alex.; 2 Kgs 12:2; φωτιοῦσιν αὐτούς τό κρίμα τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς γῆς, 2 Kgs 17:27 (cf. 1 Kings 17:28; others)); to give understanding to: πεφωτίσμενοι τούς ὀφθαλμούς τῆς καρδίας (Rec. διανοίας), as respects the eyes of your soul, Eph 1:18 (Buttmann, § 145, 6); ((cf. Sir. 31:20 (Sir. 34:20), etc.)).
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain
Topical studies with this word 2 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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