ἐρέω
to speak
Full lexicon entry — Thayer's Greek Lexicon
From Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Where this word appears
See every Future-tense verb in the Greek New Testament →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Tense
- Future
- Action expected in future time.
- Aorist
- Action viewed as a simple whole, without regard to duration — often past (perfective aspect).
- Perfect
- A completed past action with continuing present results.
- Pluperfect
- A past action completed before another past point (“had written”).
Voice
- Active
- The subject performs the action.
- Passive
- The subject receives the action.
Mood
- Indicative
- States a fact or asks a factual question (the mood of reality).
- Participle
- A verbal adjective (“writing,” “having written”).
- Infinitive
- A verbal noun (“to write”), unmarked for person or number.
Case
- Nominative
- The case of the subject (and the predicate nominative).
- Accusative
- The case of the direct object and of extent.
- Genitive
- The case of source, possession, or “of” — answers “whose / from what.”
Person
- 3rd person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 1st person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
- 2nd person
- The one addressed (“you”).
Gender
- Neuter
- Grammatically neuter.
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one.
Grammatical forms 22 distinct
- Verb, Future, Active, Indicative, 3rd person, Singular 17 times (18%)
- Verb, Aorist, Passive, Indicative, 3rd person, Singular 10 times (10%)
- Verb, Aorist, Passive, Participle, Nominative, Singular, Neuter 10 times (10%)
- Verb, Future, Active, Indicative, 1st person, Singular 8 times (8%)
- Verb, Perfect, Active, Indicative, 3rd person, Singular, Attic form 8 times (8%)
- Verb, Future, Active, Indicative, 1st person, Plural 7 times (7%)
- Verb, Future, Active, Indicative, 2nd person, Plural 5 times (5%)
- Verb, Future, Active, Indicative, 3rd person, Plural 5 times (5%)
+14 more forms (26 occurrences)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (Robinson–Tischendorf, public domain), counted across 96 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where G2046 appears — 96 distinct verses across 13 books. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Greek form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Greek New Testament; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences of this word are not indexed here.
Matthew 30 verses
- Matthew 1:22 ῥηθὲν aor pass ptcp nom sg neut Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
- Matthew 2:15 ῥηθὲν aor pass ptcp nom sg neut and was there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called my son."
- Matthew 2:17 ῥηθὲν aor pass ptcp nom sg neut Then that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,
- Matthew 2:23 ῥηθὲν aor pass ptcp nom sg neut and came and lived in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."
- Matthew 3:3 ῥηθεὶς aor pass ptcp nom sg masc For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ready the way of the Lord, Make his paths straight."
- Matthew 4:14 ῥηθὲν aor pass ptcp nom sg neut that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying,
- Matthew 5:21 ἐρρέθη aor pass ind 3sg "You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, 'You shall not murder;' and 'Whoever shall murder shall be in danger of the judgment.'
- Matthew 5:27 ἐρρέθη aor pass ind 3sg "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery;'
- Matthew 5:31 Ἐρρέθη aor pass ind 3sg "It was also said, 'Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,'
- Matthew 5:33 ἐρρέθη aor pass ind 3sg "Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, 'You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,'
- Matthew 5:38 ἐρρέθη aor pass ind 3sg "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.'
- Matthew 5:43 ἐρρέθη aor pass ind 3sg "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.'
- Matthew 7:4 ἐρεῖς fut act ind 2sg Or how will you tell your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye;' and behold, the beam is in your own eye?
- Matthew 7:22 ἐροῦσίν fut act ind 3pl Many will tell me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?'
- Matthew 8:17 ῥηθὲν aor pass ptcp nom sg neut that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases."
- Matthew 12:17 ῥηθὲν aor pass ptcp nom sg neut that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying,
- Matthew 13:30 ἐρῶ fut act ind 1sg Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, "First, gather up the darnel, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"
- Matthew 13:35 ῥηθὲν aor pass ptcp nom sg neut that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, "I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world."
- Matthew 17:20 ἐρεῖτε fut act ind 2pl He said to them, "Because of your unbelief. For most assuredly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
- Matthew 21:3 ἐρεῖτε fut act ind 2pl If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and immediately he will send them."
- Matthew 21:4 ῥηθὲν aor pass ptcp nom sg neut All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,
- Matthew 21:24 ἐρῶ fut act ind 1sg Jesus answered them, "I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.
- Matthew 21:26 ἐρεῖ fut act ind 3sg But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet."
- Matthew 22:31 ῥηθὲν aor pass ptcp acc sg neut But concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven't you read that which was spoken to you by God, saying,
- Matthew 24:15 ῥηθὲν aor pass ptcp acc sg neut "When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
- Matthew 25:34 ἐρεῖ fut act ind 3sg Then the King will tell those on his right hand, 'Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
- Matthew 25:40 ἐρεῖ fut act ind 3sg "The King will answer them, 'Most assuredly I tell you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
- Matthew 25:41 ἐρεῖ fut act ind 3sg Then he will say also to those on the left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
- Matthew 26:75 εἰρηκότος perf act ptcp gen sg masc attic Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said to him, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." He went out and wept bitterly.
- Matthew 27:9 ῥηθὲν aor pass ptcp nom sg neut Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, "They took the thirty pieces of silver, The price of him upon whom a price had been set, Whom some of the children of Israel priced,
Mark 2 verses
- Mark 11:29 ἐρῶ fut act ind 1sg Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
- Mark 11:31 ἐρεῖ fut act ind 3sg They reasoned with themselves, saying, "If we should say, 'From heaven;' he will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'
Luke 19 verses
- Luke 2:24 εἰρημένον perf pass ptcp acc sg neut attic and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, "A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."
- Luke 4:12 εἴρηται perf pass ind 3sg Jesus answering, said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"
- Luke 4:23 ἐρεῖτέ fut act ind 2pl He said to them, "Doubtless you will tell me this parable, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.'"
- Luke 12:10 ἐρεῖ fut act ind 3sg Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
- Luke 12:19 ἐρῶ fut act ind 1sg I will tell my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry."'
- Luke 13:25 ἐρεῖ fut act ind 3sg When once the master of the house has risen up, and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside, and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' then he will answer and tell you, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'
- Luke 13:27 ἐρεῖ fut act ind 3sg He will say, 'I tell you, I don't know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.'
- Luke 14:9 ἐρεῖ fut act ind 3sg and he who invited both of you would come and tell you, 'Make room for this person.' Then you would begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.
- Luke 14:10 ἐρεῖ fut act ind 3sg But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may tell you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.
- Luke 15:18 ἐρῶ fut act ind 1sg I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight.
- Luke 17:7 ἐρεῖ fut act ind 3sg But who is there among you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say, when he comes in from the field, 'Come immediately and sit down at the table,'
- Luke 17:8 ἐρεῖ fut act ind 3sg and will not rather tell him, 'Prepare my supper, clothe yourself properly, and serve me, while I eat and drink. Afterward you shall eat and drink'?
- Luke 17:21 ἐροῦσιν fut act ind 3pl neither will they say, 'Look, here!' or, 'Look, there!' for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you."
- Luke 17:23 ἐροῦσιν fut act ind 3pl They will tell you, 'Look, here!' or 'Look, there!' Don't go away, nor follow after them,
- Luke 19:31 ἐρεῖτε fut act ind 2pl If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' say to him: 'The Lord needs it.'"
- Luke 20:5 ἐρεῖ fut act ind 3sg They reasoned with themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why didn't you believe him?'
- Luke 22:11 ἐρεῖτε fut act ind 2pl Tell the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?"'
- Luke 22:13 εἰρήκει plup act ind 3sg attic They went, found things as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
- Luke 23:29 ἐροῦσιν fut act ind 3pl For behold, the days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.'
John 6 verses
- John 4:18 εἴρηκας perf act ind 2sg attic for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly."
- John 6:65 εἴρηκα perf act ind 1sg attic He said, "For this cause have I said to you that no one can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father."
- John 11:13 εἰρήκει plup act ind 3sg attic Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep.
- John 12:50 εἴρηκέν perf act ind 3sg attic I know that his commandment is eternal life. The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak."
- John 14:29 εἴρηκα perf act ind 1sg attic Now I have told you before it happens so that, when it happens, you may believe.
- John 15:15 εἴρηκα perf act ind 1sg attic No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn't know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
Acts 7 verses
- Acts 2:16 εἰρημένον perf pass ptcp nom sg neut attic But this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:
- Acts 8:24 εἰρήκατε perf act ind 2pl attic Simon answered, "Pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me."
- Acts 13:34 εἴρηκεν perf act ind 3sg attic "Concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he has spoken thus: 'I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.'
- Acts 13:40 εἰρημένον perf pass ptcp acc sg neut attic Beware therefore, lest that come on you which is spoken in the prophets:
- Acts 17:28 εἰρήκασιν perf act ind 3pl attic 'For in him we live, and move, and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring.'
- Acts 20:38 εἰρήκει plup act ind 3sg attic sorrowing most of all because of the word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.
- Acts 23:5 ἐρεῖς fut act ind 2sg Paul said, "I didn't know, brothers, that he was high priest. For it is written, 'You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.'"
Romans 13 verses
- Romans 3:5 ἐροῦμεν fut act ind 1pl But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do.
- Romans 4:1 ἐροῦμεν fut act ind 1pl What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh?
- Romans 4:18 εἰρημένον perf pass ptcp acc sg neut attic Who in hope believed against hope, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, "So will your seed be."
- Romans 6:1 ἐροῦμεν fut act ind 1pl What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
- Romans 7:7 ἐροῦμεν fut act ind 1pl What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn't have known sin, except through the law. For I wouldn't have known coveting, unless the law had said, "You shall not covet."
- Romans 8:31 ἐροῦμεν fut act ind 1pl What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
- Romans 9:12 ἐρρέθη aor pass ind 3sg it was said to her, "The elder will serve the younger."
- Romans 9:14 ἐροῦμεν fut act ind 1pl What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be!
- Romans 9:19 Ἐρεῖς fut act ind 2sg You will say then to me, "Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?"
- Romans 9:20 ἐρεῖ fut act ind 3sg But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?"
- Romans 9:26 ἐρρέθη aor pass ind 3sg "It will be that in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' There they will be called 'children of the living God.'"
- Romans 9:30 ἐροῦμεν fut act ind 1pl What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn't follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith;
- Romans 11:19 ἐρεῖς fut act ind 2sg You will say then, "Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in."
1 Corinthians 3 verses
- 1 Corinthians 14:16 ἐρεῖ fut act ind 3sg Otherwise if you bless with the spirit, how will he who fills the place of the unlearned say the "Amen" at your giving of thanks, seeing he doesn't know what you say?
- 1 Corinthians 14:23 ἐροῦσιν fut act ind 3pl If therefore the whole assembly is assembled together and all speak with other languages, and unlearned or unbelieving people come in, won't they say that you are crazy?
- 1 Corinthians 15:35 ἐρεῖ fut act ind 3sg But someone will say, "How are the dead raised?" and, "With what kind of body do they come?"
2 Corinthians 2 verses
- 2 Corinthians 12:6 ἐρῶ fut act ind 1sg For if I would desire to boast, I will not be foolish; for I will speak the truth. But I forbear, so that no man may account of me above that which he sees in me, or hears from me.
- 2 Corinthians 12:9 εἴρηκέν perf act ind 3sg attic He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.
Galatians 1 verse
Philippians 1 verse
Hebrews 6 verses
- Hebrews 1:13 εἴρηκέν perf act ind 3sg attic But of which of the angels has he said at any time, "Sit at my right hand, Until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet?"
- Hebrews 4:3 εἴρηκεν perf act ind 3sg attic For we who have believed do enter into that rest, even as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter into my rest;" although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
- Hebrews 4:4 εἴρηκεν perf act ind 3sg attic For he has said this somewhere about the seventh day, "God rested on the seventh day from all his works;"
- Hebrews 10:9 εἴρηκεν perf act ind 3sg attic then he has said, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He takes away the first, that he may establish the second,
- Hebrews 10:15 εἰρηκέναι perf act inf The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,
- Hebrews 13:5 εἴρηκεν perf act ind 3sg attic Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, "I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you."
James 1 verse
Revelation 5 verses
- Revelation 6:11 ἐρρέθη aor pass ind 3sg A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course.
- Revelation 7:14 εἴρηκα perf act ind 1sg attic I told him, "My lord, you know." He said to me, "These are those who came out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes, and made them white in the Lamb's blood.
- Revelation 9:4 ἐρρέθη aor pass ind 3sg They were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those people who don't have God's seal on their foreheads.
- Revelation 17:7 ἐρῶ fut act ind 1sg The angel said to me, "Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.
- Revelation 19:3 εἴρηκαν perf act ind 3pl attic A second said, "Hallelujah! Her smoke goes up forever and ever."
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
At its core, ερεω (eréō) means “to speak.” Translators differ — “say” in the King James Version, then “was spoken” (Berean Standard Bible), as the renderings breakdown shows. With 96 verses in 13 books, it is a moderately common word in the Greek New Testament. Its uses concentrate in Matthew (31% of all occurrences). First canonically at Matthew 1:22, it enters the text early. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's G2046 catalogs a Greek word from the Greek New Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Greek New Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 96
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 96 distinct verses.
- 13 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 13 of 27 New Testament books.
- #178
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Greek words (rank 178 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 96 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the New Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Some books belong to more than one corpus (Luke is in both the Gospels and the Lukan corpus, and so on), so these shares overlap and need not total 100%. Each figure is a share of the word’s 96 distinct verses.
- Gospels 57 verses · 59%
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 26 verses · 27%
- Pauline corpus 20 verses · 21%
- Johannine 11 verses · 11%
- Hebrews 6 verses · 6%
- Revelation 5 verses · 5%
- General (Catholic) Epistles 1 verse · 1%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Say 9×, Shall we say 6×, He said 3×
- American Standard Version: Say 10×, Shall we say 6×, Will say 4×
- Berean Standard Bible: Was spoken 9×, Shall we say 6×, Was said 6×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G2046 across 75 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 29 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G2046 across 74 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 32 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders G2046 across 96 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 47 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in Thayer's
The 1 sense Thayer's distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- to utter, speak, say
Word origin
Derived from ρεω (rhéō) (G4483) — to utter.
Forms in the corpus
The 26 distinct written forms G2046 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that tense’s occurrences in the concordance.
Same root — word family
Other Thayer's entries built from the same root as G2046, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Shares the same root
Derived from this word
- επω épō G2036 to say
- ερευναω ereunáō G2045 to search
- ερωταω erōtáō G2065 to ask
- ιρις îris G2463 rainbow
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 10 — not the complete family. 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word ερεω appears 1 time in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 1 verse in 1 book.
- 1
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 1
- verse
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 1 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 1 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Judges 1:31 ερεω
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G2046) appears in the Greek Septuagint. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context; the Greek form is the matched word — the English is not keyword-highlighted.
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G2046) in the Septuagint — not a translation of any one Hebrew word. The store carries no word-level Hebrew↔Greek alignment, so no Hebrew original is asserted here. Counts come from the recovered LXX Strong's tagging — high-frequency vocabulary is well covered, while rare or late forms may be untagged — so they reflect tagged occurrences and may slightly undercount.
