θέλημα
will
‘will’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Thayer's Greek Lexicon
From Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Where this word appears
See every Accusative-case word in the Greek New Testament →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Case
- Accusative
- The case of the direct object and of extent.
- Genitive
- The case of source, possession, or “of” — answers “whose / from what.”
- Nominative
- The case of the subject (and the predicate nominative).
- Dative
- The case of the indirect object, means, or location — “to / for / with / in.”
Gender
- Neuter
- Grammatically neuter.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one.
Grammatical forms
- Noun, Accusative, Singular, Neuter 26 times (42%)
- Noun, Genitive, Singular, Neuter 14 times (23%)
- Noun, Nominative, Singular, Neuter 14 times (23%)
- Noun, Dative, Singular, Neuter 6 times (10%)
- Noun, Accusative, Plural, Neuter 2 times (3%)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (Robinson–Tischendorf, public domain), counted across 62 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where G2307 appears — 58 distinct verses across 18 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 6 verses
- Matthew 6:10 θέλημά n nom sg neut Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.
- Matthew 7:21 θέλημα n acc sg neut Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
- Matthew 12:50 θέλημα n acc sg neut For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother."
- Matthew 18:14 θέλημα n nom sg neut Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
- Matthew 21:31 θέλημα n acc sg neut Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said to him, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into the Kingdom of God before you.
- Matthew 26:42 θέλημά n nom sg neut Again, a second time he went away, and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cup can't pass away from me unless I drink it, your desire be done."
Mark 1 verse
Luke 3 verses
- Luke 12:47 θέλημα θέλημα n acc sg neut n acc sg neut That servant, who knew his lord's will, and didn't prepare, nor do what he wanted, will be beaten with many stripes,
- Luke 22:42 θέλημά n nom sg neut saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done."
- Luke 23:25 θελήματι n dat sg neut He released him who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus up to their will.
John 8 verses
- John 1:13 θελήματος θελήματος n gen sg neut n gen sg neut who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
- John 4:34 θέλημα n acc sg neut Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.
- John 5:30 θέλημα θέλημα n acc sg neut n acc sg neut I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous; because I don't seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.
- John 6:38 θέλημα θέλημα n acc sg neut n acc sg neut For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
- John 6:39 θέλημα n nom sg neut This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day.
- John 6:40 θέλημα n nom sg neut This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day."
- John 7:17 θέλημα n acc sg neut If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from myself.
- John 9:31 θέλημα n acc sg neut We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God, and does his will, he listens to him.
Acts 3 verses
- Acts 13:22 θελήματά n acc pl neut When he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, to whom he also testified, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.'
- Acts 21:14 θέλημα n nom sg neut When he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, "The Lord's will be done."
- Acts 22:14 θέλημα n acc sg neut He said, 'The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth.
Romans 4 verses
- Romans 1:10 θελήματι n dat sg neut requesting, if by any means now at last I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you.
- Romans 2:18 θέλημα n acc sg neut and know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,
- Romans 12:2 θέλημα n nom sg neut Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
- Romans 15:32 θελήματος n gen sg neut that I may come to you in joy through the will of God, and together with you, find rest.
1 Corinthians 3 verses
- 1 Corinthians 1:1 θελήματος n gen sg neut Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
- 1 Corinthians 7:37 θελήματος n gen sg neut But he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power over his own heart, to keep his own virgin, does well.
- 1 Corinthians 16:12 θέλημα n nom sg neut Now concerning Apollos, the brother, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers; and it was not at all his desire to come now; but he will come when he has an opportunity.
2 Corinthians 2 verses
- 2 Corinthians 1:1 θελήματος n gen sg neut Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the assembly of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:
- 2 Corinthians 8:5 θελήματος n gen sg neut This was not as we had hoped, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us through the will of God.
Galatians 1 verse
Ephesians 7 verses
- Ephesians 1:1 θελήματος n gen sg neut Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus:
- Ephesians 1:5 θελήματος n gen sg neut having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,
- Ephesians 1:9 θελήματος n gen sg neut making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him
- Ephesians 1:11 θελήματος n gen sg neut in whom also we were assigned an inheritance, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his will;
- Ephesians 2:3 θελήματα n acc pl neut among whom we also all once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
- Ephesians 5:17 θέλημα n nom sg neut Therefore don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
- Ephesians 6:6 θέλημα n acc sg neut not in the way of service only when eyes are on you, as men-pleasers; but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
Colossians 3 verses
- Colossians 1:1 θελήματος n gen sg neut Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
- Colossians 1:9 θελήματος n gen sg neut For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don't cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
- Colossians 4:12 θελήματι n dat sg neut Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always striving for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
1 Thessalonians 2 verses
2 Timothy 2 verses
Hebrews 5 verses
- Hebrews 10:7 θέλημά n acc sg neut Then I said, 'Behold, I have come (In the scroll of the book it is written of me) To do your will, God.'"
- Hebrews 10:9 θέλημά n acc sg neut then he has said, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He takes away the first, that he may establish the second,
- Hebrews 10:10 θελήματι n dat sg neut by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
- Hebrews 10:36 θέλημα n acc sg neut For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.
- Hebrews 13:21 θέλημα n acc sg neut make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 4 verses
- 1 Peter 2:15 θέλημα n nom sg neut For this is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
- 1 Peter 3:17 θέλημα n nom sg neut For it is better, if the will of God should so will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil.
- 1 Peter 4:2 θελήματι n dat sg neut that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
- 1 Peter 4:19 θέλημα n acc sg neut Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator.
2 Peter 1 verse
1 John 2 verses
Revelation 1 verse
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.
“will” is the headline sense of the Greek noun θελημα (thélēma). It first appears in Matthew 6:10. It turns up in 58 verses across 18 books, a moderately common footprint. Its lexical range runs to 2 senses. From the same root come θελω, εθελοθρησκεια and θελησις. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's G2307 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 →
- 58
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 58 distinct verses.
- 18 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 18 of 27 New Testament books.
- #262
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Greek words (rank 262 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 58 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 58 distinct verses.
- Pauline corpus 24 verses · 41%
- Gospels 18 verses · 31%
- Johannine 11 verses · 19%
- General (Catholic) Epistles 7 verses · 12%
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 6 verses · 10%
- Hebrews 5 verses · 9%
- Revelation 1 verse · 2%
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: Will 61×
- American Standard Version: Will 57×
- Berean Standard Bible: Will 57×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Will 61×, Of 4×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G2307 across 64 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G2307 across 64 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 7 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 G2307 across 62 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 5 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G2307 across 69 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 4 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 2 senses 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.
- what one wishes or has determined shall be done
- will, choice, inclination, desire, pleasure
Word origin
Derived from θελω (thélō) (G2309) — to will.
From the prolonged form of G2309 ; a determination (properly the thing) that is (actively) choice (specifically purpose decree ; abstractly volition ) or (passively) inclination : - desire pleasure will.
— Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (1890), public domain.
Forms in the corpus
The 6 distinct written forms G2307 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that case’s occurrences in the concordance.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| θέλημα thélēma | Noun, Accusative, Singular, Neuter | Matthew 7:21 | 34 |
| θελήματος thelḗmatos | Noun, Genitive, Singular, Neuter | John 1:13 | 14 |
| θέλημά thélēmá | Noun, Accusative, Singular, Neuter | Hebrews 10:7 | 6 |
| θελήματι thelḗmati | Noun, Dative, Singular, Neuter | Luke 23:25 | 6 |
| θελήματά thelḗmatá | Noun, Accusative, Plural, Neuter | Acts 13:22 | 1 |
| θελήματα thelḗmata | Noun, Accusative, Plural, Neuter | Ephesians 2:3 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other Thayer's entries built from the same root as G2307, 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
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word θελημα appears 34 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 34 verses in 11 books.
- 34
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 34
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 11 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 11 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- 2 Samuel 23:5 θέλημα
- 1 Kings 5:22 θέλημα
- 2 Chronicles 9:12 θέλημα
- Esther 1:8 θέλημα
- Job 21:21 θέλημα
- Psalms 1:2 θέλημα
- Ecclesiastes 5:3 θέλημα
- Isaiah 44:28 θέλημα
- Jeremiah 9:23 θέλημα
- Daniel 11:16 θέλημα
- Malachi 1:10 θέλημα
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G2307) 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.
- 2 Samuel 23:5 θέλημα Most assuredly my house is not so with God; Yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, Ordered in all things, and sure: For it is all my salvation, and all [my] desire, Although he doesn't make it grow.
- 1 Kings 5:22 θέλημα
- 1 Kings 5:23 θέλημα
- 1 Kings 5:24 θέλημα
- 1 Kings 9:11 θέλημα (now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire), that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
- 2 Chronicles 9:12 θέλημα King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides that which she had brought to the king. So she turned, and went to her own land, she and her servants.
- Esther 1:8 θέλημα The drinking was according to the law; none could compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure.
- Job 21:21 θέλημα For what does he care for his house after him, When the number of his months is cut off?
- Psalms 1:2 θέλημα But his delight is in Yahweh's law; On his law he meditates day and night.
- Psalms 15:3 θέλημα He who doesn't slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his friend, Nor casts slurs against his fellow man;
- Psalms 27:7 θέλημα Hear, Yahweh, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy also on me, and answer me.
- Psalms 29:6 θέλημα He makes them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young, wild ox.
- Psalms 29:8 θέλημα Yahweh's voice shakes the wilderness. Yahweh shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
- Psalms 39:9 θέλημα I was mute. I didn't open my mouth, Because you did it.
- Psalms 102:7 θέλημα I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop.
- Psalms 102:21 θέλημα That men may declare the name of Yahweh in Zion, And his praise in Jerusalem;
- Psalms 106:30 θέλημα Then Phinehas stood up, and executed judgment, So the plague was stopped.
- Psalms 110:2 θέλημα Yahweh will send forth the rod of your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of your enemies.
- Psalms 142:10 θέλημα
- Psalms 144:19 θέλημα
- Ecclesiastes 5:3 θέλημα For as a dream comes with a multitude of cares, so a fool's speech with a multitude of words.
- Ecclesiastes 12:1 θέλημα Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the evil days come, and the years draw near, When you will say, "I have no pleasure in them;"
- Ecclesiastes 12:10 θέλημα The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written blamelessly, words of truth.
- Isaiah 44:28 θέλημα Who says of Cyrus, [He is] my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built; and of the temple, Your foundation shall be laid.
- Isaiah 48:14 θέλημα Assemble yourselves, all you, and hear; who among them has declared these things? He whom Yahweh loves shall perform his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm [shall be on] the Chaldeans.
- Isaiah 58:3 θέλημα Why have we fasted, [say they], and you don't see? [why] have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast you find [your own] pleasure, and exact all your labors.
- Isaiah 58:13 θέλημα If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, [and] the holy of Yahweh honorable; and shall honor it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking [your own] words:
- Isaiah 62:4 θέλημα You shall no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall your land any more be termed Desolate: but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for Yahweh delights in you, and your land shall be married.
- Jeremiah 9:23 θέλημα Thus says Yahweh, Don't let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, don't let the rich man glory in his riches;
- Jeremiah 23:17 θέλημα They say continually to those who despise me, Yahweh has said, You shall have peace; and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come on you.
- Jeremiah 23:26 θέλημα How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?
- Daniel 11:16 θέλημα But he who comes against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him; and he shall stand in the glorious land, and in his hand shall be destruction.
- Daniel 11:36 θέλημα The king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods; and he shall prosper until the indignation be accomplished; for that which is determined shall be done.
- Malachi 1:10 θέλημα "Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you," says Yahweh of hosts, "neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G2307) 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.
