μεθύω
to be drunk
‘to be drunk’ 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 Present-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
- Present
- Ongoing or general action in present time (imperfective aspect).
- Aorist
- Action viewed as a simple whole, without regard to duration — often past (perfective aspect).
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).
- Subjunctive
- Expresses probability, purpose, or possibility (the mood of contingency).
- Participle
- A verbal adjective (“writing,” “having written”).
Case
- 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”).
Gender
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Plural
- More than one.
- Singular
- One.
5 distinct verses where G3184 appears in the Present tense, across 5 books. Filtered view — show all forms. 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 1 verse
Acts 1 verse
1 Corinthians 1 verse
1 Thessalonians 1 verse
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.
The Greek verb μεθυω centers on the idea of “to be drunk.” Its earliest occurrence is Matthew 24:49. It appears 6 verses across 6 books of the Greek New Testament, among its uncommon vocabulary. Lexicons map it across 2 senses. It clusters with μεθη, μεθυσκω and μεθυσος under a shared root. 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 G3184 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 →
- 6
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 6 distinct verses.
- 6 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 6 of 27 New Testament books.
- #1,476
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Greek words (rank 1,476 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 6 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 6 distinct verses.
- Gospels 2 verses · 33%
- Johannine 2 verses · 33%
- Pauline corpus 2 verses · 33%
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 1 verse · 17%
- Revelation 1 verse · 17%
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: Drunken 3×
- American Standard Version: Drunken 3×
- Berean Standard Bible: Are drunk 1×, Are not drunk 1×, Drunk 1×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Being drunk 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G3184 across 8 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.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders G3184 across 9 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 6 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 G3184 across 6 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G3184 across 8 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 6 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.
- to be drunken
- metaph. of one who has shed blood or murdered profusely
Word origin
Derived from μεθη (méthē) (G3178) — drunkenness.
From another form of G3178 ; to drink to intoxication that is get drunk : - drink well make (be) drunk (-en).
— Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (1890), public domain.
Forms in the corpus
The 5 distinct written forms G3184 takes in the Greek New Testament, most frequent first — each parse links to that tense’s occurrences in the concordance.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| μεθύουσιν methýousin | Verb, Present, Active, Indicative, 3rd person, Plural | Acts 2:15 | 2 |
| μεθυσθῶσιν methysthō̂sin | Verb, Aorist, Passive, Subjunctive, 3rd person, Plural | John 2:10 | 1 |
| μεθυόντων methyóntōn | Verb, Present, Active, Participle, Genitive, Plural, Masculine | Matthew 24:49 | 1 |
| μεθύει methýei | Verb, Present, Active, Indicative, 3rd person, Singular | 1 Corinthians 11:21 | 1 |
| μεθύουσαν methýousan | Verb, Present, Active, Participle, Accusative, Singular, Feminine | Revelation 17:6 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other Thayer's entries built from the same root as G3184, 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
Derived from this word
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word μεθυω appears 42 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 42 verses in 16 books.
- 42
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 42
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 16 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 16 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Genesis 9:21 μεθύω
- Deuteronomy 32:42 μεθύω
- 1 Samuel 1:13 μεθύω
- 2 Samuel 11:13 μεθύω
- 1 Kings 16:9 μεθύω
- Job 12:25 μεθύω
- Psalms 22:5 μεθύω
- Proverbs 4:17 μεθύω
- Song of Solomon 5:1 μεθύω
- Isaiah 7:20 μεθύω
- Jeremiah 26:10 μεθύω
- Lamentations 3:15 μεθύω
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G3184) 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.
- Genesis 9:21 μεθύω He drank of the wine, and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent.
- Genesis 43:34 μεθύω He sent portions to them from before him, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. They drank, and were merry with him.
- Deuteronomy 32:42 μεθύω I will make my arrows drunk with blood, My sword shall devour flesh; With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the head of the leaders of the enemy.
- 1 Samuel 1:13 μεθύω Now Hannah, she spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.
- 1 Samuel 1:14 μεθύω Eli said to her, How long will you be drunken? put away your wine from you.
- 1 Samuel 25:36 μεθύω Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: therefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
- 2 Samuel 11:13 μεθύω When David had called him, he ate and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but didn't go down to his house.
- 1 Kings 16:9 μεθύω His servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah:
- 1 Kings 21:16 μεθύω It happened, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.
- Job 12:25 μεθύω They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.
- Psalms 22:5 μεθύω They cried to you, and were delivered. They trusted in you, and were not disappointed.
- Psalms 35:9 μεθύω My soul shall be joyful in Yahweh. It shall rejoice in his salvation.
- Psalms 64:10 μεθύω The righteous shall be glad in Yahweh, And shall take refuge in him. All the upright in heart shall praise him!
- Psalms 64:11 μεθύω
- Psalms 106:27 μεθύω That he would overthrow their seed among the nations, And scatter them in the lands.
- Proverbs 4:17 μεθύω For they eat the bread of wickedness, And drink the wine of violence.
- Proverbs 23:31 μεθύω Don't look at the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly:
- Song of Solomon 5:1 μεθύω I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Friends Eat, friends! Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved. Beloved
- Isaiah 7:20 μεθύω In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, even with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.
- Isaiah 19:14 μεθύω Yahweh has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in every work of it, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
- Isaiah 24:20 μεθύω The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and shall sway back and forth like a hammock; and the disobedience of it shall be heavy on it, and it shall fall, and not rise again.
- Isaiah 28:1 μεθύω Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of those who are overcome with wine!
- Isaiah 34:5 μεθύω For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky: behold, it shall come down on Edom, and on the people of my curse, to judgment.
- Isaiah 34:7 μεθύω The wild-oxen shall come down with them, and the bulls with the bulls: and their land shall be drunken with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
- Isaiah 49:26 μεθύω I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
- Isaiah 51:21 μεθύω Therefore hear now this, you afflicted, and drunken, but now with wine:
- Isaiah 55:10 μεθύω For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn't return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
- Isaiah 58:11 μεθύω and Yahweh will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make strong your bones; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters don't fail.
- Jeremiah 26:10 μεθύω When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of Yahweh; and they sat in the entry of the new gate of Yahweh's [house].
- Jeremiah 28:7 μεθύω Nevertheless hear you now this word that I speak in your ears, and in the ears of all the people:
- Jeremiah 28:39 μεθύω
- Jeremiah 28:57 μεθύω
- Jeremiah 31:26 μεθύω On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.
- Jeremiah 32:14 μεθύω Thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel; that they may continue many days.
- Jeremiah 38:14 μεθύω Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet to him into the third entry that is in the house of Yahweh: and the king said to Jeremiah, I will ask you a thing; hide nothing from me.
- Jeremiah 38:25 μεθύω But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you, and tell you, Declare to us now what you have said to the king; don't hide it from us, and we will not put you to death; also what the king said to you:
- Lamentations 3:15 μεθύω He has filled me with bitterness, he has sated me with wormwood.
- Lamentations 4:21 μεθύω Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, that dwell in the land of Uz: The cup shall pass through to you also; you shall be drunken, and shall make yourself naked.
- Hosea 14:8 μεθύω Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? I answer, and will take care of him. I am like a green fir tree; From me your fruit is found."
- Joel 1:5 μεθύω Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; For it is cut off from your mouth.
- Nahum 3:11 μεθύω You also will be drunken. You will be hidden. You also will seek a stronghold because of the enemy.
- Habakkuk 2:15 μεθύω "Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies!
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G3184) 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.
