πληρόω
to fulfill
‘to fulfill’ 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 Aorist-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
- Aorist
- Action viewed as a simple whole, without regard to duration — often past (perfective aspect).
- Perfect
- A completed past action with continuing present results.
- Imperfect
- Continuous or repeated action in past time (“was writing”).
- Future
- Action expected in future time.
- Present
- Ongoing or general action in present time (imperfective aspect).
Voice
- Passive
- The subject receives the action.
- Active
- The subject performs the action.
- Middle
- The subject acts on or for itself, or with special interest in the action.
Mood
- Subjunctive
- Expresses probability, purpose, or possibility (the mood of contingency).
- Indicative
- States a fact or asks a factual question (the mood of reality).
- Infinitive
- A verbal noun (“to write”), unmarked for person or number.
- Participle
- A verbal adjective (“writing,” “having written”).
- Imperative
- Expresses a command or request.
- Optative
- Expresses a wish or a remote possibility.
Case
- Nominative
- The case of the subject (and the predicate nominative).
- Genitive
- The case of source, possession, or “of” — answers “whose / from what.”
- Accusative
- The case of the direct object and of extent.
Person
- 3rd person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 2nd person
- The one addressed (“you”).
- 1st person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
- Neuter
- Grammatically neuter.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one.
Every verse where G4137 appears in the Book of Acts — 16 distinct verses. 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.
Acts
- Acts 1:16 πληρωθῆναι aor pass inf "Brothers, it was necessary that this Scripture should be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was guide to those who took Jesus.
- Acts 2:2 ἐπλήρωσεν aor act ind 3sg Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
- Acts 2:28 πληρώσεις fut act ind 2sg You made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence.'
- Acts 3:18 ἐπλήρωσεν aor act ind 3sg But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.
- Acts 5:3 ἐπλήρωσεν aor act ind 3sg But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
- Acts 5:28 πεπληρώκατε perf act ind 2pl saying, "Didn't we strictly charge you not to teach in this name? Behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man's blood on us."
- Acts 7:23 ἐπληροῦτο impf pass ind 3sg But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.
- Acts 7:30 πληρωθέντων aor pass ptcp gen pl neut "When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.
- Acts 9:23 ἐπληροῦντο impf pass ind 3pl When many days were fulfilled, the Jews conspired together to kill him,
- Acts 12:25 πληρώσαντες aor act ptcp nom pl masc Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their service, also taking with them John whose surname was Mark.
- Acts 13:25 ἐπλήρου impf act ind 3sg As John was fulfilling his course, he said, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. But behold, one comes after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.'
- Acts 13:27 ἐπλήρωσαν aor act ind 3pl For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they didn't know him, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.
- Acts 13:52 ἐπληροῦντο impf pass ind 3pl The disciples were filled with joy with the Holy Spirit.
- Acts 14:26 ἐπλήρωσαν aor act ind 3pl From there they sailed to Antioch, from where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled.
- Acts 19:21 ἐπληρώθη aor pass ind 3sg Now after these things had ended, Paul determined in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, "After I have been there, I must also see Rome."
- Acts 24:27 πληρωθείσης aor pass ptcp gen sg fem But when two years were fulfilled, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and desiring to gain favor with the Jews, Felix left Paul in bonds.
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.
πληροω (plēróō) is a Greek verb most often rendered “to fulfill.” The King James Version usually renders it “might be fulfilled,” while modern versions prefer “fulfill” (Berean Standard Bible) — see the renderings breakdown. With 86 verses in 17 books, it is a moderately common word in the Greek New Testament. Debuting at Matthew 1:22, it then recurs through the corpus. Its lexical range runs to 2 senses. 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 G4137 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 →
- 86
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 86 distinct verses.
- 17 / 27
- NT books
- The word appears in 17 of 27 New Testament books.
- #199
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Greek words (rank 199 of 5,347 Greek words by occurrence).
View all 86 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 86 distinct verses.
- Gospels 42 verses · 49%
- Lukan (Luke–Acts) 25 verses · 29%
- Pauline corpus 23 verses · 27%
- Johannine 19 verses · 22%
- General (Catholic) Epistles 3 verses · 3%
- Revelation 2 verses · 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: Might be fulfilled 17×, Be fulfilled 6×, Filled 5×
- American Standard Version: Might be fulfilled 17×, Made full 5×, Filled 4×
- Berean Standard Bible: Fulfill 12×, Was fulfilled 5×, Complete 4×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Might be fulfilled 14×, Fulfill 5×, Would be fulfilled 5×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders G4137 across 95 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 35 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 G4137 across 96 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 38 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 G4137 across 85 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 42 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.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders G4137 across 91 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 40 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 make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the full
- to render full, i.e. to complete
Word origin
Derived from πληρης (plḗrēs) (G4134) — full.
From G4134 ; to make replete that is (literally) to cram (a net) level up (a hollow) or (figuratively) to furnish (or imbue diffuse influence ) satisfy execute (an office) finish (a period or task) verify (or coincide with a prediction) etc. : - accomplish X after (be) complete end expire fill (up) fulfil (be make) full (come) fully preach perfect supply.
— Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (1890), public domain.
Forms in the corpus
The 39 distinct written forms G4137 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 G4137, 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
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint usage
The same Greek word πληροω appears 78 times in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), across 77 verses in 21 books.
- 78
- LXX occurrences
- Tagged occurrences of this Greek word in the Septuagint.
- 77
- verses
- Distinct Septuagint verses containing this word.
- 21 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 21 of the 39 Old Testament books.
Sample Septuagint occurrences
- Genesis 1:22 πληρόω
- Exodus 32:29 πληρόω
- Leviticus 8:33 πληρόω
- Numbers 6:5 πληρόω
- Joshua 3:15 πληρόω
- Judges 17:5 πληρόω
- 2 Samuel 7:12 πληρόω
- 1 Kings 1:14 πληρόω
- 2 Kings 4:4 πληρόω
- 1 Chronicles 12:16 πληρόω
- 2 Chronicles 6:4 πληρόω
- Job 20:22 πληρόω
Septuagint occurrences (same lexeme)
Every verse where the same Strong’s number (G4137) appears in the Greek Septuagint — showing the first 50 of 77. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context; the Greek form is the matched word — the English is not keyword-highlighted.
- Genesis 1:22 πληρόω God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."
- Genesis 1:28 πληρόω God blessed them. God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
- Genesis 9:1 πληρόω God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
- Genesis 9:7 πληρόω Be fruitful, and multiply. Bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply in it."
- Genesis 25:24 πληρόω When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
- Genesis 29:21 πληρόω Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her."
- Genesis 50:3 πληρόω Forty days were fulfilled for him, for that is how many the days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for him for seventy days.
- Exodus 32:29 πληρόω Moses said, "Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh, yes, every man against his son, and against his brother; that he may bestow on you a blessing this day."
- Leviticus 8:33 πληρόω You shall not go out from the door of the Tent of Meeting seven days, until the days of your consecration are fulfilled: for he shall consecrate you seven days.
- Leviticus 12:4 πληρόω She shall continue in the blood of purification thirty-three days. She shall not touch any holy thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed.
- Leviticus 25:29 πληρόω "'If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it has been sold. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption.
- Leviticus 25:30 πληρόω If it isn't redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee.
- Numbers 6:5 πληρόω "All the days of his vow of separation there shall no razor come on his head, until the days are fulfilled, in which he separates himself to Yahweh. He shall be holy. He shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.
- Numbers 6:13 πληρόω "This is the law of the Nazirite: when the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the Tent of Meeting,
- Numbers 7:88 πληρόω and all the oxen for the sacrifice of peace offerings twenty-four bulls, the rams sixty, the male goats sixty, the male lambs a year old sixty. This was the dedication of the altar, after it was anointed.
- Joshua 3:15 πληρόω and when those who bore the ark were come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest),
- Judges 17:5 πληρόω The man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
- Judges 17:12 πληρόω Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.
- 2 Samuel 7:12 πληρόω When your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
- 1 Kings 1:14 πληρόω Behold, while you yet talk there with the king, I also will come in after you, and confirm your words.
- 1 Kings 2:27 πληρόω So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest to Yahweh, that he might fulfill the word of Yahweh, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
- 1 Kings 7:2 πληρόω For he built the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length of it was one hundred cubits, and the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars.
- 1 Kings 8:15 πληρόω He said, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David your father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying,
- 1 Kings 8:24 πληρόω who have kept with your servant David my father that which you did promise him: yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day.
- 1 Kings 13:33 πληρόω After this thing Jeroboam didn't return from his evil way, but made again from among all the people priests of the high places: whoever would, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places.
- 2 Kings 4:4 πληρόω You shall go in, and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour out into all those vessels; and you shall set aside that which is full.
- 1 Chronicles 12:16 πληρόω There came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the stronghold to David.
- 1 Chronicles 17:11 πληρόω It shall happen, when your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who shall be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom.
- 1 Chronicles 29:5 πληρόω of gold for the [things of] gold, and of silver for the [things of] silver, and for all manner of work [to be made] by the hands of artificers. Who then offers willingly to consecrate himself this day to Yahweh?
- 2 Chronicles 6:4 πληρόω He said, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and has with his hands fulfilled it, saying,
- 2 Chronicles 6:15 πληρόω who have kept with your servant David my father that which you did promise him: yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day.
- 2 Chronicles 13:9 πληρόω Haven't you driven out the priests of Yahweh, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made you priests after the manner of the peoples of [other] lands? so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams, the same may be a priest of [those who are] no gods.
- 2 Chronicles 24:10 πληρόω All the princes and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end.
- 2 Chronicles 29:31 πληρόω Then Hezekiah answered, Now you have consecrated yourselves to Yahweh; come near and bring sacrifices and thank-offerings into the house of Yahweh. The assembly brought in sacrifices and thank-offerings; and as many as were of a willing heart [brought] burnt offerings.
- 2 Chronicles 36:21 πληρόω to fulfill the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths: [for] as long as it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
- 2 Chronicles 36:22 πληρόω Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and [put it] also in writing, saying,
- Job 20:22 πληρόω In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him: The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him.
- Job 20:23 πληρόω When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating.
- Psalms 15:11 πληρόω
- Psalms 19:5 πληρόω Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, Like a strong man rejoicing to run his course.
- Psalms 19:6 πληρόω His going forth is from the end of the heavens, His circuit to its ends; There is nothing hidden from its heat.
- Psalms 64:10 πληρόω The righteous shall be glad in Yahweh, And shall take refuge in him. All the upright in heart shall praise him!
- Psalms 70:8 πληρόω
- Psalms 71:19 πληρόω Your righteousness also, God, reaches to the heavens; You have done great things. God, who is like you?
- Psalms 73:20 πληρόω As a dream when one wakes up, So, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.
- Psalms 80:11 πληρόω It sent out its branches to the sea, Its shoots to the River.
- Psalms 82:17 πληρόω
- Psalms 103:24 πληρόω
- Psalms 109:6 πληρόω Set a wicked man over him. Let an adversary stand at his right hand.
- Psalms 126:5 πληρόω Those who sow in tears will reap in joy.
These are occurrences of the same Greek lexeme (G4137) 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.
