To perceive: see
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G1492 names knowing, perceiving, or recognizing, and John uses it to expose the difference between information and true recognition of Jesus. People can know facts, locations, customs, and rumors while still not knowing the One who stands among them.
Reader summary
Full entry for εἴδω (G1492) · Open the biblical lexicon
G1492 names knowing, perceiving, or recognizing, and John uses it to expose the difference between information and true recognition of Jesus. People can know facts, locations, customs, and rumors while still not knowing the One who stands among them.
The BSB source-word alignment has 320 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include know (36), I know (29), we know (28), You know (25), I do not know (16).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 6:8. Its strongest book concentrations include John (85), 1 Corinthians (25), Luke (25), Matthew (25).
This entry includes 4 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
G1492 names knowing, perceiving, or recognizing, and John uses it to expose the difference between information and true recognition of Jesus. People can know facts, locations, customs, and rumors while still not knowing the One who stands among them. John the Baptist says Israel did not know Him, Nicodemus says that the rulers know Jesus is a teacher from God, and Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that if she knew the gift of God, she would ask for living water.
The word therefore helps readers distinguish visible evidence from saving recognition. In John, real knowing is accountable to revelation, testimony, the Father-Son relationship, and obedient trust. It is not bare awareness, secret insight, or mastery over God.
G1492 traces recognition in John: some do not know Jesus even while He stands before them, others claim partial knowledge, and Jesus presses readers toward knowledge governed by His words, works, and relation to the Father.
“I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands One you do not know.
John the Baptist says One stands among the questioners whom they do not know. The word exposes unrecognized presence, not lack of public information alone.
I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.”
John says he himself did not know Jesus in this revealed role until the purpose of his baptismal witness became clear. True recognition depends on divine disclosure.
He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him.”
Nicodemus says the rulers know Jesus is a teacher from God because of His signs. The confession is significant but still needs fuller new-birth understanding.
Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that knowing the gift of God would lead her to ask Him for living water. Recognition should move toward dependent faith.
“Where is Your Father?” they asked Him. “You do not know Me or My Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew Me, you would know My Father as well.”
Jesus tells His opponents they know neither Him nor His Father. The word now marks the theological seriousness of rejecting the Son.
Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
Peter does not know what Jesus is doing in the footwashing, but Jesus promises later understanding. Discipleship includes humbled trust before full perception.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. Knowledge gained through direct perception or experience, distinct from intellectual understanding.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 320 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I know, remember
Read verseI know, remember
Read verseI know, remember
Read verseI know, remember
Read verseI know, remember
Read verseI know, remember
Read verseI know, remember
Read verseI know, remember
Read verseI know, remember
Read verseI know, remember
Read verseI know, remember
Read verseI know, remember
Read verseI know, remember
Read verseI know, remember
Read verseI know, remember
Read verseI know, remember
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this verb appears across 291 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Representative Scripture witnesses for this entry: passage, original form, and sense in context.
εἴδω is a primary verb - no further derivation.
Assurance is presented as confident certainty, not mere hopefulness.1 John 5:13-17
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G1492 matters in John because the Gospel repeatedly places Jesus in front of people who see something true and still need deeper recognition. John the Baptist must receive divine disclosure. Nicodemus can identify Jesus as a teacher from God and still need to hear about new birth. The Samaritan woman needs to know the gift of God in order to ask rightly. Opponents who claim certainty are told they know neither Jesus nor the Father.
Peter must trust Jesus before he understands the footwashing. The word therefore gives teachers a careful way to press beyond information. Biblical knowledge is not possession of religious data. It is recognition shaped by the Son's self-disclosure and answered with faith.
John.4.10
G1492 can describe knowing, seeing, perceiving, or recognizing depending on context. In John, do not reduce it to mental awareness. The surrounding scene decides whether the word marks ignorance, partial recognition, witness-based knowledge, or humbled discipleship.
Scripture often treats knowledge of God as covenantal recognition that requires hearing and responding. John brings that pattern to Jesus: to know the Son truly is not to master a concept, but to receive the One who reveals the Father.