To wait for
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G1551 is a verb of awaiting or expecting, with attention directed toward a person, event, promise, or result that has not yet arrived. Its New Testament uses range from waiting for one another at the Lord’s Supper to Paul’s expectant concern for fellow workers, from the hope of the city whose architect is God to the farmer’s patient anticipation of precious fruit.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἐκδέχομαι (G1551) · Open the biblical lexicon
G1551 is a verb of awaiting or expecting, with attention directed toward a person, event, promise, or result that has not yet arrived. Its New Testament uses range from waiting for one another at the Lord’s Supper to Paul’s expectant concern for fellow workers, from the hope of the city whose architect is God to the farmer’s patient anticipation of precious.
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include awaits (1), He waits (1), he was looking forward to (1), I am expecting (1), wait for (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Acts 17:16. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (2), Hebrews (2), Acts (1), James (1).
G1551 is a verb of awaiting or expecting, with attention directed toward a person, event, promise, or result that has not yet arrived. Its New Testament uses range from waiting for one another at the Lord’s Supper to Paul’s expectant concern for fellow workers, from the hope of the city whose architect is God to the farmer’s patient anticipation of precious fruit.
The word therefore includes both ordinary social consideration and eschatological expectation. It is not a command to create certainty where the text gives none. Waiting may involve disturbed surroundings, delayed fulfillment, or a promise whose timing lies beyond a person’s control. G1551 helps teachers describe hope as directed attention rather than vague optimism.
The object of expectation matters: Christians do not merely wait; they wait for a person, a community, a harvest, a city, or the Lord’s promised coming. That focus shapes how they behave while waiting. The word does not excuse neglect, impatience, or spiritual speculation. Instead, it calls for patience, hospitality, mutual regard, and confidence in God’s appointed future.
Read the verb with its object and narrative setting so that expectation remains concrete and faithful.
G1551 describes waiting with directed expectation in shared meals, missionary relationships, eschatological promise, future city, and agricultural patience. The verb makes the object of hope important and shows that waiting can shape present conduct toward people and God’s future.
So, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
Paul uses the verb for table fellowship, showing that expectation can become ordinary love when believers refuse to consume the meal without regard for one another.
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols.
Paul’s waiting is neither empty nor detached; his attention to absent companions and the city’s idolatry shapes his missionary response.
Since that time, He waits for His enemies to be made a footstool for His feet,
The exalted Christ’s waiting is placed within the certainty of God’s promised subjection of enemies, giving patience a reigning and judicial horizon.
For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Abraham’s expectation is oriented toward a city designed by God, so faithful waiting reaches beyond immediate settlement without despising present obedience.
Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.
James compares Christian patience to a farmer’s directed expectation, joining the Lord’s coming to steady work and dependence on the seasons.
No one, then, should treat him with contempt. Send him on his way in peace so that he can return to me, for I am expecting him along with the brothers.
Paul’s expectation of Timothy is tied to protection from contempt and a peaceful welcome, showing that waiting for someone can carry responsibility for their reception.
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.
Greek word. Waiting with expectant reception; to await something's arrival with readiness to receive it.
Waiting with expectant reception; to await something's arrival with readiness to receive it.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
8 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I wait for, expect
Read verseI wait for, expect
Read verseI wait for, expect
Read verseI wait for, expect
Read verseI wait for, expect
Read verseI wait for, expect
Read verseI wait for, expect
Read verseI wait for, expect
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 mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
How this verb appears across 6 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)
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 5 selected witnesses from 6 lexical occurrence verses.
G1551 makes waiting relational and concrete. In Corinth, believers are told to wait for one another at the meal, so the verb becomes a small act of love that resists haste and social disregard. Paul’s waiting in Athens keeps his mission connected to people who are not yet present, while his disturbance at idolatry shows that expectation can coexist with moral alertness.
Hebrews widens the horizon. Christ waits for the promised defeat of His enemies, and Abraham looks forward to a city whose architect and builder is God. James then brings expectation back to the soil, where the farmer waits for precious fruit and receives the seasons as a lesson in patience. These passages keep G1551 from becoming either passive delay or fantasy about the future.
The object of waiting directs the shape of life now. If we wait for one another, we make room. If we wait for the Lord’s coming, we strengthen hearts. If we await God’s city, we practice faithfulness without pretending that present structures are final. Teachers should avoid promising a timetable Scripture does not give. G1551 calls Christians to expect God’s future while honoring people, work, and truth in the present.
Jas.5.7
G1551 is used with different objects, including people, meals, a city, enemies, and fruit. That range shows that the verb’s meaning is clarified by what is awaited and by whether the setting is social, missionary, agricultural, or eschatological.
The New Testament’s directed expectation echoes the Old Testament’s waiting for God’s salvation, justice, and renewal. Christian expectation is fulfilled and reshaped around Christ’s coming, the resurrection hope, and the city God establishes, while present hospitality and endurance remain necessary.