To speak
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G2980 is a common verb for speaking, saying, telling, or uttering. The governed witness contains 298 forms, and neither the act of speech nor the Greek verb establishes that what is spoken is true, divine, intelligible, loving, or authoritative.
Reader summary
Full entry for λαλέω (G2980) · Open the biblical lexicon
G2980 is a common verb for speaking, saying, telling, or uttering. The governed witness contains 298 forms, and neither the act of speech nor the Greek verb establishes that what is spoken is true, divine, intelligible, loving, or authoritative.
The BSB source-word alignment has 298 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include to speak (23), speak (18), spoke (18), speaking (16), speaks (14).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 9:18. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (60), John (60), 1 Corinthians (34), Luke (31).
This entry includes 2 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
G2980 is a common verb for speaking, saying, telling, or uttering. The governed witness contains 298 forms, and neither the act of speech nor the Greek verb establishes that what is spoken is true, divine, intelligible, loving, or authoritative. God speaks through the prophets and by the Son in Hebrews 1. Jesus speaks, apostles testify, congregations speak, rulers answer, and people utter both faithful and harmful words.
Grammar identifies the speaker, hearer, content, manner, and setting. Those features, together with the passage, determine whether the speech is revelation, testimony, teaching, prayer, prophecy, ordinary conversation, deception, accusation, or empty talk.
Current-edition rows place 298 G2980 tokens in 273 verses and 23 books. Acts and John supply sixty forms each, 1 Corinthians thirty-four, Luke thirty-one, Matthew twenty-six, and Mark twenty-one.
On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets.
The verse identifies God as speaker and the prophets as mediating agents.
But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.
The Son's identity and the last-days setting give this speech its climactic weight.
For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.
Apostolic speech here is eyewitness testimony maintained under prohibition.
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.
Truthful speech is a commanded practice of the renewed community.
For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
The saying belongs to Jesus' rebuke and His following warning about words and judgment.
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. Speaking that emphasizes the act of utterance itself rather than the content or meaning of words
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 295 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I speak, say
Read verseI speak, say
Read verseI speak, say
Read verseI speak, say
Read verseI speak, say
Read verseI speak, say
Read verseI speak, say
Read verseI speak, say
Read verseI speak, say
Read verseI speak, say
Read verseI speak, say
Read verseI speak, say
Read verseI speak, say
Read verseI speak, say
Read verseI speak, say
Read verseI speak, say
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.
How this verb appears across 290 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 1 selected witness from 297 lexical occurrence verses.
λαλέω is from an obsolete root - no further derivation.
Describes visible manifestations accompanying Spirit reception in this transitional moment.Acts 19:1-7
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G2980 makes the act of speech visible, but the passage supplies its authority and moral quality. Hebrews names God as the speaker through the prophets and by the Son. Acts grounds apostolic witness in what the witnesses saw and heard. Ephesians commands truthful speech within the shared life of Christ's body. Matthew joins words to the heart and to accountability, while 1 Corinthians regulates congregational speaking for understanding and edification.
The same verb can therefore introduce revelation, testimony, instruction, prayer, ordinary conversation, error, or accusation. Faithful teaching should never turn the Greek form into a certificate of truth. It should identify the speaker and content, test the stated source, and follow the response the passage itself requires.
Heb.1.2
The governed forms span sixty parsing patterns. The verb may be transitive or intransitive and often works with quoted content, indirect discourse, prepositional hearers, or adverbial descriptions. Syntax and discourse identify what kind of speaking occurs.
The Old Testament repeatedly presents God speaking through chosen messengers and holds false speakers accountable. Hebrews explicitly invokes that prophetic history while directing attention to the Son.