To wash
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
G3068 is a verb for washing or bathing. Its five governed forms describe a person who has already bathed in John 13:10, Tabitha's body being washed after death, the Philippian jailer washing Paul and Silas's wounds, bodies washed with pure water in Hebrews, and a washed sow returning to mud in 2 Peter.
Reader summary
Full entry for λούω (G3068) · Open the biblical lexicon
G3068 is a verb for washing or bathing. Its five governed forms describe a person who has already bathed in John 13:10, Tabitha's body being washed after death, the Philippian jailer washing Paul and Silas's wounds, bodies washed with pure water in Hebrews, and a washed sow returning to mud in 2 Peter.
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [and] washed (1), has already bathed (1), her body was washed (1), that is washed (1), washed (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 13:10. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (2), 2 Peter (1), Hebrews (1), John (1).
G3068 is a verb for washing or bathing. Its five governed forms describe a person who has already bathed in John 13:10, Tabitha's body being washed after death, the Philippian jailer washing Paul and Silas's wounds, bodies washed with pure water in Hebrews, and a washed sow returning to mud in 2 Peter. The contexts include ordinary bodily care, preparation of a body, care for injuries, worship-access imagery, and a proverb about return to corruption.
In John 13:10, G3068 names the prior whole-body bathing; the separate action of washing feet uses another Greek verb. G3068 therefore does not by itself identify baptism, regeneration, justification, confession, humble service, or inward transformation. Each passage must explain the agent, object, purpose, and theological significance of its washing.
Five exact G3068 forms occur in five verses. They range from bathing and washing a body or wounds to Hebrews' washed-body imagery and 2 Peter's washed sow.
Jesus told him, ‘Whoever has already bathed needs only to wash his feet, and he will be completely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.’
The form refers to having bathed, not to the separate foot-washing action.
At that time, however, she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upper room.
The washing belongs to the treatment of Tabitha's body after death.
At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. And without delay, he and all his household were baptized.
The verse places wound care and baptism next to one another without making them the same action.
Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
The washed-body language belongs to Hebrews' exhortation to draw near through Christ's priestly work.
A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.
The proverb uses outward washing within a warning about returning to corruption.
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. Washing the whole body, distinct from νίπτω (parts) and πλύνω (garments); often ceremonial.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I wash, bathe
Read verseI wash, bathe
Read verseI wash, bathe
Read verseI wash, bathe
Read verseI wash, bathe
Read verseI wash, bathe
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 5 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)
Where this word appears in Scripture: passage, original form, and sense in context.
λούω is a primary verb - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G3068 belongs to materially different scenes. Jesus speaks of someone already bathed while another verb names foot washing. Tabitha's body is washed after death, and the jailer washes wounds before a separately named baptism. Hebrews places washed bodies inside its call to draw near with sincere hearts, while 2 Peter's proverb shows that an outwardly washed animal can return to mud.
The shared action is washing, not one automatic spiritual result. This range helps teachers honor physical care and biblical cleansing imagery without confusing them. A responsible sermon will follow the grammar and the surrounding argument, especially where adjacent actions could otherwise be collapsed into a sacramental or salvation claim the verb alone cannot prove.
John.13.10
The five forms span active, participial, and middle-passive constructions. John 13's wording is especially important because G3068 describes the person who has bathed, while the foot-washing clause uses a different lexical verb.
Biblical washings and priestly purity practices provide background for Hebrews, but no Old Testament washing rule should be transferred to all five G3068 occurrences without passage-specific argument.