To exceed
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Perisseuō means to abound, overflow, exceed, or have more than enough. Jesus says disciples' righteousness must exceed that of scribes and Pharisees, referring to kingdom obedience flowing from the heart rather than a larger quantity of public performance.
Reader summary
Full entry for περισσεύω (G4052) · Open the biblical lexicon
Perisseuō means to abound, overflow, exceed, or have more than enough. Jesus says disciples' righteousness must exceed that of scribes and Pharisees, referring to kingdom obedience flowing from the heart rather than a larger quantity of public performance.
The BSB source-word alignment has 39 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include abound (2), excel (2), overflow (2), surplus (2), were left over (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 5:20. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Corinthians (10), Matthew (5), Philippians (5), Luke (4).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
Perisseuō means to abound, overflow, exceed, or have more than enough. Jesus says disciples' righteousness must exceed that of scribes and Pharisees, referring to kingdom obedience flowing from the heart rather than a larger quantity of public performance. The prodigal remembers hired servants abounding in bread. Paul urges believers eager for spiritual gifts to abound in building up the church.
Ephesians says God lavished grace on believers in wisdom and understanding, and Thessalonians calls an already loving church to abound still more. The verb can describe surplus provision, lavish divine giving, surpassing quality, or growth in faithful practice. Abundance is not automatically material prosperity or approval; the passage names what overflows and toward whom.
Perisseuō marks abundance that takes different forms: righteousness surpassing religious display, food more than sufficient, gifts exercised for edification, grace lavished by God, and love growing beyond an already faithful measure.
For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:20 says disciples' righteousness must exceed that of scribes and Pharisees. The following examples show Jesus addressing anger, lust, truthfulness, retaliation, and enemy-love at the heart level.
Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food, but here I am, starving to death!
Luke 15:17 has the younger son remember that his father's hired servants have bread to spare while he starves. Abundance in the father's house awakens repentance and return, though the father's welcome exceeds his plan.
It is the same with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, strive to excel in gifts that build up the church.
First Corinthians 14:12 tells believers zealous for spiritual gifts to seek to abound for the church's edification. The measure of spiritual abundance is intelligible, loving service to others.
That He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
Ephesians 1:8 says God's grace abounded toward believers in all wisdom and understanding. The lavish gift belongs to redemption, forgiveness, and the revealed purpose summed up in Christ.
And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more
First Thessalonians 4:10 acknowledges the church's love for believers throughout Macedonia and urges them to abound more and more. Commendation becomes a platform for continued growth, not complacency.
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. To abound or overflow; to have more than enough, with surplus remaining.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 39 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I exceed, am left over
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Read verseI exceed, am left over
Read verseI exceed, am left over
Read verseI exceed, am left over
Read verseI exceed, am left over
Read verseI exceed, am left over
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Read verseI exceed, am left over
Read verseI exceed, am left over
Read verseI exceed, am left over
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 38 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 39 lexical occurrence verses.
περισσεύω is built from this root:
Connects spiritual strengthening with numerical growth.Acts 16:1-5
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Perisseuō is abundance with content and direction. Jesus does not ask disciples to outperform religious leaders in display; He describes righteousness that reaches motives, desires, speech, enemies, and love. The prodigal remembers that his father's servants have surplus bread, yet discovers a welcome more generous than wages. Corinthian zeal must overflow not in spectacle but in edification.
Ephesians locates the deepest abundance in grace lavished through Christ's redemption, while Thessalonian love is praised and still summoned to grow. The church should therefore test its idea of flourishing. More money, attention, or activity may not be biblical abundance. Grace received, righteousness deepened, needs met, gifts used intelligibly, and love extended are the overflows Scripture commends.
Eph.1.8
Perisseuō is related to perissos, "beyond the usual" or "more," and may mean abound, overflow, exceed, have surplus, or increase. Its subject and complement identify the kind and direction of abundance.
The Old Testament celebrates God's overflowing provision and steadfast love while warning against surplus hoarded without justice. Prophetic new-covenant hope anticipates abundant grace and transformed righteousness.