To cry out
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boao means to cry out, call aloud, shout, or raise the voice. The New Testament uses it for the prophetic voice preparing the Lord's way, Jesus' loud cry from the cross, desperate pleas for mercy, the elect crying to God for justice, hostile public shouting, and Scripture's summons to joy.
Reader summary
Full entry for βοάω (G994) · Open the biblical lexicon
boao means to cry out, call aloud, shout, or raise the voice. The New Testament uses it for the prophetic voice preparing the Lord's way, Jesus' loud cry from the cross, desperate pleas for mercy, the elect crying to God for justice, hostile public shouting, and Scripture's summons to joy.
The BSB source-word alignment has 12 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include of one calling (4), cried out (2), cry aloud (1), cry out (1), crying out (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 3:3. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (4), Acts (3), Mark (2), Galatians (1).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
Boao means to cry out, call aloud, shout, or raise the voice. The New Testament uses it for the prophetic voice preparing the Lord's way, Jesus' loud cry from the cross, desperate pleas for mercy, the elect crying to God for justice, hostile public shouting, and Scripture's summons to joy. The verb is not automatically a model of faithful prayer; context determines whether the cry is prophetic witness, lament, petition, accusation, or celebration.
In its most searching uses, the word shows that God hears real human need and that Jesus Himself enters loud lament at the cross. This companion should teach vocal urgency without equating volume with faith.
The selected passages show the wilderness voice, Jesus' loud cross-cry, the elect crying for justice, a blind man's plea for mercy, John's self-identification, and Scripture's command to cry aloud in promised joy.
This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.’”
Matthew applies Isaiah's voice of one calling in the wilderness to John the Baptist. boao can mark prophetic public witness preparing the Lord's way.
At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Jesus cries out in a loud voice from the cross, quoting the language of forsakenness. The verb carries real lament within His obedient suffering.
Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay in helping them?
Jesus speaks of God's elect crying out to Him day and night for justice. The cry expresses persevering dependence under delay.
So he called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
The blind man calls out to Jesus, Son of David, for mercy. The loud plea becomes a faith-filled appeal to the Messiah's compassion.
John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet: “I am a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
John identifies himself as the voice of one calling in the wilderness. His loud witness points away from himself and toward the Lord.
For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have never travailed; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.”
Paul cites Scripture commanding the barren woman to rejoice and cry aloud. The verb can carry promised joy, not only distress.
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 cry out
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
11 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I shout, call aloud
Read verseI shout, call aloud
Read verseI shout, call aloud
Read verseI shout, call aloud
Read verseI shout, call aloud
Read verseI shout, call aloud
Read verseI shout, call aloud
Read verseI shout, call aloud
Read verseI shout, call aloud
Read verseI shout, call aloud
Read verseI shout, call aloud
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 12 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)
βοάω 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.
Boao gives language for raised-voice urgency. John the Baptist is the voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for the Lord and refusing to make himself the center. Jesus cries out from the cross in the language of lament, showing that the faithful Son enters suffering with real anguish while fulfilling Scripture. Luke uses the verb for the elect who cry to God day and night for justice and for the blind man who cries to the Son of David for mercy.
Galatians cites the command for the barren woman to cry aloud in joy because God's promise overturns barrenness. The word therefore refuses a thin view of faithful speech. God's people may witness, lament, plead, and rejoice aloud, yet the power is not in volume. The cry matters because it is directed to the Lord who hears, saves, judges, and fulfills His promise.
Mark.15.34
Boao emphasizes audible, raised-voice calling. The same verb can describe prophetic witness, lament, petition, protest, or joy. The object, speaker, and narrative setting determine whether the cry is faithful, needy, hostile, or celebratory.
The prophets call aloud, the psalms cry to the Lord, and Isaiah's wilderness voice prepares for the Lord's coming. The New Testament applies that voice to John and shows Jesus Himself taking lament on His lips at the cross.