To shed tears
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δακρύω means to shed tears, and John 11:35 uses it in the shortest and one of the most pastorally weighty sentences in the Gospel: Jesus wept. The word is distinct from louder mourning language nearby and focuses on tears.
Reader summary
Full entry for δακρύω (G1145) · Open the biblical lexicon
δακρύω means to shed tears, and John 11:35 uses it in the shortest and one of the most pastorally weighty sentences in the Gospel: Jesus wept. The word is distinct from louder mourning language nearby and focuses on tears.
The BSB source-word alignment has 1 aligned row for this entry. Common renderings include wept (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 11:35. Its strongest book concentrations include John (1).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
δακρύω means to shed tears, and John 11:35 uses it in the shortest and one of the most pastorally weighty sentences in the Gospel: Jesus wept. The word is distinct from louder mourning language nearby and focuses on tears. In the Lazarus narrative, Jesus' tears are not ignorance, helplessness, or unbelief. He has already declared resurrection hope. His tears show the true humanity and compassion of the Son who stands before death's ruin.
Pastorally, δακρύω helps readers see that Jesus does not confront death as an untouched spectator. He enters grief without surrendering hope. The word should not be used to make Jesus merely sympathetic or to erase His authority. In John 11, the One who weeps is also the One who calls Lazarus from the tomb. The tears and the command belong together. This gives the church a way to grieve honestly before Christ while trusting His resurrection power.
John 11:35 uses δακρύω when Jesus sheds tears at Lazarus' tomb.
δακρύω is rare, but John 11 gives it immense weight. Jesus weeps at Lazarus' tomb after speaking resurrection hope and before commanding Lazarus to come out. That placement matters. His tears are not a denial of hope, and His hope is not a denial of tears.
The surrounding narrative protects the reader from shallow conclusions. Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. He delayed for the glory of God. He taught that He is the resurrection and the life. Then He entered the sorrow of the mourners and shed tears. John presents a Savior whose compassion is not sentimental weakness and whose power is not cold distance.
For pastoral ministry, δακρύω teaches the church how to stand near graves. We do not need to choose between tears and resurrection faith. Jesus held them together. The One who wept also called the dead man out. That makes Christian grief honest, reverent, and hope-filled.
δακρύω in John 11 gathers Christ's compassion, true humanity, and authority over death into one scene. The tears are real, but they are not final.
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. Silent weeping without audible crying, distinguishing quiet tears from κλαίω's loud vocal expression of grief
Silent weeping without audible crying, distinguishing quiet tears from κλαίω's loud vocal expression of grief
to weep, shed tears: Jhn.11:35.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
1 Greek text appearance shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I shed tears, week
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 1 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)
δακρύω is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
This word opens the compassion of Christ at the grave: Jesus truly weeps, and Jesus truly commands death.
It corrects stoic Christianity that treats tears as unbelief, and it corrects sentimental Christianity that forgets Jesus' authority over death.
Frame δακρύω inside John 11's whole movement: love, delay, resurrection promise, tears, and the call from the tomb.
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain