To thirst for (literally or figuratively)
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Διψάω (dipsaō) means to thirst, experience bodily need for water, or long intensely for something. Jesus blesses those hungering and thirsting for righteousness, using physical appetite to describe sustained desire for God's just rule and transforming gift.
Reader summary
Full entry for διψάω (G1372) · Open the biblical lexicon
Διψάω (dipsaō) means to thirst, experience bodily need for water, or long intensely for something. Jesus blesses those hungering and thirsting for righteousness, using physical appetite to describe sustained desire for God's just rule and transforming gift.
The BSB source-word alignment has 16 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include thirsty (4), I was thirsty (2), is thirsty (2), will never thirst (2), he is thirsty (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 5:6. Its strongest book concentrations include John (6), Matthew (5), Revelation (3), 1 Corinthians (1).
This entry includes 3 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
Διψάω (dipsaō) means to thirst, experience bodily need for water, or long intensely for something. Jesus blesses those hungering and thirsting for righteousness, using physical appetite to describe sustained desire for God's just rule and transforming gift. At the well, He says ordinary water leaves a person thirsty again before offering living water that becomes a spring toward eternal life.
Romans commands giving drink to a thirsty enemy, making enemy love concrete rather than sentimental. Paul lists hunger and thirst among the real bodily deprivations of apostolic ministry. Revelation promises that the redeemed multitude will never thirst again because the Lamb shepherds them to living-water springs. Literal and metaphorical thirst remain related but distinct; neither should erase bodily need or Christ's spiritual provision.
Διψάω describes bodily thirst and intense longing. It portrays desire for righteousness, recurring need answered by living water, mercy toward a thirsty enemy, apostolic deprivation, and final satisfaction under the Lamb.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Those who thirst for righteousness are blessed because God will satisfy the desire for His just and transforming reign, not because desire itself earns the kingdom.
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.
Jesus contrasts water that produces recurring thirst with His living-water gift, drawing the Samaritan woman toward recognition of the Messiah.
On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Believers give drink to a thirsty enemy, refusing revenge through practical care for the opponent's embodied need.
To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.
Paul's apostolic catalog includes actual hunger and thirst, poor clothing, brutal treatment, and homelessness rather than turning ministry suffering into metaphor.
‘Never again will they hunger, and never will they thirst; nor will the sun beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat.’
The great multitude will no longer hunger or thirst because the Lamb shepherds them to springs of living water and God wipes away every tear.
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. Spiritual hunger for righteousness or God's presence, not merely physical thirst
Spiritual hunger for righteousness or God's presence, not merely physical thirst
(δίψα, thirst), [in LXX chiefly for צָמֵא ;] to thirst: absol., Mat.25:35, 37 25:42, 44, Jhn.4:13, 15 19:28, Rom.12:20" (LXX), 1Co.4:11; figuratively, Jhn.4:14 6:35 7:37, Rev.7:16 21:6 22:17; with accusative (= cl. with genitive), τ. δικαιοσύνην, Mat.5:6.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I thirst for, desire earnestly
Read verseI thirst for, desire earnestly
Read verseI thirst for, desire earnestly
Read verseI thirst for, desire earnestly
Read verseI thirst for, desire earnestly
Read verseI thirst for, desire earnestly
Read verseI thirst for, desire earnestly
Read verseI thirst for, desire earnestly
Read verseI thirst for, desire earnestly
Read verseI thirst for, desire earnestly
Read verseI thirst for, desire earnestly
Read verseI thirst for, desire earnestly
Read verseI thirst for, desire earnestly
Read verseI thirst for, desire earnestly
Read verseI thirst for, desire earnestly
Read verseI thirst for, desire earnestly
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 14 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 16 lexical occurrence verses.
διψάω is built from this root:
Symbolizes spiritual need and longing.
Thirst makes dependence impossible to hide. Jesus turns its urgency toward righteousness, promising divine satisfaction to people who yearn for God's will rather than accommodate injustice. At Jacob's well, recurring bodily thirst becomes the doorway to a gift only Jesus can provide, but His metaphor does not make physical water unimportant. Romans proves that enemy love must reach the body by giving drink to an opponent.
Paul likewise refuses to sanitize ministry; apostles can thirst because gospel faithfulness does not guarantee comfort. Revelation carries both kinds of need toward completion as the Lamb shepherds His people to living water and ends exposure to scorching heat. Churches should seek righteousness, provide clean water, care for enemies, support suffering workers, and proclaim Christ without confusing spiritual abundance with exemption from bodily vulnerability.
Matt.5.6
Διψάω is the verb for being thirsty and may take an object or preposition naming what is desired. Figurative uses extend bodily craving to spiritual and moral longing.
Wilderness thirst receives water from God, psalms thirst for His presence, prophets invite the thirsty to receive freely, Jesus gives living water, and new creation ends thirst.
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