What does ἐμπτύω (emptýō) mean in the Bible?
ἐμπτύω (emptýō): Spitting as extreme contempt and humiliation, particularly in mockery of Jesus during his passion narrative.
Greek · G1716
ἐμπτύω
To spit at or on
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ἐμπτύω G1716
Pronunciation emptýō
What does ἐμπτύω (emptýō) mean in the Bible?
ἐμπτύω (emptýō): Spitting as extreme contempt and humiliation, particularly in mockery of Jesus during his passion narrative.
Full entry for ἐμπτύω (G1716) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1716?
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include they spit (2), spit on (1), spit upon (1), spitting on (1), to spit on (1).
Where does ἐμπτύω (emptýō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 26:67. Its strongest book concentrations include Mark (3), Matthew (2), Luke (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It they spit 2× Matthew 26:67, Matthew 27:30
spit on 1× Mark 10:34
spit upon 1× Luke 18:32
spitting on 1× Mark 15:19
to spit on 1× Mark 14:65
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 26:67 ἐνέπτυσαν to they spit Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural Matthew 27:30 ἐμπτύσαντες to they spit Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural Mark 10:34 ἐμπτύσουσιν to spit on Verb - Future Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural Mark 14:65 ἐμπτύειν to to spit on Verb - Present Infinitive Active Mark 15:19 ἐνέπτυον to spitting on Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural Luke 18:32 ἐμπτυσθήσεται to spit upon Verb - Future Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 26:67
Aligned rows 6
Books represented 3
Matthew 2 Mark 3 Luke 1
Source forms
ἐμπτύειν 1x emptyein Mark 14:65
ἐμπτύσαντες 1x emptysantes Matthew 27:30
ἐμπτυσθήσεται 1x emptysthēsetai Luke 18:32
ἐμπτύσουσιν 1x emptysousin Mark 10:34
ἐνέπτυον 1x eneptyon Mark 15:19
ἐνέπτυσαν 1x eneptysan Matthew 26:67
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural 1x Matthew 26:67
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural 1x Matthew 27:30
Verb - Future Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural 1x Mark 10:34
Verb - Future Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Singular 1x Luke 18:32
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural 1x Mark 15:19
Verb - Present Infinitive Active 1x Mark 14:65
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Spitting as extreme contempt and humiliation, particularly in mockery of Jesus during his passion narrative.
Strong's G1716
Lexical occurrences 6 verses Greek text appearances 6 times Word forms 3 forms 6 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
to spit at or on
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Spitting as extreme contempt and humiliation, particularly in mockery of Jesus during his passion narrative.
= cl., καταπτύω (Ruth., NPhr., 66), to spit upon: with dative, Mrk.10:34 14:65 15:19; before εἰς, Mat.26:67 27:30. Pass., Luk.18:32.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 26:67 Verb Third Person Plural Aorist Active Indicative
ἐνέπτυσαν eneptusan
I spit upon
Read verse Matthew 27:30 Verb Aorist Active Participle Nominative Plural Masculine
ἐμπτύσαντες emptusantev
I spit upon
Read verse Mark 10:34 Verb Third Person Plural Future Active Indicative
ἐμπτύσουσιν emptusousin
I spit upon
Read verse Mark 14:65 Verb Present Active Infinitive
ἐμπτύειν emptuein
I spit upon
Read verse Mark 15:19 Verb Third Person Plural Imperfect Active Indicative
ἐνέπτυον eneptuon
I spit upon
Read verse Luke 18:32 Verb Third Person Singular Future Passive Indicative
ἐμπτυσθήσεται, emptusqhsetai
I spit upon
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.
Grammatical Forms
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.
Form groups 3 Aligned forms 6 Tenses Aorist, Future, Present, Imperfect Voices Active, Passive
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Indicative states a fact or reality 4×
Aorist Active Matt 26:67 1×
Future Active Mark 10:34 1×
Imperfect Active Mark 15:19 1×
Future Passive Luke 18:32 1×
Participle verbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality 1×
Aorist Active Matt 27:30 1×
Infinitive verbal noun — the action in abstract 1×
Present Active Mark 14:65 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 6 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
future 2 aorist 2 present 1 imperfect 1
Voice
active 5 passive 1
Mood
indicative 4 infinitive 1 participle 1
NT Occurrences
Matthew 26:67 ἐνέπτυσαν aorist active indicative completed Matthew 27:30 ἐμπτύσαντες aorist active participle participle Mark 10:34 ἐμπτύσουσιν future active indicative prospective Mark 14:65 ἐμπτύειν present active infinitive infinitive Mark 15:19 ἐνέπτυον imperfect active indicative background Luke 18:32 ἐμπτυσθήσεται future passive indicative prospective
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)
Word Origins
ἐμπτύω is built from these roots:
Sources
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