To hear (in various senses)
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Ἀκούω is a Greek verb meaning to hear, listen, receive by hearing, heed, or understand what is heard. It can describe physical hearing, receiving testimony, attending to a command, or hearing in a way that calls for response.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀκούω (G191) · Open the biblical lexicon
Ἀκούω is a Greek verb meaning to hear, listen, receive by hearing, heed, or understand what is heard. It can describe physical hearing, receiving testimony, attending to a command, or hearing in a way that calls for response.
The BSB source-word alignment has 428 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include heard (44), I heard (26), hear (24), You have heard (19), to hear (17).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 2:3. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (89), Luke (65), Matthew (63), John (59).
This entry includes 7 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
Ἀκούω is a Greek verb meaning to hear, listen, receive by hearing, heed, or understand what is heard. It can describe physical hearing, receiving testimony, attending to a command, or hearing in a way that calls for response.
Pastorally, this word matters because Scripture often treats hearing as accountable reception. The Father says to listen to the Son. Jesus says the one who hears His word and believes has eternal life. The churches must hear what the Spirit says. Apostolic testimony is something heard, announced, and kept.
The verb should not be flattened. Hearing can be mere sound, attentive listening, obedient response, or reception of witness. The passage tells which sense is active.
Akouo is currently counted about 427 times in the local Greek artifact. It can mean hear, listen, receive testimony, heed, or understand what is heard.
Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him!”
The voice from the cloud commands, Listen to Him. The verb becomes a call to receive the Son.
Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.
The one who hears Jesus' word and believes has eternal life. Hearing is joined to believing response.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God.
The one with an ear must hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The verb serves covenant warning and promise.
And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
John announces the message heard from Him. The verb supports apostolic witness.
As for you, let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If it does, you will also remain in the Son and in the Father.
What the readers heard from the beginning must remain in them. Hearing becomes received apostolic teaching to abide in.
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. Hearing that demands obedient response, not mere acoustic perception of sound
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 437 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I hear, listen
Read verseI hear, listen
Read verseI hear, listen
Read verseI hear, listen
Read verseI hear, listen
Read verseI hear, listen
Read verseI hear, listen
Read verseI hear, listen
Read verseI hear, listen
Read verseI hear, listen
Read verseI hear, listen
Read verseI hear, listen
Read verseI hear, listen
Read verseI hear, listen
Read verseI hear, listen
Read verseI hear, listen
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 411 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 6 selected witnesses from 427 lexical occurrence verses.
ἀκούω is a primary verb - no further derivation.
Calls for obedient submission to Christ. Luke 8:16–18
Defines responsible reception of revelation. Luke 8:19–21
Represents continuous reception of divine revelation. Mark 9:2–8
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Akouo helps readers see hearing or listening. In key passages, hearing is tied to faith, witness, obedience, or perseverance.
Mark.9.7
Akouo can take different objects and constructions. Context decides whether the emphasis is hearing sound, receiving a message, heeding a command, or understanding testimony.
From prophetic calls to hear to the Father's command to hear the Son, Scripture treats hearing as accountable reception of God's word.
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