To search (inquire) for; intensively, to demand, to crave
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G1934 intensifies seeking: to search for, seek after, desire, strive for, or in some contexts demand. Jesus names the nations' anxious pursuit of necessities, Luke describes crowds seeking Jesus while trying to retain him, Hebrews speaks of seeking the coming city, and Paul distinguishes seeking a gift from seeking fruit in the givers' lives.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἐπιζητέω (G1934) · Open the biblical lexicon
G1934 intensifies seeking: to search for, seek after, desire, strive for, or in some contexts demand. Jesus names the nations' anxious pursuit of necessities, Luke describes crowds seeking Jesus while trying to retain him, Hebrews speaks of seeking the coming city, and Paul distinguishes seeking a gift from seeking fruit in the givers' lives.
The BSB source-word alignment has 13 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include demands (2), strive after (2), because he wanted (1), had searched (1), I am looking for (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 6:32. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (3), Matthew (3), Hebrews (2), Luke (2).
G1934 intensifies seeking: to search for, seek after, desire, strive for, or in some contexts demand. Jesus names the nations' anxious pursuit of necessities, Luke describes crowds seeking Jesus while trying to retain him, Hebrews speaks of seeking the coming city, and Paul distinguishes seeking a gift from seeking fruit in the givers' lives. The verb does not make intensity righteous by itself.
A person can seek God, security, justice, a person, money, signs, or control, and the object and manner matter. G1934 helps teachers examine desire, anxiety, mission, hope, fundraising, and persistent pursuit. It must not bless stalking, donor manipulation, compulsive striving, mission possessiveness, or the claim that seeking the kingdom excuses neglect of food, housing, health, family duty, financial transparency, or consent.
G1934 describes sustained or intensive pursuit across material needs, people, signs, legal inquiry, spiritual hope, and financial relationships. Context evaluates both what is sought and how the pursuit treats others.
For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Jesus contrasts anxious striving after food, drink, and clothing with the Father's knowledge of need and the priority of God's kingdom and righteousness.
At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place, and the crowds were looking for Him. They came to Him and tried to keep Him from leaving.
The crowds seek Jesus and try to keep him from leaving, but he states that his mission must extend to other towns.
For here we do not have a permanent city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
Believers seek the city that is to come because no present city is permanent, placing hope beyond settled earthly security.
Not that I am seeking a gift, but I am looking for the fruit that may be credited to your account.
Paul denies seeking the gift itself and instead seeks fruit credited to the givers, clarifying the pastoral purpose of his financial language.
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.
Greek word. to search (inquire) for; intensively, to demand, to crave
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
14 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I seek after, desire, search for
Read verseI seek after, desire, search for
Read verseI seek after, desire, search for
Read verseI seek after, desire, search for
Read verseI seek after, desire, search for
Read verseI seek after, desire, search for
Read verseI seek after, desire, search for
Read verseI seek after, desire, search for
Read verseI seek after, desire, search for
Read verseI seek after, desire, search for
Read verseI seek after, desire, search for
Read verseI seek after, desire, search for
Read verseI seek after, desire, search for
Read verseI seek after, desire, search for
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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
How this verb appears across 13 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)
ἐπιζητέω is built from these roots:
G1934 shows that the moral quality of seeking depends on its object, manner, and relationships. Matthew 6 does not deny real material needs; Jesus explicitly says the Father knows them. He confronts anxious striving that lets necessities dominate allegiance and redirects disciples toward God's kingdom and righteousness. Luke 4 records crowds who genuinely want Jesus yet try to confine his mission to their locality.
Their desire cannot own him. Hebrews directs unsettled believers toward the coming city, and Philippians reveals transparent financial motives: Paul is not angling for a gift but seeks fruit in the givers. These texts challenge both passivity and grasping. Churches should seek justice, truth, reconciliation, provision, and faithful mission with planning and perseverance, while refusing manipulation, surveillance, donor pressure, and territorial control.
A person may seek help, treatment, work, housing, or safety without being less spiritual. A leader may pursue a mission without claiming ownership over workers or communities. G1934 invites ordered desire: seek what serves God's reign and neighbor love, tell the truth about money and motives, accept lawful boundaries, and refuse pursuits that consume health, consent, family duties, or the freedom of others.
Matt.6.32
G1934 is a Greek compound verb that can intensify seeking, searching, desiring, striving after, or demanding. Its object and discourse setting distinguish ordinary search, anxious pursuit, hostile demand, spiritual hope, and pastoral desire.
Old Testament seeking language can name pursuit of God, justice, safety, knowledge, idols, or self-interest. New Testament G1934 concentrates intensive pursuit in texts about needs, signs, mission, legal search, coming hope, and ministry motives.