What does ἐπισκιάζω (episkiázō) mean in the Bible?
ἐπισκιάζω (episkiázō): Divine presence manifesting through protective shadowing, often accompanied by luminous cloud or Spirit.
Greek · G1982
ἐπισκιάζω
To overshadow
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ἐπισκιάζω G1982
Pronunciation episkiázō
What does ἐπισκιάζω (episkiázō) mean in the Bible?
ἐπισκιάζω (episkiázō): Divine presence manifesting through protective shadowing, often accompanied by luminous cloud or Spirit.
Full entry for ἐπισκιάζω (G1982) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1982?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include enveloped (2), [and] enveloped (1), might fall on (1), will overshadow (1).
Where does ἐπισκιάζω (episkiázō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 17:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (2), Acts (1), Mark (1), Matthew (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 enveloped 2× Matthew 17:5, Luke 9:34
[and] enveloped 1× Mark 9:7
might fall on 1× Acts 5:15
will overshadow 1× Luke 1:35
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 17:5 ἐπεσκίασεν to enveloped Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular Mark 9:7 ἐπισκιάζουσα to [and] enveloped Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Feminine Singular Luke 1:35 ἐπισκιάσει to will overshadow Verb - Future Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular Luke 9:34 ἐπεσκίαζεν to enveloped Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular Acts 5:15 ἐπισκιάσῃ to might fall on Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 17:5
Aligned rows 5
Books represented 4
Matthew 1 Mark 1 Luke 2 Acts 1
Source forms
ἐπεσκίαζεν 1x epeskiazen Luke 9:34
ἐπεσκίασεν 1x epeskiasen Matthew 17:5
ἐπισκιάζουσα 1x episkiazousa Mark 9:7
ἐπισκιάσει 1x episkiasei Luke 1:35
ἐπισκιάσῃ 1x episkiasē Acts 5:15
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x Matthew 17:5
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x Acts 5:15
Verb - Future Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x Luke 1:35
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x Luke 9:34
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Feminine Singular 1x Mark 9:7
Evidence Summary
Presence
Greek word. Divine presence manifesting through protective shadowing, often accompanied by luminous cloud or Spirit.
Strong's G1982
Lexical occurrences 5 verses Greek text appearances 5 times Word forms 3 forms 5 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Luke 1:26–38 Source Gloss
to overshadow
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Divine presence manifesting through protective shadowing, often accompanied by luminous cloud or Spirit.
to throw a shadow upon, overshadow: with dative, Act.5:15; of a shining (Mt, l.with, and cf. Exo.40:29, 35, 2Ma.2:8) cloud, with dative, Mrk.9:7; with accusative, Mat.17:5, Luk.9:34; metaphorically (cf. Pss, Pr, ll.with), of the Holy Spirit, Luk.1:35.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 17:5 Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Active Indicative
ἐπεσκίασεν epeskiasen
I overshadow, envelop
Read verse Mark 9:7 Verb Present Active Participle Nominative Singular Feminine
ἐπισκιάζουσα episkiazousa
I overshadow, envelop
Read verse Luke 1:35 Verb Third Person Singular Future Active Indicative
ἐπισκιάσει episkiasei
I overshadow, envelop
Read verse Luke 9:34 Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Active Indicative
ἐπεσκίασεν epeskiasen
I overshadow, envelop
Read verse Acts 5:15 Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Active Subjunctive
ἐπισκιάσῃ episkiash
I overshadow, envelop
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 5 Tenses Aorist, Present, Future, Imperfect Voices Active
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Indicative states a fact or reality 3×
Aorist Active Matt 17:5 1×
Future Active Luke 1:35 1×
Imperfect Active Luke 9:34 1×
Participle verbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality 1×
Present Active Mark 9:7 1×
Subjunctive possibility, probability, or purpose 1×
Aorist Active Acts 5:15 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 5 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist 2 future 1 imperfect 1 present 1
Voice
active 5
Mood
indicative 3 subjunctive 1 participle 1
NT Occurrences
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 Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
will overshadow
Additional Occurrences
Luke 1:26–38 ἐπισκιάσει episkiázō
Will overshadow
Luke 9:28–36 ἐπισκιάζω episkiázō
Overshadow
Mark 9:2–8 ἐπισκιάζω episkiázō
to overshadow
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 5 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
ἐπισκιάζω is built from these roots:
Why This Word Matters
Connects incarnation to divine glory presence imagery. Luke 1:26–38
Canonical Themes
Presence
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