To announce good news ("evangelize") especially the gospel
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εὐαγγελίζω is the verb that gave Christianity its most distinctive word. The noun εὐαγγέλιον (gospel, good news) dominates the NT's self-description; εὐαγγελίζω is the verb of that noun ; to bring, announce, or proclaim glad tidings.
Reader summary
Full entry for εὐαγγελίζω (G2097) · Open the biblical lexicon
εὐαγγελίζω is the verb that gave Christianity its most distinctive word. The noun εὐαγγέλιον (gospel, good news) dominates the NT's self-description; εὐαγγελίζω is the verb of that noun ; to bring, announce, or proclaim glad tidings.
The BSB source-word alignment has 54 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include to preach the gospel (5), I preached (4), preaching the gospel (3), preaching (2), proclaiming the good news (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 11:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (15), Luke (10), Galatians (7), 1 Corinthians (6).
εὐαγγελίζω is the verb that gave Christianity its most distinctive word. The noun εὐαγγέλιον (gospel, good news) dominates the NT's self-description; εὐαγγελίζω is the verb of that noun ; to bring, announce, or proclaim glad tidings. The local Greek index currently counts about 54 NT occurrences across a striking range of contexts. The angel announces to the shepherds with it (Luke 2:10).
Jesus reads Isaiah 61 and declares himself anointed to εὐαγγελίζω the poor (Luke 4:18). Philip εὐαγγελίζεται the good news about the kingdom of God to Samaria (Acts 8:12). Paul frames his entire apostolic identity in terms of this verb: 'to me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to εὐαγγελίσασθαι to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ' (Eph 3:8).
The LXX background is decisive. εὐαγγελίζω translates בָּשַׂר (piel) ; to bring good news ; the verb used in the Isaiah herald texts that run through Isaiah 40-66: the herald who brings the news of God's return to Zion, who announces peace, who proclaims salvation (Isa 40:9, 52:7, 61:1). This Isaiah heritage is not incidental. When Luke describes the angel's announcement to the shepherds with εὐαγγελίζω (Luke 2:10), he is identifying the birth of Jesus as the arrival of the Isaiah herald's long-anticipated news.
When Jesus reads Isaiah 61 in Nazareth and says 'today this is fulfilled in your hearing' (Luke 4:21), the εὐαγγελίζω that Isaiah promised is the act Jesus is performing in that synagogue. The NT's εὐαγγελίζω is not a new Greek word for a new religious phenomenon ; it is the arrival of the thing Isaiah's herald was announcing.
In the local Greek index, εὐαγγελίζω appears about 54 times in the NT and covers the full arc of gospel announcement: angelic proclamation (Luke 2:10), Jesus's self-description of his own mission (Luke 4:18), the apostolic mission to Israel and the Gentiles (Acts, Paul), and the eternal gospel proclaimed before the final judgment (Rev 14:6). The verb consistently frames the gospel as glad tidings that have arrived ; news of something accomplished, not merely a message about what could be achieved.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,
Jesus's programmatic self-identification in the Nazareth synagogue uses εὐαγγελίσασθαι from Isaiah 61:1. The text establishes three things: (1) the source of the anointing is the Spirit of the Lord; (2) the content of the good news is liberation — to the poor, the captive, the blind, the crushed; (3) the announcement is itself the arrival of what is announced.
When Jesus says 'today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing' (4:21), the hearing of the εὐαγγελίζω is simultaneous with the beginning of its fulfillment. The word is not only proclamation — it is inaugural event.
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:
The angel's announcement to the shepherds uses εὐαγγελίζομαι — 'I bring you good news.' This is the first NT occurrence of the verb, and it is spoken by an angel at the birth of Jesus. The form 'I bring you good news' preserves the original herald-messenger dynamic: someone has been sent to announce something that has happened elsewhere. The 'great joy' qualifier establishes the affective character of the content — εὐαγγελίζω is not merely informational but joy-producing.
The 'to all the people' scope anticipates the Gentile mission: what begins with shepherds in Judea is intended for the whole world.
And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Paul's chain of salvation logic ('how shall they believe without hearing, how shall they hear without preaching, how shall they preach without being sent') culminates in the Isaiah 52:7 citation: 'beautiful are the feet of those who εὐαγγελιζόμενοι good things.' The quotation identifies the Isaiah herald of restoration with the NT missionaries of the gospel — the same OT word, the same divine sending, the same structure of announcement preceding faith.
εὐαγγελίζω is not a new NT activity; it is the arrival of what Isaiah's messenger was running to announce.
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse!
Paul's strongest statement about the gospel uses εὐαγγελίζηται — if anyone εὐαγγελίζεται a different gospel, let him be accursed. The verb appears three times in Galatians 1:8-9, establishing that the content of the glad tidings is not infinitely flexible. εὐαγγελίζω has a fixed object: the gospel that was given by revelation, not by human tradition (1:11-12).
The curse applied even to an angel heralding a different εὐαγγέλιον shows the seriousness of the content question — the glad tidings must be the actual good news, not a counterfeit that wears its name.
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. Proclaim the Christian gospel of salvation as joyful, liberating news to receptive hearers.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 55 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I bring good news, preach good tidings
Read verseI bring good news, preach good tidings
Read verseI bring good news, preach good tidings
Read verseI bring good news, preach good tidings
Read verseI bring good news, preach good tidings
Read verseI bring good news, preach good tidings
Read verseI bring good news, preach good tidings
Read verseI bring good news, preach good tidings
Read verseI bring good news, preach good tidings
Read verseI bring good news, preach good tidings
Read verseI bring good news, preach good tidings
Read verseI bring good news, preach good tidings
Read verseI bring good news, preach good tidings
Read verseI bring good news, preach good tidings
Read verseI bring good news, preach good tidings
Read verseI bring good news, preach good tidings
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 49 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 8 selected witnesses from 54 lexical occurrence verses.
εὐαγγελίζω is built from these roots:
The gospel must be announced; it advances through proclamation. Acts 8:1-8
Defines the joyful message of the kingdom. Acts 8:26-40
The scattered believers actively announce the gospel rather than retreat into silence. Luke 8:1–3
Philip’s explanation centers on announcing Christ as fulfillment of prophecy. Romans 1:8-15
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
εὐαγγελίζω is the verb that the angel used to the shepherds, that Jesus used of himself in Nazareth, and that Paul used of his life's work. Those three uses together define the word's range: it is the announcement of news that has happened, not the proposal of news that could happen. The difference matters enormously. The shepherd-announcement is about a birth that has occurred — the Savior is already in the manger.
The Nazareth announcement is about a mission that has already begun — 'the Spirit of the Lord is upon me.' Paul's statement in Ephesians 3:8 is about unsearchable riches that are already in Christ, waiting to be announced, not waiting to be achieved. εὐαγγελίζω is always retrospective in its orientation: it announces what God has done, not what he might do if certain conditions are met.
This is the word's greatest pastoral gift. The evangelist does not persuade people to make something happen — she announces something that has already happened and invites people into the reality of it. The content of εὐαγγελίζω is not a program, a community, or a lifestyle. According to Luke 4:18, it is liberation for the poor, release for the captive, sight for the blind, and freedom for the crushed.
According to Romans 10:15, quoting Isaiah 52:7, it is peace and good things — the shalom of God's restored order. According to 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, it is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ according to the Scriptures. All three formulas describe an accomplished event whose announcement is the glad tidings. The preacher who understands εὐαγγελίζω does not carry a proposal into the world but a report: the King has acted, the captives are free, and here is the evidence.
Luke.4.18
εὐαγγελίζω is a compound verb: εὐ (well, good) and ἀγγελίζω (to announce, from ἄγγελος, messenger). It means literally 'to bring good announcement' — the verbal form of εὐαγγέλιον (good news, gospel). In classical Greek the word was used for reporting a military victory or announcing good news from a campaign. The LXX appropriates it for the Hebrew בָּשַׂר (piel, to bring good news), which appears in the Isaiah herald texts (Isa 40:9, 52:7, 61:1) and in 2 Samuel 18 (announcing Absalom's defeat).
The NT inherits the Isaiah register: εὐαγγελίζω is almost exclusively used for the announcement of the messianic event and its implications. The distinction from κηρύσσω (G2784) is focus: κηρύσσω emphasizes the herald's act (authoritative public announcement), εὐαγγελίζω emphasizes the content's character (it is good news, glad tidings).
εὐαγγελίζω's OT foundation lies in Isaiah's herald theology, particularly three passages. Isaiah 40:9 calls Zion to 'get up to a high mountain' and εὐαγγελίζω — the LXX verb — to announce the return of God to his people. Isaiah 52:7 celebrates the messenger with beautiful feet who announces peace, good things, and salvation, who says to Zion 'your God reigns.'
Isaiah 61:1 describes the anointed one who is sent to bring good news (εὐαγγελίσασθαι) to the poor. These three texts form the backbone of NT εὐαγγελίζω theology. Luke 4:18 cites Isaiah 61:1 as Jesus's own commission. Romans 10:15 cites Isaiah 52:7 as the apostolic pattern. The angel's announcement in Luke 2:10 evokes Isaiah 40:9's call to announce God's arrival.
The NT is not inventing a new vocabulary for a new activity — it is identifying the arrival of the thing Isaiah's herald was describing. The glad tidings have come. The God who was promised has appeared. The announcement that the herald of Isaiah was running to make has been made at Bethlehem, at Nazareth, at Calvary, and at the empty tomb.
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