To rejoice
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Agalliao names deep rejoicing, exulting, or gladness that rises in response to God's saving work, future reward, revealed grace, or coming glory. It can be commanded to persecuted disciples, sung by Mary, seen in Jesus' joy in the Spirit, remembered in Abraham's glad anticipation of Christ's day, and lived by believers who love the unseen Christ.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀγαλλιάω (G21) · Open the biblical lexicon
Agalliao names deep rejoicing, exulting, or gladness that rises in response to God's saving work, future reward, revealed grace, or coming glory. It can be commanded to persecuted disciples, sung by Mary, seen in Jesus' joy in the Spirit, remembered in Abraham's glad anticipation of Christ's day, and lived by believers who love the unseen Christ.
The BSB source-word alignment has 11 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include be glad (2), rejoiced (2), rejoices (2), . . . (1), [Jesus] rejoiced (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 5:12. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Peter (3), Acts (2), John (2), Luke (2).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
Agalliao names deep rejoicing, exulting, or gladness that rises in response to God's saving work, future reward, revealed grace, or coming glory. It can be commanded to persecuted disciples, sung by Mary, seen in Jesus' joy in the Spirit, remembered in Abraham's glad anticipation of Christ's day, and lived by believers who love the unseen Christ. The word is more than a passing mood, though it includes real emotion.
It is joy with an object: God the Savior, the kingdom reward, the revelation of Christ, the gospel received, and the marriage of the Lamb. Agalliao helps teachers connect affliction and worship without confusing joy with denial.
Agalliao describes exultant joy rooted in God's salvation, Christ's revelation, promised reward, and final celebration.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.
Jesus commands persecuted disciples to rejoice and be glad because their reward is great in heaven.
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
Mary's spirit rejoices in God her Savior, setting agalliao within worshipful response to saving mercy.
At that time Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.
Jesus rejoices in the Holy Spirit as He praises the Father for revealing kingdom truth to little children.
Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see My day. He saw it and was glad.”
Jesus says Abraham rejoiced to see His day, connecting exultant joy with promise fulfilled in Christ.
Then he brought them into his home and set a meal before them. So he and all his household rejoiced that they had come to believe in God.
The jailer and his household rejoice after coming to believe in God, joining joy to conversion and hospitality.
Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
Peter says believers who love the unseen Christ rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy.
Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him the glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.
The call to rejoice and give glory comes as the marriage of the Lamb arrives.
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. Exultant joy that expresses gladness in God, often with overtones of triumph or celebration
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
11 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I exult, am full of joy
Read verseI exult, am full of joy
Read verseI exult, am full of joy
Read verseI exult, am full of joy
Read verseI exult, am full of joy
Read verseI exult, am full of joy
Read verseI exult, am full of joy
Read verseI exult, am full of joy
Read verseI exult, am full of joy
Read verseI exult, am full of joy
Read verseI exult, am full of joy
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 11 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 4 selected witnesses from 11 lexical occurrence verses.
ἀγαλλιάω is built from this root:
Expresses Christ’s deep exultation in sovereign grace.Acts 16:25-34
Expresses the transformative joy of conversion.Luke 10:21–24
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
The core insight of agalliao is that New Testament joy exults because God has acted, promised, revealed, and will complete His saving work. The word appears where circumstances do not always look easy: persecution in Matthew, hidden revelation in Luke, Abraham waiting for Christ's day, a jailer newly rescued, believers grieved by trials, and saints awaiting final celebration.
Its joy is not fragile optimism. It has a theological object. God saves. Christ is seen by faith. The Spirit reveals. The coming reward is real. The marriage of the Lamb will arrive. Agalliao therefore helps preaching invite honest sufferers into hope-filled worship rather than into performance or denial.
1Pet.1.8
Agalliao is a verb of strong rejoicing or exulting. Voice and setting vary, so the context must show whether joy is commanded, narrated, sung, or anticipated.
The Old Testament often commands rejoicing in the Lord's salvation and coming reign. The New Testament focuses that joy on Christ's arrival, cross-shaped discipleship, Spirit-given revelation, and the Lamb's final wedding celebration.