What does θεμελιόω (themelióō) mean in the Bible?
Themelioo means to lay a foundation or establish securely. Matthew 7:25 describes a house founded on rock; Jesus identifies its builder as the person who hears His words and acts on them.
Greek · G2311
θεμελιόω
Themelioo means to lay a foundation or establish securely. Matthew 7:25 describes a house founded on rock; Jesus identifies its builder as the person who hears His words and acts on them.
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θεμελιόωG2311
Pronunciationthemelióō
What does θεμελιόω (themelióō) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for θεμελιόω (G2311) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2311?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [and] establish [you] (1), established (1), grounded (1), its foundation was (1), laid the foundations (1).
Where does θεμελιόω (themelióō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 7:25. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Peter (1), Colossians (1), Ephesians (1), Hebrews (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Themelioo means to lay a foundation or establish securely. Matthew 7:25 describes a house founded on rock; Jesus identifies its builder as the person who hears His words and acts on them. Ephesians 3:17 places being grounded in love within Paul's prayer for Christ to dwell in believers through faith. Colossians 1:23 speaks of remaining established in faith and unmoved from gospel hope, and First Peter 5:10 promises God's establishing work after suffering.
Hebrews 1:10 uses the founding of the earth in its testimony concerning the Son, drawing on Psalm 102. These uses share foundational stability but concern different subjects and objects. They do not promise that faithful people avoid storms, assign a timetable to suffering, or make every physical foundation a hidden prediction about Christ.
How the Bible Uses It
The direct witnesses move from Jesus' building comparison to grounded love, continued gospel faith, God's restoration of sufferers, and the Creator's founding of the earth. Stability is explained by each passage's named foundation or establishing actor.
- Matt.7.25
The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock.
The house's endurance belongs to Jesus' contrast between hearing with obedience and hearing without doing what He says.
- Eph.3.17
So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Then you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Grounding in love forms part of a prayer for inward strengthening, Christ's dwelling through faith, and shared comprehension of His love.
- Col.1.23
If indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Remaining established and firm is joined to continuing faith and refusal to move away from the gospel's hope.
- 1Pet.5.10
And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you, secure you, strengthen you, and establish you.
God's establishing promise addresses people who suffer and resist the adversary in faith; it does not deny their hardship.
- Heb.1.10
And: “In the beginning, O Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
The quoted founding of the earth contributes to Hebrews' account of the Son's enduring identity beyond the changing creation.
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[and] establish [you]1×1 Peter 5:10
established1×Colossians 1:23
grounded1×Ephesians 3:17
its foundation was1×Matthew 7:25
laid the foundations1×Hebrews 1:10
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 7:25τεθεμελίωτοtoits foundation wasVerb - Pluperfect Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person SingularEphesians 3:17τεθεμελιωμένοιtogroundedVerb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine PluralColossians 1:23τεθεμελιωμένοιtoestablishedVerb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine PluralHebrews 1:10ἐθεμελίωσαςtolaid the foundationsVerb - Aorist Indicative Active - 2nd Person Singular1 Peter 5:10θεμελιώσειto[and] establish [you]Verb - Future Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 7:25
Aligned rows5
Books represented5
Matthew1Ephesians1Colossians1Hebrews11 Peter1
Source forms
τεθεμελιωμένοι2xtethemeliōmenoiEphesians 3:17, Colossians 1:23
ἐθεμελίωσας1xethemeliōsasHebrews 1:10
θεμελιώσει1xthemeliōsei1 Peter 5:10
τεθεμελίωτο1xtethemeliōtoMatthew 7:25
Parsing patterns
Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural2xEphesians 3:17, Colossians 1:23
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 2nd Person Singular1xHebrews 1:10
Verb - Future Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular1x1 Peter 5:10
Verb - Pluperfect Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Singular1xMatthew 7:25
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Encourage sustained faith and practical obedience without claiming that hardship proves a defective foundation.
- Grounding in love should foster patient communal growth rather than demand emotional invulnerability.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim a founded life avoids storms, because Jesus explicitly describes the storm striking the rock-founded house.
- Do not claim every foundation predicts Jesus, because Hebrews identifies its own Psalm quotation and subject.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. To establish or secure something on a foundation, emphasizing stability and endurance against collapse.
Strong'sG2311
Lexical occurrences5 versesGreek text appearances6 timesWord forms2 forms5 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study linkEphesians 3:14-21Source Gloss
to found
Extended definitionSource: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
To establish or secure something on a foundation, emphasizing stability and endurance against collapse.
to lay the foundation of, to found: with accusative, τ. γῆν, Heb.1:10 (LXX); pass., Mat.7:25, Luk.6:48; metaphorically, 1Pe.5:10 (R, mg., settle); pass., Eph.3:18, Col.1:23.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 7:25Verb Third Person Singular Pluperfect Passive Indicative
τεθεμελίωτοteqemeliwto
I found, lay the foundation
Read verseLuke 6:48Verb Third Person Singular Pluperfect Passive Indicative
τεθεμελίωτοteqemeliwto
I found, lay the foundation
Read verseEphesians 3:17Verb Perfect Passive Participle Nominative Plural Masculine
τεθεμελιωμένοιteqemeliwmenoi
I found, lay the foundation
Read verseColossians 1:23Verb Perfect Passive Participle Nominative Plural Masculine
τεθεμελιωμένοιteqemeliwmenoi
I found, lay the foundation
Read verseHebrews 1:10Verb Second Person Singular Aorist Active Indicative
ἐθεμελίωσας,eqemeliwsav
I found, lay the foundation
Read verse1 Peter 5:10Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Active Optative
θεμελιώσαι.qemeliwsai
I found, lay the foundation
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 groups2Aligned forms5TensesPerfect, Pluperfect, Aorist, FutureVoicesPassive, Active
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Participleverbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality2×
Perfect PassiveEph 3:17 · Col 1:232×
Indicativestates a fact or reality3×
Pluperfect PassiveMatt 7:251×
Aorist ActiveHeb 1:101×
Future Active1 Pet 5:101×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 4 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
future1perfect1aorist1pluperfect1
Voice
active2passive2
Mood
indicative3participle1
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 Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
metaphorical use: spiritual establishment and firm foundation in Christ's love
Showing 1 selected witness from 5 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
θεμελιόω is built from this root:
For the Preacher and Teacher
The storm reaches the well-founded house. Jesus' comparison offers stability through hearing and doing His words, not a route around testing. The epistles likewise describe foundation in a setting of dependence and continued response: Paul prays for grounding in love, urges continued gospel faith, and Peter addresses believers who are already suffering. Their establishment is neither self-manufactured invulnerability nor a denial of difficulty.
Hebrews uses the same founding action at a different scale, identifying the Lord whose created earth changes while He remains. A teacher should preserve that difference instead of treating the believer as the creator of an unshakable world. The shared word illuminates secure establishment; the passage supplies who establishes, in what, and for what hope.
Anchor passage
Matt.7.25
Doctrinal connections
- Matthew 7:24-27 identifies responsive obedience as the difference between the two foundations.
- Ephesians 3:16-19 joins inward strengthening, faith and grounding in Christ's love.
- Colossians 1:21-23 locates established faith within Christ's reconciling death and gospel hope.
- First Peter 5:8-10 joins watchful resistance with God's promised restoration after suffering.
- Hebrews 1:8-12 testifies to the Son's enduring identity beyond creation's change.
- Psalm 102:25-27 supplies Hebrews' explicit words about founding the earth and remaining unchanged.
Themelioo is a Greek verb of founding or establishing, distinct from merely naming a foundation. In Ephesians 3:17 it describes grounding in love; in Matthew 7:25 it describes the house's foundation on rock, with each object controlling the image's force.
From Old to New Testament
Psalm 102:25-27 is explicitly quoted in Hebrews 1:10-12, where the founding of the earth and the Lord's enduring years serve the testimony concerning the Son. This textual connection warrants christological teaching there without treating every Old Testament building image as an equivalent prediction.