What does θορυβέω (thorybéō) mean in the Bible?
Thorybeo describes making a commotion or throwing people into an uproar. The selected New Testament passages place this activity in different situations.
Greek · G2350
θορυβέω
Thorybeo describes making a commotion or throwing people into an uproar. The selected New Testament passages place this activity in different situations.
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θορυβέωG2350
Pronunciationthorybéō
What does θορυβέω (thorybéō) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for θορυβέω (G2350) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2350?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [and] sent the city into an uproar (1), all this commotion (1), be alarmed (1), noisy (1), upset (1).
Where does θορυβέω (thorybéō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 9:23. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (2), Luke (1), Mark (1), Matthew (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Thorybeo describes making a commotion or throwing people into an uproar. The selected New Testament passages place this activity in different situations. Matthew and Mark describe the noisy gathering around a child who has died; Jesus enters the scene and acts for the child. At Troas, Paul tells alarmed people not to be disturbed after Eutychus falls, and the account ends with the boy alive and the people comforted.
In Thessalonica, opponents deliberately recruit troublemakers and incite the city. The verb does not make ordinary mourning and organized hostility the same moral act. Readers should follow what each scene actually reports: grief, alarm or an effort to mobilize a crowd. Neither Jesus' question nor Paul's reassurance gives permission to ridicule grieving people or promise every family the same immediate outcome.
How the Bible Uses It
Four selected passages describe noisy mourning, alarm around Eutychus and a deliberately incited city. Matthew and Mark narrate the same child's restoration, while Acts places reassurance and hostile mobilization in separate episodes.
- Matt.9.23
When Jesus entered the house of the synagogue leader, He saw the flute players and the noisy crowd.
The noisy crowd belongs to the setting of the child's death; Jesus' subsequent action, rather than the noise alone, governs the story.
- Mark.5.39
He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but asleep.”
Jesus questions the commotion before taking the child's hand and restoring her; His unique action cannot become contempt for ordinary mourners.
- Acts.20.10
But Paul went down, threw himself on the young man, and embraced him. “Do not be alarmed!” he said. “He is still alive!”
Paul reassures people after Eutychus falls; the narrative proceeds to the boy being taken home alive and the people greatly relieved.
- Acts.17.5
The Jews, however, became jealous. So they brought in some troublemakers from the marketplace, formed a mob, and sent the city into an uproar. They raided Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas, hoping to bring them out to the people.
The uproar is deliberately incited by recruiting troublemakers and raiding Jason's house, unlike the grief and alarm of the other episodes.
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] sent the city into an uproar1×Acts 17:5
all this commotion1×Mark 5:39
be alarmed1×Acts 20:10
noisy1×Matthew 9:23
upset1×Luke 10:41
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 9:23θορυβούμενονtonoisyVerb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Accusative Masculine SingularMark 5:39θορυβεῖσθεtoall this commotionVerb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person PluralLuke 10:41θορυβάζῃtoupsetVerb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person SingularActs 17:5ἐθορύβουνto[and] sent the city into an uproarVerb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person PluralActs 20:10θορυβεῖσθεtobe alarmedVerb - Present Imperative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 9:23
Aligned rows5
Books represented4
Matthew1Mark1Luke1Acts2
Source forms
θορυβεῖσθε2xthorybeistheMark 5:39, Acts 20:10
ἐθορύβουν1xethorybounActs 17:5
θορυβάζῃ1xthorybazēLuke 10:41
θορυβούμενον1xthoryboumenonMatthew 9:23
Parsing patterns
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural1xActs 17:5
Verb - Present Imperative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person Plural1xActs 20:10
Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person Plural1xMark 5:39
Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person Singular1xLuke 10:41
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Accusative Masculine Singular1xMatthew 9:23
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Listen to bereaved people without requiring quiet emotions as evidence that they trust God or understood this study.
- Assess public incitement through its actions and evidence rather than deciding motive from volume or a person's group identity.
Avoid claiming...
- Thorybeo does not establish that crying, noisy grief or an alarmed response is inherently rebellious against God.
- The stories of the child and Eutychus do not make a confident prediction of restoration available for every death.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. to make commotion
Strong'sG2350
Lexical occurrences4 versesGreek text appearances4 timesWord forms3 forms4 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Source Gloss
to make commotion
Extended definitionSource: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
(θόρυβος), [in LXX: Nam.2:3 (רָעַל ho.), Dan LXX 8:17 (בָּעַת ni.), Jdg.3:26, Wis.18:19, Sir.40:6 * ;]
1to make a noise or uproar: mid., of loud and ostentatious lamentation, Mat.9:23, Mrk.5:39, Act.20:10.
2Trans., to trouble, throw into confusion: τ. πόλιν, Act.17:5.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
4 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 9:23Verb Present Passive Participle Accusative Singular Masculine
θορυβούμενον,qoruboumenon
I disturb greatly, terrify, strike with panic
Read verseMark 5:39Verb Second Person Plural Present Passive Indicative
θορυβεῖσθεqorubeisqe
I disturb greatly, terrify, strike with panic
Read verseActs 17:5Verb Third Person Plural Imperfect Active Indicative
ἐθορύβουνeqoruboun
I disturb greatly, terrify, strike with panic
Read verseActs 20:10Verb Second Person Plural Present Passive Imperative
θορυβεῖσθε·qorubeisqe
I disturb greatly, terrify, strike with panic
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 groups3Aligned forms4TensesPresent, ImperfectVoicesPassive, 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 quality1×
Present PassiveMatt 9:231×
Indicativestates a fact or reality2×
Present PassiveMark 5:391×
Imperfect ActiveActs 17:51×
Imperativecommand or strong request1×
Present PassiveActs 20:101×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 3 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
present2imperfect1
Voice
passive2active1
Mood
indicative1imperative1participle1
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)
Word Origins
θορυβέω is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
Acts 20 begins the commotion scene with a concrete crisis: Eutychus falls from an upper window during the gathering and is picked up dead. Paul goes down, embraces him and tells the people not to be alarmed. The story later reports that they take the boy home alive and are greatly relieved. Reassurance in this account is bound to what the narrative says happened; it is not a general command that grieving people must look calm.
Matthew and Mark likewise place Jesus' words beside His action for the child. Acts 17 supplies the moral contrast, showing people deliberately stirring a city against others. The study therefore distinguishes care that meets distress from incitement that exploits it, while leaving space for truthful lament and refusing to manufacture promises for every bereaved family.
Anchor passage
Acts.20.10
Doctrinal connections
- Jesus' authority over the child's death appears through His restoring action rather than a demand that mourners produce composure.
- The account of Eutychus moves from crisis through Paul's care to shared relief when the boy returns alive.
- The Thessalonian mob's hostility occurs alongside the proclamation that the Christ suffered and rose from the dead.
- Faithful messengers and their hosts can face public uproar without that hostility disproving the gospel they announce.
- Psalm 13 makes room for sorrow and honest questions within continuing trust in God's loving devotion.
- Communal care attends to the distressed person instead of treating the visible intensity of emotion as a spiritual score.
Thorybeo can describe making a commotion or putting others into an uproar. The different constructions identify noisy mourners, alarmed hearers and people inciting a city; they do not assign the same motive to all those participants.
From Old to New Testament
Psalm 13 speaks openly of sorrow, unanswered questions and the fear of death before confessing trust in God's loving devotion. It supports room for lament when teaching the Gospel mourning scenes. The Hebrew psalm is not another occurrence of this Greek verb, and its movement toward praise is not a timetable to impose on a grieving person.