Through the idea of insensate craving); to rave as a "maniac"
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G3105 is a verb for being out of one's mind or being described as mad. Its five governed forms occur in accusations directed at Jesus, Rhoda, and Paul, in Paul's denial of Festus's charge, and in a warning about how uninstructed visitors may interpret an unintelligible church gathering.
Reader summary
Full entry for μαίνομαι (G3105) · Open the biblical lexicon
G3105 is a verb for being out of one's mind or being described as mad. Its five governed forms occur in accusations directed at Jesus, Rhoda, and Paul, in Paul's denial of Festus's charge, and in a warning about how uninstructed visitors may interpret an unintelligible church gathering.
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include I am not insane (1), insane (1), You are insane (1), You are out of your mind (1), you are out of your minds (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 10:20. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (3), 1 Corinthians (1), John (1).
G3105 is a verb for being out of one's mind or being described as mad. Its five governed forms occur in accusations directed at Jesus, Rhoda, and Paul, in Paul's denial of Festus's charge, and in a warning about how uninstructed visitors may interpret an unintelligible church gathering. The verb reports a judgment about rationality in these scenes; it does not provide a modern clinical diagnosis.
John 10 records opponents combining demon-possession and insanity language, but that accusation must not be turned into a general equation between mental illness, sin, and demonic activity. Acts 26 preserves both the charge against Paul and his answer that his words are true and sober. First Corinthians 14 also prevents teachers from treating every accusation as proof of faithfulness, because avoidable disorder can obscure the church's witness.
Five exact G3105 forms occur in five verses. Four report or anticipate accusations of being out of one's mind, while Acts 26:25 records Paul's direct denial.
Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and insane. Why would you listen to Him?”
John reports the accusation and then preserves a contrary assessment from other hearers.
“You are out of your mind,” they told her. But when she kept insisting it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”
Rhoda's persistence and Peter's presence show that the dismissive label does not answer her report.
At this stage of Paul’s defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You are insane, Paul! Your great learning is driving you to madness!”
Festus applies the label to Paul's defense rather than answering its claims within this sentence.
But Paul answered, “I am not insane, most excellent Festus; I am speaking words of truth and sobriety.
Paul denies the same verb directly and responds with respectful clarity.
So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who are uninstructed or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds?
The anticipated reaction supports Paul's concern for intelligible, edifying worship.
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. To rave or act irrationally from intense emotion, especially appearing mad or possessed to observers.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I am raving mad
Read verseI am raving mad
Read verseI am raving mad
Read verseI am raving mad
Read verseI am raving mad
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 5 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 1 selected witness from 5 lexical occurrence verses.
Represents skeptical dismissal of resurrection faith.Acts 26:24-32
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G3105 warns against replacing discernment with a label. Some hearers dismiss Jesus without resolving the evidence named in the scene. The believers dismiss Rhoda even though her report is true, and Festus calls Paul insane before Paul answers with truth and sobriety. Yet Paul also expects a confused outsider response when church speech is not intelligible. Faithful communities should therefore test testimony, answer clearly, and receive correction about their communication.
They should never use these ancient accusations to mock psychiatric suffering, equate illness with demonization, or treat professional care as spiritual failure. Nor should a leader shield disorderly or harmful conduct by claiming that all criticism is persecution.
Acts.26.24-25
The five present-middle indicative forms use four surface forms. Context shows whether the verb is asserted, quoted, anticipated, or denied; morphology alone does not validate the judgment.
Scripture repeatedly calls God's people to truthful witness, sober judgment, wisdom, and care for the vulnerable. Those wider themes govern pastoral application without turning this five-verse verb into a clinical category.