To quarrel
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G3164 is a verb for fighting, quarrelling, or arguing. Its four governed forms describe argument over Jesus' words in John 6, physical fighting between two Israelites in Acts 7, the quarrelsome posture forbidden to the Lord's servant in 2 Timothy 2, and conflict driven by disordered desires in James 4.
Reader summary
Full entry for μάχομαι (G3164) · Open the biblical lexicon
G3164 is a verb for fighting, quarrelling, or arguing. Its four governed forms describe argument over Jesus' words in John 6, physical fighting between two Israelites in Acts 7, the quarrelsome posture forbidden to the Lord's servant in 2 Timothy 2, and conflict driven by disordered desires in James 4.
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include be quarrelsome (1), began to argue (1), were fighting (1), You quarrel (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 6:52. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Timothy (1), Acts (1), James (1), John (1).
G3164 is a verb for fighting, quarrelling, or arguing. Its four governed forms describe argument over Jesus' words in John 6, physical fighting between two Israelites in Acts 7, the quarrelsome posture forbidden to the Lord's servant in 2 Timothy 2, and conflict driven by disordered desires in James 4. The verb can therefore cover verbal dispute or bodily conflict, and context supplies its object and moral evaluation.
John 6 records a dispute but G3164 does not explain Jesus' saying, settle sacramental debates, or justify hostility toward Jewish people. Second Timothy forbids quarrelsomeness while still requiring teaching and gentle correction. The witness does not make every disagreement sinful or require silence when truth, protection, discipline, or justice is at stake.
One G3164 form appears in each of four books, moving from argument and physical fighting to a ministry prohibition and James's diagnosis of desire-driven conflict.
At this, the Jews began to argue among themselves, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
The verb names the argument among the hearers and must not become an ethnic generalization or a shortcut through Jesus' discourse.
The next day he came upon two Israelites who were fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’
The scene combines physical conflict, mistreatment, and Moses' attempted reconciliation.
And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.
Non-quarrelsomeness is paired with active teaching, patience, and gentle correction rather than avoidance.
You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask.
James locates the conflict within desires that have displaced humble dependence on God.
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 quarrel
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.
I engage in battle, fight, strive
Read verseI engage in battle, fight, strive
Read verseI engage in battle, fight, strive
Read verseI engage in battle, fight, strive
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 4 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)
μάχομαι is a primary verb - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G3164 exposes conflict without pretending that all conflict is identical. John records hearers arguing about Jesus' hard words, Acts shows bodily fighting between brothers, Paul forbids a quarrelsome ministry posture, and James uncovers cravings beneath communal fights. A church can defend a true claim in a sinful spirit, but it can also misuse calls for peace to silence correction or leave vulnerable people unprotected.
The Lord's servant is not passive: Second Timothy requires teaching, correction, patience, and gentleness in hope of repentance. Faithful engagement therefore tells the truth, examines desire and pride, refuses humiliation and coercion, protects people from harm, and seeks peace without trading away justice.
2Tim.2.24-25
Each governed occurrence uses a different surface form and parsing pattern. The same middle-voice verb can describe argument, physical fighting, or a quarrelsome posture, so the scene determines the form of conflict.
Acts 7 locates the fighting scene within Israel's story and Moses' rejected attempt at reconciliation. Wisdom themes about contentious desire and gentle speech support application but must remain secondary to the four direct occurrences.