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Opisō is a spatial adverb meaning behind, after, or back, and in discipleship contexts it can describe following behind someone. John the Baptist speaks of the mightier One coming after him while ranking before him.
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Full entry for ὀπίσω (G3694) · Open the biblical lexicon
Opisō is a spatial adverb meaning behind, after, or back, and in discipleship contexts it can describe following behind someone. John the Baptist speaks of the mightier One coming after him while ranking before him.
The BSB source-word alignment has 35 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include after (12), . . . (9), behind (4), back (2), - (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 3:11. Its strongest book concentrations include John (7), Luke (7), Mark (6), Matthew (6).
Opisō is a spatial adverb meaning behind, after, or back, and in discipleship contexts it can describe following behind someone. John the Baptist speaks of the mightier One coming after him while ranking before him. James and John leave their father behind when Jesus calls. Citizens in Jesus' parable send a delegation after the nobleman to reject his rule. Judas the Galilean draws followers after himself, and Revelation depicts the world marveling after the beast.
The word does not make following virtuous. Its significance depends entirely on who or what stands ahead. Scripture places rival objects of allegiance before the reader: Christ, rebellious leaders, or beastly power. Faithful teaching should keep the spatial image while letting each passage expose the authority and direction of the following.
Opisō can mark sequence, what is left behind, or movement after a leader. John points to the superior Christ who comes after him; disciples leave former ties behind; rebels and deceivers also gather people after themselves. The decisive question is the identity of the one followed.
I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come One more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Matthew 3:11 says the One coming after John is mightier than John and will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. Temporal sequence does not imply inferiority; John openly confesses Christ's surpassing rank.
Immediately Jesus called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Him.
Mark 1:20 says James and John left their father Zebedee behind in the boat with hired servants and went after Jesus. The detail shows decisive response without implying abandonment of an unsupported parent.
But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’
Luke 19:14 describes citizens sending a delegation after the nobleman to declare that they do not want him to reign. The movement serves organized rejection within a parable about accountable stewardship and kingship.
After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and drew away people after him. He too perished, and all his followers were scattered.
Acts 5:37 says Judas the Galilean drew people away after him and perished. Gamaliel uses the failed movement to counsel restraint, though Luke does not present his reasoning as the church's full theology of discernment.
One of the heads of the beast appeared to have been mortally wounded. But the mortal wound was healed, and the whole world marveled and followed the beast.
Revelation 13:3 portrays the earth marveling after the beast when its fatal wound is healed. Wonder becomes misdirected allegiance within the vision's parody of divine authority.
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. Spatial: behind or after; temporal: following in sequence; takes genitive as preposition in NT usage.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 36 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
behind, after
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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 this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 2 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 35 lexical occurrence verses.
ὀπίσω is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Opisō turns an ordinary spatial relationship into a searching question of allegiance. Someone or something is ahead, and others orient themselves behind it. John the Baptist welcomes that order because the One coming after him in time outranks him in person and mission. The fishermen respond to Jesus by leaving a real setting behind and placing themselves after Him.
Other passages warn that movement and enthusiasm are morally neutral: failed revolutionaries attract followers, rebellious citizens organize opposition, and the earth marvels after the beast. Christian discipleship is therefore not the celebration of followership itself. It is allegiance to Jesus as the mightier Lord, tested against His word and character. Churches should resist personality cults, refuse awe that belongs to God, and help disciples understand both the cost and the worthy object of following Christ.
Matt.3.11
Opisō is an adverb and improper preposition for "behind" or "after." It may indicate physical position, temporal sequence, something left behind, or adherence to a leader. The complement and verb establish the nuance.
Israel is repeatedly warned not to go after other gods, while prophetic expectation places a coming ruler before the people. Jesus gathers the covenant demand for exclusive allegiance around Himself.
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
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Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain