What does ὀρχέομαι (orchéomai) mean in the Bible?
ὀρχέομαι (orchéomai): Dancing as rhythmic, ordered movement; appears in NT contexts of entertainment or celebration rather than worship.
Greek · G3738
ὀρχέομαι
To dance (from the ranklike or regular motion)
Reading a lexicon entry
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ὀρχέομαι G3738
Pronunciation orchéomai
What does ὀρχέομαι (orchéomai) mean in the Bible?
ὀρχέομαι (orchéomai): Dancing as rhythmic, ordered movement; appears in NT contexts of entertainment or celebration rather than worship.
Full entry for ὀρχέομαι (G3738) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3738?
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include danced (2), you did not dance (2).
Where does ὀρχέομαι (orchéomai) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 11:17. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (2), Luke (1), Mark (1).
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 danced 2× Matthew 14:6, Mark 6:22
you did not dance 2× Matthew 11:17, Luke 7:32
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 11:17 ὠρχήσασθε to you did not dance Verb - Aorist Indicative Middle - 2nd Person Plural Matthew 14:6 ὠρχήσατο to danced Verb - Aorist Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Singular Mark 6:22 ὀρχησαμένης to danced Verb - Aorist Participle Middle - Genitive Feminine Singular Luke 7:32 ὠρχήσασθε to you did not dance Verb - Aorist Indicative Middle - 2nd Person Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 11:17
Aligned rows 4
Books represented 3
Matthew 2 Mark 1 Luke 1
Source forms
ὠρχήσασθε 2x ōrchēsasthe Matthew 11:17, Luke 7:32
ὀρχησαμένης 1x orchēsamenēs Mark 6:22
ὠρχήσατο 1x ōrchēsato Matthew 14:6
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Indicative Middle - 2nd Person Plural 2x Matthew 11:17, Luke 7:32
Verb - Aorist Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Singular 1x Matthew 14:6
Verb - Aorist Participle Middle - Genitive Feminine Singular 1x Mark 6:22
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Dancing as rhythmic, ordered movement; appears in NT contexts of entertainment or celebration rather than worship.
Strong's G3738
Lexical occurrences 4 verses Greek text appearances 4 times Word forms 2 forms 4 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
to dance (from the ranklike or regular motion)
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek 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 11:17 Verb Second Person Plural Aorist Middle Deponent Indicative
ὠρχήσασθε· wrchsasqe
I dance
Read verse Matthew 14:6 Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Middle Deponent Indicative
ὠρχήσατο wrchsato
I dance
Read verse Mark 6:22 Verb Aorist Middle Deponent Participle Genitive Singular Feminine
ὀρχησαμένης, orchsamenhv
I dance
Read verse Luke 7:32 Verb Second Person Plural Aorist Middle Deponent Indicative
ὠρχήσασθε· wrchsasqe
I dance
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 groups 2 Aligned forms 4 Tenses Aorist Voices Middle
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Indicative states a fact or reality 3×
Aorist Middle Matt 11:17 · Luke 7:32 · Matt 14:6 3×
Participle verbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality 1×
Aorist Middle Mark 6:22 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 4 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist 4
Voice
middle 4
Mood
indicative 3 participle 1
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)
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain