To fulfil
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
G378 describes filling something up, supplying what is lacking, or bringing something to fulfillment, with the object and setting determining the sense. Matthew 13:14 speaks of Isaiah's prophecy being fulfilled.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀναπληρόω (G378) · Open the biblical lexicon
G378 describes filling something up, supplying what is lacking, or bringing something to fulfillment, with the object and setting determining the sense. Matthew 13:14 speaks of Isaiah's prophecy being fulfilled.
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include have supplied (1), is fulfilled (1), to heap up (1), to make up for (1), vvv (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 13:14. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (2), 1 Thessalonians (1), Galatians (1), Matthew (1).
G378 describes filling something up, supplying what is lacking, or bringing something to fulfillment, with the object and setting determining the sense. Matthew 13:14 speaks of Isaiah's prophecy being fulfilled. In 1 Corinthians 14:16 the participle describes the person occupying the place of the uninstructed, so the gloss "fulfill" would mislead if detached from the phrase.
First Corinthians 16:17 and Philippians 2:30 speak of supplying what was lacking in another's presence or service. First Thessalonians 2:16 describes sins being filled up under judgment, while Galatians 6:2 speaks of fulfilling the law of Christ by carrying one another's burdens. The verb therefore does not name one automatic spiritual process. Each object and passage governs what is filled, supplied, or fulfilled.
The local index count is about six. The occurrences range from fulfilled prophecy, to occupying a place, supplying a lack, filling up sins, and fulfilling the law of Christ. These are related uses of filling or completion, but their objects prevent them from being collapsed into one theological claim.
Otherwise, if you speak a blessing in spirit, how can someone who is uninstructed say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying?
The participle describes occupying the place of the uninstructed. The verse's concern is whether an uninformed hearer can understand the thanksgiving and answer 'Amen.'
Hindering us from telling the Gentiles how they may be saved. As a result, they continue to heap up their sins to full capacity; the utmost wrath has come upon them.
The object is sins, and the surrounding warning concerns resistance to the gospel and wrath. The wording does not authorize readers to calculate when another person's sins have reached a hidden quota.
Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
The sentence identifies mutual burden-bearing as the way believers fulfill the law of Christ. This is concrete communal obedience, not a claim that believers become their own saviors or complete Christ's atoning work.
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 fulfil
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I fill up, make up, fulfill
Read verseI fill up, make up, fulfill
Read verseI fill up, make up, fulfill
Read verseI fill up, make up, fulfill
Read verseI fill up, make up, fulfill
Read verseI fill up, make up, fulfill
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 6 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)
ἀναπληρόω is built from these roots:
G378 does not make fulfillment a free-standing spiritual principle. Its six local uses show that readers must ask what is filled, supplied, occupied, or fulfilled. Matthew 13:14 concerns fulfilled prophecy. First Corinthians 14:16 describes a person occupying a place in the assembly, while 16:17 and Philippians 2:30 describe people supplying what was lacking in service or presence.
Galatians 6:2 makes mutual burden-bearing an expression of obedience to Christ's law, while 1 Thessalonians 2:16 uses the same verb in a judgment warning. The shared lexical family does not erase those differences. Teachers should name the object, follow the immediate argument, and avoid turning one English gloss into a promise that every desire, ministry plan, or personal ambition will reach divinely guaranteed completion.
Gal.6.2
G378 can describe filling up, supplying a lack, occupying a place, or fulfilling something. Local evidence places one instance in Matthew and five across Paul's letters. English renderings should follow the verb's object and construction rather than force the display gloss "to fulfil" into every verse.
Matthew 13:14 explicitly applies the verb to Isaiah's prophecy, while Paul's letters use it for several other objects. That canonical spread supports careful comparison but does not permit teachers to label every completed task a fulfillment of prophecy or every burden-bearing act the completion of redemption.