What does πάθος (páthos) mean in the Bible?
πάθος (páthos): Passive, ungoverned emotional suffering or evil desire—contrasts with active desire (ἐπιθυμία)
Greek · G3806
πάθος
Passion
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πάθοςG3806
Pronunciationpáthos
What does πάθος (páthos) mean in the Bible?
πάθος (páthos): Passive, ungoverned emotional suffering or evil desire—contrasts with active desire (ἐπιθυμία)
Full entry for πάθος (G3806) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3806?
The BSB source-word alignment has 3 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include lust (1), passion (1), passions (1).
Where does πάθος (páthos) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Romans 1:26. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Thessalonians (1), Colossians (1), Romans (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 Itlust1×Colossians 3:5
passion1×1 Thessalonians 4:5
passions1×Romans 1:26
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowRomans 1:26
Aligned rows3
Books represented3
Romans1Colossians11 Thessalonians1
Source forms
πάθει1xpathei1 Thessalonians 4:5
πάθη1xpathēRomans 1:26
πάθος1xpathosColossians 3:5
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Neuter Plural1xRomans 1:26
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular1xColossians 3:5
Noun - Dative Neuter Singular1x1 Thessalonians 4:5
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Passive, ungoverned emotional suffering or evil desire—contrasts with active desire (ἐπιθυμία)
Strong'sG3806
Lexical occurrences3 versesGreek text appearances3 timesWord forms3 forms3 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Source Gloss
passion
Extended definitionSource: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Passive, ungoverned emotional suffering or evil desire—contrasts with active desire (ἐπιθυμία)
(πάιτχω), [in LXX: Job.30:31 (אֵבֶל), Pro.25:20, and very frequently in (4Ma.1:1 n, al.)* ;] like πάθημα;
1that which befalls one, that which one suffers
2a passive emotion or affection (esp. of violent emotion), a passion, passionate desire; in NT always in bad sense: Col.3:5; π. ἀτιμίας, Rom.1:26; π. ἐπιθυμίας, 1Th.4:5.
Synonymsπ. = πάθημα, exc. that πάθημα is the more concrete and particular. In NT usage, π. represents the passive, ungoverned aspect of evil desire, as opposite to ἐπιθυμία, which is the active and also the more comprehensive term (see Tr., Syn., LXXxvii); cf. also ὄρεξις
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
3 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Romans 1:26Noun Accusative Plural Neuter
πάθηpaqh
suffering, emotion, depraved passion, lust
Read verseColossians 3:5Noun Accusative Singular Neuter
πάθος,paqov
suffering, emotion, depraved passion, lust
Read verse1 Thessalonians 4:5Noun Dative Singular Neuter
πάθειpaqei
suffering, emotion, depraved passion, lust
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 this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 3 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.
Form patterns3Aligned forms3Case patternAccusative (2)Number patternSingular (2)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Dative · Singular · Neuter1 Thess 4:51×
Accusative · Plural · NeuterRom 1:261×
Accusative · Singular · NeuterCol 3:51×
Word Origins
πάθος is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.