Imploration, hortation, solace
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παράκλησις is the noun form of one of the richest word families in the Greek NT, covering a range that English struggles to hold in one word: encouragement, consolation, exhortation, appeal, and comfort. The verb παρακαλέω (to call alongside, to appeal to, to comfort, to encourage) covers all of these, and the noun inherits the full range.
Reader summary
Full entry for παράκλησις (G3874) · Open the biblical lexicon
παράκλησις is the noun form of one of the richest word families in the Greek NT, covering a range that English struggles to hold in one word: encouragement, consolation, exhortation, appeal, and comfort. The verb παρακαλέω (to call alongside, to appeal to, to comfort, to encourage) covers all of these, and the noun inherits the full range.
The BSB source-word alignment has 29 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include comfort (9), encouragement (7), appeal (2), exhortation (2), of Encouragement (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 2:25. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Corinthians (11), Acts (4), Hebrews (3), Romans (3).
παράκλησις is the noun form of one of the richest word families in the Greek NT, covering a range that English struggles to hold in one word: encouragement, consolation, exhortation, appeal, and comfort. The verb παρακαλέω (to call alongside, to appeal to, to comfort, to encourage) covers all of these, and the noun inherits the full range. What holds the range together is the underlying image: someone who has come alongside you, who is present with you in your need, who speaks to you from a position of genuine solidarity.
In 2 Corinthians 1:3-7, the word appears ten times in five verses — the most concentrated deployment of any single word family in the NT. Paul describes God as the Father of mercies and God of all παράκλησις — He is not merely a God who sometimes comforts; He is defined by comfort. And then Paul shows the mechanism: God comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. The flow of παράκλησις runs from God to Paul, then from Paul to the Corinthians, then by implication outward into all who suffer. The comfort received becomes the resource for the comfort given.
The word's range from consolation to exhortation is visible in Acts 13:15 — the synagogue rulers invite Paul to offer a 'word of encouragement/exhortation' (logos paraklēseōs), which becomes his great sermon on the resurrection. The same phrase appears in Hebrews 13:22 to describe the entire letter as a 'word of exhortation.' In both cases, παράκλησις covers strengthening speech that includes appeal, instruction, and stirring to action — not only the comforting of grief.
Luke 2:25 names Simeon as one who was looking for the 'consolation of Israel' (paraklēsin tou Israel) — the promised Messianic consolation of Isaiah 40, the comfort that would come when God moved to end the exile and restore His people. In this use, παράκλησις names the entire redemptive hope.
For the preacher, παράκλησις is the word that names one of the most undervalued pastoral ministries: the ministry of coming alongside suffering people and being present with them in it. The God who is defined by comfort has designed the flow of that comfort to pass through human relationships. To be comforted by God is to be equipped to comfort others.
παράκλησις is locally indexed at about 29 NT occurrences: in Luke for Messianic hope (2:25), in Acts for the synagogue sermon and the whole apostolic message (13:15; 15:31; 9:31), in Romans for the eschatological source of encouragement (15:4-5), in the extended comfort passage of 2 Corinthians 1, in Philippians and Philemon for personal appeal, in Hebrews for the whole letter as an exhortation, and twice in the Thessalonian and Pastoral letters. The word's range covers hope, comfort, exhortation, and appeal.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
The foundational Christological claim: God is defined as the God of all παράκλησις. This is not a description of an attribute alongside others — it is naming God by what He does in the suffering of His people. The word 'all' is important: there is no affliction outside the reach of His comfort. This becomes the ground for the entire ministry of comfort in the church: what is given from God is passed to those who suffer.
Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
The mechanism of παράκλησις: received from God in affliction, and then given to others in affliction. The comfort is not merely a personal resource — it is a ministerial equipping. Paul's suffering was the school in which he learned to comfort the Corinthians. This is the NT's pattern for pastoral care: those who have suffered and been comforted by God are uniquely equipped to comfort others. Experience of God's comfort in the specific form of one's specific suffering is the credential for that particular ministry.
For everything that was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.
The Scriptures are the source of παράκλησις — encouragement that produces endurance and generates hope. The OT is not merely a legal or historical record; it is a treasury of comfort and strengthening for those who are persevering. This verse grounds the ministry of Scripture reading and preaching in the pastoral category of encouragement. The sermon that opens the Scriptures is delivering παράκλησις.
When the people read it, they rejoiced at its encouraging message.
The letter from the Jerusalem council brings παράκλησις to the Antioch church — they read it and rejoice over the encouragement. What the letter delivered was not only a doctrinal decision (though it was that) — it was strengthening and relief. The removal of an unnecessary burden, the affirmation of Gentile standing before God, the news that the Jerusalem church stands with them — all of this is παράκλησις, and the congregation's response is joy.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
Simeon waiting for the 'consolation of Israel' — the παράκλησις promised through the prophets, the comfort of exile's end and God's return to His people. This use connects the word to Isaiah 40's great comfort tradition and establishes παράκλησις as the name for the Messianic hope itself. When Simeon holds the infant Jesus, he holds the παράκλησις of Israel in his arms.
Therefore if you have any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,
Four grounds for the appeal Paul is about to make: exhortation in Christ, consolation of love, fellowship of the Spirit, tender mercies. παράκλησις here covers both the encouragement of being in Christ and the grounds for Paul's appeal to the Philippians to pursue unity. The same word does double duty — it is both what they have received and what motivates their response.
In the LXX, παράκλησις primarily renders נָחַם (nacham — comfort, console) and its derivatives. Isaiah's great comfort texts — 'Comfort, comfort my people' (Isaiah 40:1-2) — use the same root. The prophet who announces consolation to Israel's exile is functioning as a παρακλητής. The NT inherits this prophetic comfort tradition and grounds it in the sufferings and resurrection of Christ.
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. Comfort that strengthens resolve; exhortation and consolation unified as encouragement toward faithfulness.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 29 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
exhortation, entreaty, encouragement, comfort
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Read verseexhortation, entreaty, encouragement, comfort
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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 4 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 2 selected witnesses from 29 lexical occurrence verses.
παράκλησις is built from this root:
Describes the strengthening effect of clear gospel teaching. Acts 15:30-35
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
παράκλησις is the word that names the ministry of coming alongside — not fixing, not explaining, not managing, but coming alongside and staying. The God who is 'the Father of mercies and God of all comfort' has designed a flow: He comforts us in our affliction so that we can comfort others with the comfort we have received. This makes suffering a credential for ministry.
The person who has been through grief and been met by God in it has something that the person who has only studied grief does not have: they have received the comfort, and receiving it is what equips them to give it. The pastoral implication is significant: the church's deepest pastoral resources are not in the staff offices — they are in the congregation, in the people who have suffered and been comforted and are now available to be present with others in their suffering.
The preacher's task is to celebrate this, to name it, and to release people into the ministry of παράκλησις rather than centralizing all care in professional pastors.
2Cor.1.3
παράκλησις is the noun from παρακαλέω (para + kaleo: to call alongside). The word family covers an unusually wide range: in secular Greek it included legal appeal, summons, and exhortation. In the NT it covers: consolation/comfort (2 Cor 1:3-7), appeal/entreaty (2 Cor 8:4), exhortation/strengthening (Acts 13:15; Rom 12:8; Heb 12:5), and encouragement (1 Thess 2:3).
The related term παράκλητος (G3875 — used only in John's Gospel and 1 John) is 'one called alongside' — the Advocate, Helper, Comforter — applied to the Holy Spirit and to Jesus. The noun παράκλησις and the agent noun παράκλητος share the core image: someone who has come to stand with you, to speak on your behalf, to strengthen you in your need. The word is one of the key terms linking the Spirit's ministry (John 14-16) to the church's pastoral ministry (2 Cor 1; Rom 12:8).
The OT comfort tradition is rooted in Isaiah 40-66. The great opening command — 'Comfort, comfort my people' — is the declaration that God is moving to end the Babylonian exile and bring His people home. The prophet's task is to announce this coming consolation. Subsequent Isaiah texts develop the theme: God will comfort Zion (51:3), like a mother comforts a child (66:13), with everlasting love and compassion (54:7-8).
The consolation is not merely emotional; it is the full reversal of catastrophe — return from exile, rebuilding of the city, restoration of relationship with God. The NT receives this tradition and declares that the Messiah is the παράκλησις Israel was waiting for (Luke 2:25). In Christ, the exile of sin and alienation from God is ended. Paul then extends the flow: the God who comforted Israel in its great exile now comforts His people in their afflictions through Christ's sufferings and resurrection (2 Cor 1:5).
The comfort of the new covenant is eschatological comfort made present in the Spirit and experienced in community: God the Father of mercies comforts, the Spirit is the Paraclete, and the church passes the comfort along.
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