What does παραμυθέομαι (paramythéomai) mean in the Bible?
παραμυθέομαι means to comfort or console. In John 11, it describes the mourners who come to Mary and Martha after Lazarus dies.
Greek · G3888
παραμυθέομαι
To encourage
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παραμυθέομαι G3888
Pronunciation paramythéomai
What does παραμυθέομαι (paramythéomai) mean in the Bible?
παραμυθέομαι means to comfort or console. In John 11, it describes the mourners who come to Mary and Martha after Lazarus dies.
Reader summary
Full entry for παραμυθέομαι (G3888) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3888?
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include comforting (1), console (1), consoling (1), encourage (1).
Where does παραμυθέομαι (paramythéomai) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 11:19. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Thessalonians (2), John (2).
What This Word Actually Means
παραμυθέομαι means to comfort or console. In John 11, it describes the mourners who come to Mary and Martha after Lazarus dies.
The word matters because John does not erase ordinary comfort. People show up in grief, and their presence belongs to the scene. Yet John also shows the limit of human consolation: comforters can accompany Mary to the tomb, but Jesus calls Lazarus out. This keeps compassion and resurrection hope in their proper order.
Pastorally, παραμυθέομαι opens a teaching path that honors embodied care while pointing beyond it to Christ's life-giving authority.
Lexical sourcePassage contexttheological_synthesisPastoral application
How the Bible Uses It
John 11:19 says many came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother.
παραμυθέομαι means to comfort or console.
In John 11, friends and mourners come to comfort Mary and Martha. Their presence shows the grief is public and real. The comfort is not mocked, but neither is it final.
For interpretation, the word helps readers see both the goodness and the limit of human consolation before Jesus' resurrection word.
Comfort language in John 11 marks ordinary human consolation in real grief. It prepares the scene for Jesus, whose presence and word go beyond consolation to resurrection life.
Passage contexttheological_synthesis
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 comforting 1× 1 Thessalonians 2:12
console 1× John 11:19
consoling 1× John 11:31
encourage 1× 1 Thessalonians 5:14
Show sample aligned rows
John 11:19 παραμυθήσωνται to console Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Middle - 3rd Person Plural John 11:31 παραμυθούμενοι to consoling Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural 1 Thessalonians 2:12 παραμυθούμενοι to comforting Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural 1 Thessalonians 5:14 παραμυθεῖσθε to encourage Verb - Present Imperative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row John 11:19
Aligned rows 4
Books represented 2
John 2 1 Thessalonians 2
Source forms
παραμυθούμενοι 2x paramythoumenoi John 11:31, 1 Thessalonians 2:12
παραμυθεῖσθε 1x paramytheisthe 1 Thessalonians 5:14
παραμυθήσωνται 1x paramythēsōntai John 11:19
Parsing patterns
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural 2x John 11:31, 1 Thessalonians 2:12
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Middle - 3rd Person Plural 1x John 11:19
Verb - Present Imperative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person Plural 1x 1 Thessalonians 5:14
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Use the term to encourage faithful presence in grief while pointing readers to Christ's greater hope.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim human comfort is enough to answer death.
- Do not claim John despises comforters because Jesus is greater.
Pastoral applicationtheological_synthesissource_integrity
Evidence Summary
Greek word. to encourage
Strong's G3888
Lexical occurrences 4 verses Greek text appearances 4 times Word forms 3 forms 4 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
to encourage
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.
John 11:19 Verb Third Person Plural Aorist Middle Deponent Subjunctive
παραμυθήσωνται paramuqhswntai
I encourage, comfort, console
Read verse John 11:31 Verb Present Middle or Passive Deponent Participle Nominative Plural Masculine
παραμυθούμενοι paramuqoumenoi
I encourage, comfort, console
Read verse 1 Thessalonians 2:11 Verb Present Middle or Passive Deponent Participle Nominative Plural Masculine
παραμυθούμενοι paramuqoumenoi
I encourage, comfort, console
Read verse 1 Thessalonians 5:14 Verb Second Person Plural Present Middle or Passive Deponent Imperative
παραμυθεῖσθε paramuqeisqe
I encourage, comfort, console
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 3 Aligned forms 4 Tenses Present, Aorist Voices Middle
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Participle verbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality 2×
Present Middle John 11:31 · 1 Thess 2:12 2×
Subjunctive possibility, probability, or purpose 1×
Aorist Middle John 11:19 1×
Imperative command or strong request 1×
Present Middle 1 Thess 5:14 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 3 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
present 2 aorist 1
Voice
middle 3
Mood
imperative 1 subjunctive 1 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)
Word Origins
παραμυθέομαι is built from these roots:
For the Preacher and Teacher
What this word opens up
This verb opens a teaching path into embodied care, public grief, and the difference between human consolation and Jesus' life-giving authority.
What it corrects
It corrects readings that dismiss human comfort as useless or make human comfort the same as resurrection hope.
Framing suggestions
Frame παραμυθέομαι as real consolation in grief that stands near, but does not replace, Jesus' word.
Illustrations
- Comforters can walk with the grieving to the tomb, but only Jesus commands life.
- The presence of people in sorrow is a gift, even when it is not the final answer.
Watch points
- Do not treat the mourners' comfort as meaningless.
- Do not confuse consolation with resurrection power.
Passage contextPastoral applicationtheological_synthesis
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