To pass by
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Parerchomai means to pass by, pass on, or pass away. Jesus uses it for the smallest part of the Law not passing away before fulfillment, for a cup of suffering passing from Him if the Father wills, and for heaven and earth passing away while His words remain.
Reader summary
Full entry for παρέρχομαι (G3928) · Open the biblical lexicon
Parerchomai means to pass by, pass on, or pass away. Jesus uses it for the smallest part of the Law not passing away before fulfillment, for a cup of suffering passing from Him if the Father wills, and for heaven and earth passing away while His words remain.
The BSB source-word alignment has 29 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include pass (3), pass away (3), will pass away (3), will disappear (2), will never pass away (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 5:18. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (9), Matthew (9), Mark (5), Acts (2).
Parerchomai means to pass by, pass on, or pass away. Jesus uses it for the smallest part of the Law not passing away before fulfillment, for a cup of suffering passing from Him if the Father wills, and for heaven and earth passing away while His words remain. In Luke's servant saying, a master may come by and serve faithful servants, a startling image of eschatological reversal.
Second Peter depicts the day of the Lord coming when the heavens pass away with a roar. The verb can mark avoidance, transience, arrival alongside, or cosmic dissolution. It does not teach that everything passing is unimportant. Scripture contrasts what is temporary with God's fulfilled purpose, Christ's obedient suffering, and the enduring authority of His word.
Parerchomai describes passing in several senses: legal details do not pass before fulfillment, suffering may pass by, a master comes alongside to serve, creation passes away, and the Lord's day brings cosmic transformation. The enduring reference point is God's purpose and Christ's word.
For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
Matthew 5:18 says not the smallest letter or stroke will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Jesus affirms Scripture's abiding authority within His fulfillment, not a path to righteousness apart from Him.
A second time He went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cup cannot pass unless I drink it, may Your will be done.”
Matthew 26:42 records Jesus praying that if the cup cannot pass unless He drinks it, the Father's will be done. The verb serves His real anguish and obedient submission, not emotional detachment.
Blessed are those servants whom the master finds on watch when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve and will have them recline at the table, and he himself will come and wait on them.
Luke 12:37 promises that the returning master will dress for service, have watchful servants recline, and come alongside to serve them. The image magnifies astonishing reward and grace.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
Luke 21:33 says heaven and earth will pass away, but Jesus' words will never pass away. Cosmic transience highlights the incomparable permanence and authority of His speech.
But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.
Second Peter 3:10 says the heavens will pass away with a roar when the Lord's day comes. The warning calls for holy conduct and expectant hope, not speculative date-setting.
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. Describes passing by physically or temporally; theologically emphasizes cessation or obsolescence of things destined to disappear.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 31 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I pass by
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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 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 29 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)
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 29 lexical occurrence verses.
παρέρχομαι is built from these roots:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Parerchomai draws a boundary between what moves beyond its present form and what remains certain under God's rule. The Law does not simply evaporate; its purpose reaches fulfillment in Christ. The cup does not pass Jesus by, because He submits to the Father's saving will and drinks it for His people. A watchful servant may see the master come alongside in astonishing service.
Heaven and earth will pass, yet Jesus' words remain more stable than the cosmos. Second Peter makes that future morally urgent, asking what kind of people believers should be in holiness and godliness. Christian hope therefore neither clings to the present order as ultimate nor despises God's creation. It trusts Christ's enduring word, worships Him for obedient suffering, and lives toward the promised new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells.
Luke.21.33
Parerchomai combines para with erchomai and can mean to pass by, pass away, come alongside, or move beyond. Its object, subject, and construction determine whether the sense is spatial, avoidant, temporal, or eschatological.
Prophets compare creation's transience with God's enduring word and anticipate cosmic shaking and renewal. Jesus places His own words in that enduring position and fulfills Scripture through His obedient saving work.