What does περίλυπος (perílypos) mean in the Bible?
Perilypos describes deep sorrow or great distress. The Gospel witnesses place the adjective on people whose situations and responses must not be confused.
Greek · G4036
περίλυπος
Perilypos describes deep sorrow or great distress. The Gospel witnesses place the adjective on people whose situations and responses must not be confused.
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περίλυποςG4036
Pronunciationperílypos
What does περίλυπος (perílypos) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for περίλυπος (G4036) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G4036?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include consumed with sorrow (3), sadness (1), very sad (1).
Where does περίλυπος (perílypos) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 26:38. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (2), Mark (2), Matthew (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Perilypos describes deep sorrow or great distress. The Gospel witnesses place the adjective on people whose situations and responses must not be confused. Jesus tells His disciples that His soul is sorrowful to the point of death, asks them to remain and watch, and prays to the Father. Herod is deeply grieved by the request for John's execution but proceeds because of his oaths and guests.
The wealthy ruler becomes very sad when Jesus calls him to relinquish his possessions and follow. The adjective names the intensity of sorrow without deciding its moral character or outcome. Jesus' sorrow shows that distress and faithful prayer can coexist. Herod's grief does not excuse his harmful action, and the ruler's sadness cannot be made the explanation of every grieving person's struggle.
How the Bible Uses It
The current BSB has five tagged adjective rows across Gethsemane, Herod's banquet and the wealthy ruler's encounter. Matthew and Mark narrate the same Gethsemane scene, while Luke's two adjacent rows belong to one ruler episode rather than two separate people.
- Matt.26.38
Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.”
Jesus speaks His sorrow and asks the disciples to watch with Him before His prayer of petition and submission to the Father.
- Mark.14.34
Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch.”
The stated distress is followed by prayer and the request for companionship; it must not be read as evidence of Jesus' unfaithfulness.
- Mark.6.26
The king was consumed with sorrow, but because of his oaths and his guests, he did not want to refuse her.
Herod's sorrow does not prevent the execution he orders; the narrative identifies oaths and concern for guests as reasons for his choice.
- Luke.18.23
But when the ruler heard this, he became very sad, because he was extremely wealthy.
The ruler's sadness is tied to his wealth and Jesus' call to follow, and the conversation continues with salvation being possible for God.
- Luke.18.24
Seeing the man’s sadness, Jesus said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!
The BSB continues the same episode by describing Jesus seeing the man's sadness; this adjacent witness does not add another encounter.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itconsumed with sorrow3×Matthew 26:38, Mark 6:26, Mark 14:34
sadness1×Luke 18:24
very sad1×Luke 18:23
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 26:38Περίλυπόςtoconsumed with sorrowAdjective - Nominative Feminine SingularMark 6:26περίλυποςtoconsumed with sorrowAdjective - Nominative Masculine SingularMark 14:34Περίλυπόςtoconsumed with sorrowAdjective - Nominative Feminine SingularLuke 18:23περίλυποςtovery sadAdjective - Nominative Masculine SingularLuke 18:24περίλυπονtosadnessAdjective - Accusative Masculine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 26:38
Aligned rows5
Books represented3
Matthew1Mark2Luke2
Source forms
περίλυπος2xperilyposMark 6:26, Luke 18:23
Περίλυπός2xPerilyposMatthew 26:38, Mark 14:34
περίλυπον1xperilyponLuke 18:24
Parsing patterns
Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular2xMatthew 26:38, Mark 14:34
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular2xMark 6:26, Luke 18:23
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Singular1xLuke 18:24
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Listen when a distressed person names overwhelming sorrow, without using the intensity as a shortcut to judging faith or motives.
- Offer patient presence and appropriate support instead of forcing a bereaved or frightened person into an immediate public demonstration of calm.
Avoid claiming...
- This adjective cannot diagnose a modern person's condition or establish that profound distress proves abandonment by God.
- Honoring Jesus' sorrow never gives permission to romanticize preventable suffering or excuse harmful choices because their author feels grief.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Intense sorrow that overwhelms the soul; emphasizes depth rather than mere sadness.
Strong'sG4036
Lexical occurrences4 versesGreek text appearances5 timesWord forms2 forms4 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Source Gloss
sorrowful
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 26:38Adjective Nominative Singular Feminine
Περίλυπόςperilupov
very sorrowful
Read verseMark 6:26Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
περίλυποςperilupov
very sorrowful
Read verseMark 14:34Adjective Nominative Singular Feminine
Περίλυπόςperilupov
very sorrowful
Read verseLuke 18:23Adjective Nominative Singular Masculine
περίλυποςperilupov
very sorrowful
Read verseLuke 18:24Adjective Accusative Singular Masculine
περίλυπονperilupon
very sorrowful
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 2 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 patterns2Aligned forms4Case patternNominative (4)Number patternSingular (4)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · FeminineMatt 26:38 · Mark 14:342×
Nominative · Singular · MasculineMark 6:26 · Luke 18:232×
Word Origins
περίλυπος is built from these roots:
For the Preacher and Teacher
Jesus' words in Gethsemane give sorrow a truthful voice. He names the depth of His distress, asks the disciples to stay near and prays to the Father about the cup before yielding His will. The account does not require readers to erase the petition in order to honor the submission. It also does not make the disciples' sleep an excuse to leave another person's suffering unheard.
Herod's banquet and the ruler's encounter supply important contrasts: grief can coexist with a harmful choice or with painful attachment to possessions. Those contrasts prevent an easy judgment based on emotion alone. Teaching this adjective well makes room for honest lament and faithful presence while keeping responsibility for harmful actions intact. It should never diagnose a person's character merely from how overwhelmed that person appears.
Anchor passage
Mark.14.34
Doctrinal connections
- Jesus addresses the Father in real distress, holding a spoken petition and faithful submission together in His prayer.
- Gethsemane places sorrow within Jesus' movement toward the suffering described in the passion narrative.
- Jesus asks His companions to stay and watch, giving the scene a relational setting as well as a prayerful one.
- Herod's grief cannot turn the killing of John into a faithful act or remove responsibility for his order.
- The ruler's encounter continues beyond sadness to Jesus' declaration that salvation impossible for people is possible for God.
- Psalm 42 holds downcast longing and renewed hope together without pretending that the struggle has no continuing voice.
Perilypos is an adjective expressing profound sadness. Its forms agree with the person or soul being described, without making grammatical gender a moral classification. The current BSB tagging includes an adjacent Luke 18:24 form; the separately labeled artifact morphology lists four forms from its own source edition.
From Old to New Testament
Psalm 42 repeatedly voices a downcast soul, tears, longing for God and renewed hope. The repeated refrain remains within continuing lament, making it a supporting context for honest distress rather than a command to recover immediately. The Hebrew psalm is not counted among these five Greek adjective rows.