What does πολεμέω (poleméō) mean in the Bible?
πολεμέω (poleméō) is a Greek word meaning "to fight".
Greek · G4170
πολεμέω
To fight
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πολεμέω G4170
Pronunciation poleméō
What does πολεμέω (poleméō) mean in the Bible?
πολεμέω (poleméō) is a Greek word meaning "to fight".
Full entry for πολεμέω (G4170) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G4170?
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include wage war (2), fight (1), fought (1), fought [back] (1), wages war (1).
Where does πολεμέω (poleméō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at James 4:2. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (6), James (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 It wage war 2× Revelation 2:16, Revelation 13:4
fight 1× James 4:2
fought 1× Revelation 12:7
fought [back] 1× Revelation 12:7
wages war 1× Revelation 19:11
will make war 1× Revelation 17:14
Show sample aligned rows
James 4:2 πολεμεῖτε to fight Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural Revelation 2:16 πολεμήσω to wage war Verb - Future Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular Revelation 12:7 πολεμῆσαι to fought Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active Revelation 12:7 ἐπολέμησεν to fought [back] Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular Revelation 13:4 πολεμῆσαι to wage war Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active Revelation 17:14 πολεμήσουσιν to will make war Verb - Future Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural Revelation 19:11 πολεμεῖ to wages war Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row James 4:2
Aligned rows 7
Books represented 2
James 1 Revelation 6
Source forms
πολεμῆσαι 2x polemēsai Revelation 12:7, Revelation 13:4
ἐπολέμησεν 1x epolemēsen Revelation 12:7
πολεμεῖ 1x polemei Revelation 19:11
πολεμεῖτε 1x polemeite James 4:2
πολεμήσουσιν 1x polemēsousin Revelation 17:14
πολεμήσω 1x polemēsō Revelation 2:16
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active 2x Revelation 12:7, Revelation 13:4
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x Revelation 12:7
Verb - Future Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular 1x Revelation 2:16
Verb - Future Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural 1x Revelation 17:14
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural 1x James 4:2
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x Revelation 19:11
Evidence Summary
Greek word. to fight
Strong's G4170
Lexical occurrences 7 verses Greek text appearances 7 times Word forms 2 forms 7 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
to fight
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
James 4:2 Verb Second Person Plural Present Active Indicative
πολεμεῖτε, polemeite
I make war, contend
Read verse Revelation 2:16 Verb First Person Singular Future Active Indicative
πολεμήσω polemhsw
I make war, contend
Read verse Revelation 12:7 Verb Third Person Plural Aorist Active Indicative
ἐπολέμησαν epolemhsan
I make war, contend
Read verse Revelation 12:7 Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Active Indicative
ἐπολέμησε, epolemhsen
I make war, contend
Read verse Revelation 13:4 Verb Aorist Active Infinitive
πολεμῆσαι polemhsai
I make war, contend
Read verse Revelation 17:14 Verb Third Person Plural Future Active Indicative
πολεμήσουσι, polemhsousin
I make war, contend
Read verse Revelation 19:11 Verb Third Person Singular Present Active Indicative
πολεμεῖ. polemei
I make war, contend
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 2 Aligned forms 7 Tenses Aorist, Present, Future Voices Active
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Infinitive verbal noun — the action in abstract 2×
Aorist Active Rev 12:7 · Rev 13:4 2×
Indicative states a fact or reality 5×
Present Active Jas 4:2 · Rev 19:11 2×
Future Active Rev 2:16 · Rev 17:14 2×
Aorist Active Rev 12:7 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 6 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist 3 future 2 present 1
Voice
active 6
Mood
indicative 4 infinitive 2
NT Occurrences
James 4:2 πολεμεῖτε present active indicative ongoing Revelation 2:16 πολεμήσω future active indicative prospective Revelation 12:7 πολεμῆσαι aorist active infinitive infinitive Revelation 12:7 ἐπολέμησεν aorist active indicative completed Revelation 13:4 πολεμῆσαι aorist active infinitive infinitive Revelation 17:14 πολεμήσουσιν future active indicative prospective
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
πολεμέω 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.
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