To watch out
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Prosecho means to pay attention, give heed, devote oneself, hold toward, or apply the mind to something. The Pastoral Epistles contrast attention captured by myths, human commands, and much wine with Timothy's disciplined devotion to public Scripture reading, exhortation, and teaching.
Reader summary
Full entry for προσέχω (G4337) · Open the biblical lexicon
Prosecho means to pay attention, give heed, devote oneself, hold toward, or apply the mind to something. The Pastoral Epistles contrast attention captured by myths, human commands, and much wine with Timothy's disciplined devotion to public Scripture reading, exhortation, and teaching.
The BSB source-word alignment has 24 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Beware (6), Watch (2), [and] will pay no attention (1), Be careful (1), consider carefully (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 6:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (6), Matthew (6), 1 Timothy (4), Luke (4).
Prosecho means to pay attention, give heed, devote oneself, hold toward, or apply the mind to something. The Pastoral Epistles contrast attention captured by myths, human commands, and much wine with Timothy's disciplined devotion to public Scripture reading, exhortation, and teaching. Hebrews urges believers to attend closely to the message they heard so they do not drift.
The verb presents attention as moral stewardship: what receives sustained notice can direct desire, habit, doctrine, and community life. It does not condemn curiosity or require unquestioning focus on leaders. Christian attentiveness remains bounded by God's word and truth, able to examine claims, resist manipulation, and redirect limited time toward practices through which the church hears and obeys Christ.
Prosecho describes directed attention that can either nourish faithfulness or bind a person to distortion and appetite. Scripture trains believers not merely to concentrate, but to choose worthy objects of sustained heed.
Or devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculation rather than the stewardship of God’s work, which is by faith.
First Timothy 1:4 forbids certain teachers from devoting themselves to myths and endless genealogies because these promote speculation rather than God's stewardship by faith.
Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued or given to much wine or greedy for money.
First Timothy 3:8 says deacons must not be addicted or devoted to much wine. The verb shows attention becoming attachment and mastery by an appetite.
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, and to teaching.
First Timothy 4:13 tells Timothy to devote himself to public reading, exhortation, and teaching until Paul comes. Attention becomes a stable ministry practice centered on Scripture.
And will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of men who have rejected the truth.
Titus 1:14 warns against paying attention to Jewish myths and commands of people who turn away from the truth. Source and trajectory govern discernment.
We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
Hebrews 2:1 calls believers to pay much closer attention to what they heard lest they drift away. Neglected truth can be lost through gradual movement rather than open rejection.
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. To turn one's mind toward something; to attend carefully with focused mental and spiritual vigilance.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 24 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I pay attention to, devote myself to
Read verseI pay attention to, devote myself to
Read verseI pay attention to, devote myself to
Read verseI pay attention to, devote myself to
Read verseI pay attention to, devote myself to
Read verseI pay attention to, devote myself to
Read verseI pay attention to, devote myself to
Read verseI pay attention to, devote myself to
Read verseI pay attention to, devote myself to
Read verseI pay attention to, devote myself to
Read verseI pay attention to, devote myself to
Read verseI pay attention to, devote myself to
Read verseI pay attention to, devote myself to
Read verseI pay attention to, devote myself to
Read verseI pay attention to, devote myself to
Read verseI pay attention to, devote myself to
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 23 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 6 selected witnesses from 24 lexical occurrence verses.
προσέχω is built from these roots:
Commands continual vigilance against hypocrisy.1 Timothy 4:11-16
Calls believers to continual vigilance.Acts 16:11-15
Describes Lydia’s active response to the gospel message.Luke 20:45–47
Scripture ministry requires sustained focus and intentional effort.Luke 21:34–36
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Prosecho shows that attention is never merely a productivity tool. Myths receive attention and multiply speculation; wine can receive attention until appetite masters a servant; public reading, exhortation, and teaching receive attention and form a congregation beneath Scripture. Hebrews adds the danger of drift, which often occurs not by one dramatic denial but by failing to hold the heard gospel steadily.
Churches should therefore audit what dominates sermons, meetings, screens, conversation, and emotional energy. They should create durable space for Scripture and thoughtful response while refusing sensational claims that monetize fear or novelty. Attentiveness is not gullibility. It tests voices by Christ's truth, listens to credible concerns, and deliberately returns finite focus to what cultivates faith, love, godliness, and perseverance.
1Tim.4.13
Prosecho joins pros, toward, with echo, to have or hold. It can picture holding the mind toward something, paying heed, devoting oneself, or being attached to an object.
Israel is repeatedly summoned to hear, remember, and not turn aside. Wisdom urges attentive listening while warning against seductive voices that capture desire and redirect a path.