What does πτύω (ptýō) mean in the Bible?
Πτύω (ptýō) means to spit. The New Testament uses the verb three times, all in healing narratives.
Greek · G4429
πτύω
To spit
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πτύω G4429
Pronunciation ptýō
What does πτύω (ptýō) mean in the Bible?
Πτύω (ptýō) means to spit. The New Testament uses the verb three times, all in healing narratives.
Reader summary
Full entry for πτύω (G4429) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G4429?
The BSB source-word alignment has 3 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include He spit (3).
Where does πτύω (ptýō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 7:33. Its strongest book concentrations include Mark (2), John (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Πτύω (ptýō) means to spit. The New Testament uses the verb three times, all in healing narratives. In Mark 7:33 Jesus spits and touches the tongue of a man who cannot hear and speaks with difficulty. In Mark 8:23 He spits on the eyes of a blind man during a healing that unfolds in stages. In John 9:6 He spits on the ground, makes mud, and applies it to the eyes of the man born blind.
The action is bodily and culturally striking, but the verb does not supply a universal healing method or magical property. Each Gospel centers authority in Jesus. John especially interprets the sign through Jesus' identity as the Light of the world, the man's growing confession, and the exposure of spiritual blindness among those who reject the sign.
Faithful teaching should neither sanitize the incarnation nor imitate the action as a technique. Jesus enters the physical condition of suffering people and uses material means as He chooses, yet healing comes from His person and command. The church may honor embodied care and pray for healing while refusing superstition, spectacle, coercive practices, or promises that faithful people will always be physically healed now.
Canonical parallelBook contextEditorial synthesis
How the Bible Uses It
Every New Testament occurrence appears in a healing narrative where Jesus uses a physical action while the Gospel directs attention to His authority.
- Mark.7.33
So Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, and put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue.
Jesus treats the man personally and privately before commanding his ears and tongue to open.
- Mark.8.23
So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then He spit on the man’s eyes and placed His hands on him. “Can you see anything?” He asked.
The action belongs to Mark's distinctive staged healing and must be read within that narrative movement.
- John.9.6
When Jesus had said this, He spit on the ground, made some mud, and applied it to the man’s eyes.
The physical act begins a sign that reveals Jesus as the Light of the world and exposes deeper spiritual blindness.
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 He spit 3× Mark 7:33, Mark 8:23, John 9:6
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Mark 7:33
Aligned rows 3
Books represented 2
Mark 2 John 1
Source forms
πτύσας 2x ptysas Mark 7:33, Mark 8:23
ἔπτυσεν 1x eptysen John 9:6
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular 2x Mark 7:33, Mark 8:23
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x John 9:6
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Honor the embodied care in these healing accounts without copying the physical action as a formula or pressuring sufferers to prove their faith.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that πτύω reveals a medicinal or sacramental power in saliva. The Gospels locate healing authority in Jesus.
- Do not claim that Christians must reproduce this action to heal. These narratives describe what Jesus did; they do not command a universal technique.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. to spit
Strong's G4429
Lexical occurrences 3 verses Greek text appearances 3 times Word forms 2 forms 3 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
to spit
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
3 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Mark 7:33 Verb Aorist Active Participle Nominative Singular Masculine
πτύσας ptusav
I spit
Read verse Mark 8:23 Verb Aorist Active Participle Nominative Singular Masculine
πτύσας ptusav
I spit
Read verse John 9:6 Verb Third Person Singular Aorist Active Indicative
ἔπτυσε eptusen
I spit
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 3 Tenses Aorist Voices Active
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×
Aorist Active Mark 7:33 · Mark 8:23 2×
Indicative states a fact or reality 1×
Aorist Active John 9:6 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 3 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist 3
Voice
active 3
Mood
participle 2 indicative 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
πτύω is built from this root:
For the Preacher and Teacher
The three uses of πτύω confront readers with the physical particularity of Jesus' ministry. He touches ears and tongue, places saliva on eyes, and makes mud for a man born blind. The Gospels do not explain saliva as a substance with independent power. Their attention remains on Jesus, His command, His identity, and the response of those who witness the signs.
John 9 turns the healing into a sustained testimony: the man grows in understanding while confident religious leaders reveal their blindness. Preaching should preserve both truths. Christ cares about bodies and may act through material means, but no gesture becomes a guaranteed formula. The church prays, serves, and cares without manipulating sufferers or promising outcomes God has not promised.
Anchor passage
John.9.6
Doctrinal connections
- John 9:1-41 - physical sight and spiritual blindness
- John 1:1-18 - the Word made flesh
- Mark 7:31-37 - personal healing and restored speech
- Mark 8:22-26 - staged restoration of sight
The verb simply names the physical action. Any symbolic or theological meaning must be established from the surrounding healing narrative.
From Old to New Testament
The use of earth and physical signs can recall creation and prophetic actions, but John does not explicitly make every proposed connection. The secure emphasis is Jesus as the Light who gives sight.
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