To shake
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G4531, saleúō, is a Greek verb for shaking, swaying, agitating, or unsettling. It describes a reed moved by wind, a house struck by flood, a room or prison shaken, heavenly powers shaken, grain pressed and shaken into a measure, crowds stirred up, and believers mentally disconcerted by an alarming message.
Reader summary
Full entry for σαλεύω (G4531) · Open the biblical lexicon
G4531, saleúō, is a Greek verb for shaking, swaying, agitating, or unsettling. It describes a reed moved by wind, a house struck by flood, a room or prison shaken, heavenly powers shaken, grain pressed and shaken into a measure, crowds stirred up, and believers mentally disconcerted by an alarming message.
The BSB source-word alignment has 15 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include will be shaken (3), shook (2), swaying (2), can be shaken (1), I will not be shaken (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 11:7. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (4), Luke (4), Hebrews (3), Matthew (2).
G4531, saleúō, is a Greek verb for shaking, swaying, agitating, or unsettling. It describes a reed moved by wind, a house struck by flood, a room or prison shaken, heavenly powers shaken, grain pressed and shaken into a measure, crowds stirred up, and believers mentally disconcerted by an alarming message. Physical motion, social agitation, emotional disturbance, and eschatological removal belong to different contexts. The verb names instability or movement; it does not by itself tell readers who caused it or whether it is holy, harmful, ordinary, or final.
Jesus' house image connects stability to hearing and doing His words. The well-built house is still struck by flood, so faithfulness is not exemption from crisis but a foundation tested within it. Second Thessalonians addresses believers shaken by a purported spirit, report, or letter about the Day of the Lord. The answer is not ridicule of fear but careful correction of source and teaching. Acts also distinguishes prayer accompanied by a shaken room from opponents who agitate crowds. Intensity and disruption are not self-authenticating signs of God's approval.
Hebrews announces a final shaking in which created things subject to removal give way before God's unshakable kingdom. This promise calls for grateful worship and endurance, not date setting or celebration of catastrophe. Apocalyptic sayings about heavenly powers should remain within Jesus' discourse rather than becoming explanations for every disaster or anxiety episode. Pastoral care should verify alarming claims, stabilize people before demanding decisions, honor trauma and mental-health needs, and avoid shaming those who feel shaken. Steadiness grows through Christ, truth, community, and wise care, not denial of human vulnerability.
G4531 moves through wind-swayed reeds, compacted measure, tested foundations, secure hope, prayer and prison shaking, crowd agitation, alarming messages, cosmic disturbance, and the removal of what is shakeable before God's kingdom.
As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind?
The reed swaying in wind serves Jesus' rhetorical question about John, whose prophetic role is not explained by instability or spectacle.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’
Shaken heavenly powers belong to Jesus' apocalyptic discourse and cannot be reduced to a code for identifying every contemporary event.
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
A measure is pressed and shaken together so it can hold abundantly, a concrete market image within Jesus' teaching on generous measure.
He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid his foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the torrent crashed against that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.
The flood cannot shake the deeply founded house, linking stability to hearing and practicing Jesus' words rather than avoiding storms.
Men will faint from fear and anxiety over what is coming upon the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
People faint in fear as heavenly powers shake, so the discourse acknowledges embodied terror while directing disciples toward watchful hope.
David says about Him: ‘I saw the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Peter quotes David's confidence that the Lord at his right hand prevents ultimate shaking, and applies the psalm within his resurrection proclamation.
After they had prayed, their meeting place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
The meeting place shakes after communal prayer, while the Spirit-filled result is bold speech rather than a pursuit of physical phenomena.
Suddenly a strong earthquake shook the foundations of the prison. At once all the doors flew open and everyone’s chains came loose.
An earthquake shakes the prison foundations and loosens chains, but Paul prevents suicide and remains to speak life to the jailer.
But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that Paul was also proclaiming the word of God in Berea, they went there themselves to incite and agitate the crowds.
Specific opponents from Thessalonica agitate Berean crowds against Paul, a local conflict that cannot support hostility toward Jewish people generally.
Not to be easily disconcerted or alarmed by any spirit or message or letter seeming to be from us, alleging that the Day of the Lord has already come.
A claimed spiritual message or forged-seeming letter unsettles believers, making source verification part of pastoral protection.
At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth, but heaven as well.”
God's promised shaking extends from earth to heaven and belongs to the letter's contrast between Sinai, Zion, warning, and kingdom.
The words “Once more” signify the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that the unshakable may remain.
The removal of shakeable created things highlights what remains and leads toward gratitude for an unshakable kingdom.
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 shake physically or metaphorically unsettle; especially to disturb someone's security, stability, or peace of mind.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
15 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I shake, excite
Read verseI shake, excite
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Read verseI shake, excite
Read verseI shake, excite
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Read verseI shake, excite
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 14 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 4 selected witnesses from 15 lexical occurrence verses.
σαλεύω is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G4531 spans motion and instability without giving every disturbance the same source. Wind sways a reed, a flood tests a house, prayer is followed by a shaken room, an earthquake moves prison foundations, agitators disturb a crowd, and a deceptive message unsettles believers. Jesus' house still faces the torrent; its stability comes from a deep foundation expressed in obedience.
Second Thessalonians treats alarm as something pastoral teaching should address through source clarity rather than shame. Acts 16 joins dramatic shaking to practical care when Paul stops the jailer from self-harm and stays present. Hebrews sets created instability within the promise of God's unshakable kingdom, calling for gratitude and reverence rather than speculative panic.
Churches should respond to shaken people by reducing immediate danger, checking facts and messages, offering trauma-informed and clinical support when appropriate, and anchoring hope in Christ without pretending that faithful people never tremble.
Luke.6.48
G4531 appears in active and passive forms for shaking something or being shaken. Its semantic range extends naturally from physical motion to social agitation and mental unsettlement, while Hebrews gives the participles a theological contrast between removable and enduring realities.
Acts quotes Psalm 16's confidence in the Lord's stabilizing presence, and Hebrews quotes Haggai's promised shaking. The New Testament receives those witnesses through Jesus' resurrection and God's kingdom, not as a denial of present vulnerability or a schedule for disasters.