What does σέβομαι (sébomai) mean in the Bible?
σέβομαι (sébomai): Reverent worship expressing fear of God; often describes non-Jews observing Jewish practices.
Greek · G4576
σέβομαι
Be devout
Reading a lexicon entry
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σέβομαι G4576
Pronunciation sébomai
What does σέβομαι (sébomai) mean in the Bible?
σέβομαι (sébomai): Reverent worship expressing fear of God; often describes non-Jews observing Jewish practices.
Full entry for σέβομαι (G4576) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G4576?
The BSB source-word alignment has 10 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include They worship (2), [who was] a worshiper (1), a worshiper (1), devout (1), God-fearing (1).
Where does σέβομαι (sébomai) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 15:9. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (8), Mark (1), Matthew (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 They worship 2× Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7
[who was] a worshiper 1× Acts 16:14
a worshiper 1× Acts 18:7
devout 1× Acts 13:43
God-fearing 1× Acts 17:4
God-fearing [Gentiles] 1× Acts 17:17
is worshiped 1× Acts 19:27
religious 1× Acts 13:50
to worship 1× Acts 18:13
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 15:9 σέβονταί to They worship Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Plural Mark 7:7 σέβονταί to They worship Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Plural Acts 13:43 σεβομένων to devout Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Genitive Masculine Plural Acts 13:50 σεβομένας to religious Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Accusative Feminine Plural Acts 16:14 σεβομένη to [who was] a worshiper Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Feminine Singular Acts 17:4 σεβομένων to God-fearing Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Genitive Masculine Plural Acts 17:17 σεβομένοις to God-fearing [Gentiles] Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Dative Masculine Plural Acts 18:7 σεβομένου to a worshiper Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Genitive Masculine Singular Acts 18:13 σέβεσθαι to to worship Verb - Present Infinitive Middle or Passive Acts 19:27 σέβεται to is worshiped Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 15:9
Aligned rows 10
Books represented 3
Matthew 1 Mark 1 Acts 8
Source forms
σεβομένων 2x sebomenōn Acts 13:43, Acts 17:4
σέβονταί 2x sebontai Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7
σέβεσθαι 1x sebesthai Acts 18:13
σέβεται 1x sebetai Acts 19:27
σεβομένας 1x sebomenas Acts 13:50
σεβομένη 1x sebomenē Acts 16:14
σεβομένοις 1x sebomenois Acts 17:17
σεβομένου 1x sebomenou Acts 18:7
Parsing patterns
Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Plural 2x Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Genitive Masculine Plural 2x Acts 13:43, Acts 17:4
Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Singular 1x Acts 19:27
Verb - Present Infinitive Middle or Passive 1x Acts 18:13
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Accusative Feminine Plural 1x Acts 13:50
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Dative Masculine Plural 1x Acts 17:17
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Genitive Masculine Singular 1x Acts 18:7
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Feminine Singular 1x Acts 16:14
Evidence Summary
Messiah
Greek word. Reverent worship expressing fear of God; often describes non-Jews observing Jewish practices.
Strong's G4576
Lexical occurrences 10 verses Greek text appearances 10 times Word forms 3 forms 10 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Acts 16:11-15 Source Gloss
be devout
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Reverent worship expressing fear of God; often describes non-Jews observing Jewish practices.
to worship: with accusative of person(s), Mat.15:9, Mrk.7:7, Act.18:13 19:27; σεβόμενος τ. θεόν, Act.16:14 18:7; σεβόμενοι (σ. προσήλυτοι, σ. Ἕλληνες), devout, Act.13:43, 50 17:4, 17 (cf. προσήλυτος).
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
10 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 15:9 Verb Third Person Plural Present Middle or Passive Deponent Indicative
σέβονταί sebontai
I reverence, worship
Read verse Mark 7:7 Verb Third Person Plural Present Middle or Passive Deponent Indicative
σέβονταί sebontai
I reverence, worship
Read verse Acts 13:43 Verb Present Middle or Passive Deponent Participle Genitive Plural Masculine
σεβομένων sebomenwn
I reverence, worship
Read verse Acts 13:50 Verb Present Middle or Passive Deponent Participle Accusative Plural Feminine
σεβομένας sebomenav
I reverence, worship
Read verse Acts 16:14 Verb Present Middle or Passive Deponent Participle Nominative Singular Feminine
σεβομένη sebomenh
I reverence, worship
Read verse Acts 17:4 Verb Present Middle or Passive Deponent Participle Genitive Plural Masculine
σεβομένων sebomenwn
I reverence, worship
Read verse Acts 17:17 Verb Present Middle or Passive Deponent Participle Dative Plural Masculine
σεβομένοις, sebomenoiv
I reverence, worship
Read verse Acts 18:7 Verb Present Middle or Passive Deponent Participle Genitive Singular Masculine
σεβομένου sebomenou
I reverence, worship
Read verse Acts 18:13 Verb Present Middle or Passive Deponent Infinitive
σέβεσθαι sebesqai
I reverence, worship
Read verse Acts 19:27 Verb Third Person Singular Present Middle or Passive Deponent Indicative
σέβεται. sebetai
I reverence, worship
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 3 Aligned forms 10 Tenses Present Voices Middle
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Indicative states a fact or reality 3×
Present Middle Matt 15:9 · Mark 7:7 · Acts 19:27 3×
Participle verbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality 6×
Present Middle Acts 13:43 · Acts 17:4 · Acts 13:50 · Acts 16:14 · Acts 17:17 · Acts 18:7 6×
Infinitive verbal noun — the action in abstract 1×
Present Middle Acts 18:13 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 10 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
present 10
Voice
middle 10
Mood
participle 6 indicative 3 infinitive 1
NT Occurrences
Matthew 15:9 σέβονταί present middle indicative ongoing Mark 7:7 σέβονταί present middle indicative ongoing Acts 13:43 σεβομένων present middle participle participle Acts 13:50 σεβομένας present middle participle participle Acts 16:14 σεβομένη present middle participle participle Acts 17:17 σεβομένοις present middle participle participle Acts 17:4 σεβομένων present middle participle participle Acts 18:13 σέβεσθαι present middle infinitive infinitive Acts 18:7 σεβομένου present middle participle participle Acts 19:27 σέβεται present middle indicative ongoing
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 Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
One who reveres or worships God.
Showing 1 selected witness from 10 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
σέβομαι is a primary verb - no further derivation.
Why This Word Matters
Shows prior reverence that finds fulfillment in Christ. Acts 16:11-15
Canonical Themes
Messiah
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