To convoke
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G4779, synkaléō, is a Greek verb meaning to call people together or convene them. Its New Testament occurrences all involve an identifiable caller and a specified group: Jesus calls the Twelve, characters in the lost-sheep and lost-coin parables call friends and neighbors, Pilate calls leaders and people, soldiers call their company, officials convene the Sanhedrin, Cornelius calls relatives and friends, and Paul.
Reader summary
Full entry for συγκαλέω (G4779) · Open the biblical lexicon
G4779, synkaléō, is a Greek verb meaning to call people together or convene them. Its New Testament occurrences all involve an identifiable caller and a specified group: Jesus calls the Twelve, characters in the lost-sheep and lost-coin parables call friends and neighbors, Pilate calls leaders and people, soldiers call their company, officials convene the.
The BSB source-word alignment has 8 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include called together (2), [and] calls together (1), [and] had called together (1), [Jesus] called (1), called (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 15:16. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (4), Acts (3), Mark (1).
G4779, synkaléō, is a Greek verb meaning to call people together or convene them. Its New Testament occurrences all involve an identifiable caller and a specified group: Jesus calls the Twelve, characters in the lost-sheep and lost-coin parables call friends and neighbors, Pilate calls leaders and people, soldiers call their company, officials convene the Sanhedrin, Cornelius calls relatives and friends, and Paul calls local Jewish leaders.
The word describes the summons and resulting gathering, not the moral rightness of the caller or response. Luke 9 places Jesus' call before His gift of power and authority for mission. Luke 15 uses the same verb for invitations to share joy over what was found. Mark 15 and Acts 5 show that groups can also be convened within hostile or unjust proceedings. Acts 10 presents a household gathering prepared to hear Peter.
The caller's authority, the group's purpose, and the gathering's moral character therefore come from the narrative, not from the verb. G4779 should not be collapsed into G1577, church or assembly, G4864, synagogue, or G4863, general gathering. It focuses on calling a group together for an occasion. Pastoral use may support clear, purposeful convening, but it cannot make every invitation binding, every closed meeting legitimate, or every assembled majority truthful.
Responsible summonses state their purpose, respect appropriate agency and safety, and remain accountable for what happens after people arrive.
G4779 focuses on a caller intentionally bringing a specified group together. Its occurrences range from Jesus' commissioning and shared rejoicing to hospitality, official councils, and hostile proceedings, so legitimacy and purpose come from context.
Then Jesus called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and power to cure diseases.
Jesus calls a defined group and then grants power and authority for the mission; authority belongs to Jesus and His commission, not the convening verb.
Comes home, and calls together his friends and neighbors to tell them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’
The shepherd summons friends and neighbors to share joy over recovery, with the lost-found meaning supplied by the parable and Jesus' explanation.
Then the soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called the whole company together.
Soldiers convene their company before mocking Jesus, proving that calling a group together carries no automatic holiness or legitimate purpose.
At daybreak the apostles entered the temple courts as they had been told and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles.
Officials formally convene the Sanhedrin, but the narrative exposes their mistaken assumption that the apostles remain imprisoned; institutional standing does not guarantee truth.
The following day he arrived in Caesarea, where Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.
Cornelius gathers relatives and close friends awaiting Peter; the meeting's significance comes from the chapter's divine guidance and proclamation.
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 convoke
(Rec. συγκ-), -ῶ, [in LXX for קָרָא ;] to call together: with accusative, Mrk.15:16, Luk.15:6, 9 (seel. -εῖται, see B1., § 55, 1), Act.5:21. Mid., to call together to oneself: Luk.9:1 (and seel. in Luk.15:6, 9 see supr.) Luk.23:13, Act.10:24 28:17.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
8 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I call together
Read verseI call together
Read verseI call together
Read verseI call together
Read verseI call together
Read verseI call together
Read verseI call together
Read verseI call together
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 8 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)
συγκαλέω is built from these roots:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Luke 9:1 says Jesus calls the Twelve together and then gives them power and authority for the mission described in the following verses. The authority comes from Jesus, not from the mere fact of convening. Luke 15:6 uses the same verb when the shepherd calls friends and neighbors to rejoice over the found sheep, showing a summons ordered toward shared joy. Mark 15:16 supplies a dark contrast as soldiers call their whole company together before mocking Jesus.
A well-attended gathering can facilitate humiliation rather than truth. Acts 5:21 depicts officials convening the full Sanhedrin while mistakenly assuming the apostles remain imprisoned. Formal status and complete representation do not make every premise accurate. Acts 10:24 presents Cornelius gathering relatives and close friends in expectation of Peter, with the chapter's divine guidance and gospel proclamation giving the meeting significance.
These scenes teach leaders to distinguish invitation from coercion and attendance from consent. A responsible meeting states its purpose, who is invited or required, what authority governs it, how confidential information will be handled, and how participants can raise concerns or leave safely. G4779 does not make every closed session improper, but neither does it protect a meeting from scrutiny.
Convening is a tool whose moral character is revealed by the caller's authority, the treatment of those present, and what the group is asked to do.
Luke.9.1
G4779 is a compound Greek verb whose active forms identify a caller bringing a group together. The prefix does not confer unity, legitimacy, or sacred status; syntax and narrative identify the summoned group and purpose.
Israel's leaders, prophets, and kings call assemblies for worship, covenant action, war, inquiry, and sometimes injustice. New Testament G4779 similarly spans mission, celebration, hospitality, councils, and abuse. The canonical pattern evaluates gatherings by divine truth and neighbor treatment without making every assembly term lexically identical.