What does συμπνίγω (sympnígō) mean in the Bible?
Sympnigo describes choking or close crowd pressure. In the sowing parable, thorns grow and choke the seedlings.
Greek · G4846
συμπνίγω
Sympnigo describes choking or close crowd pressure. In the sowing parable, thorns grow and choke the seedlings.
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συμπνίγωG4846
Pronunciationsympnígō
What does συμπνίγω (sympnígō) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for συμπνίγω (G4846) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G4846?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [and] choke (1), choke (1), choked (1), pressed around (1), they are choked (1).
Where does συμπνίγω (sympnígō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 13:22. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (2), Mark (2), Matthew (1).
What This Word Actually Means
Sympnigo describes choking or close crowd pressure. In the sowing parable, thorns grow and choke the seedlings. Jesus' explanations describe worries, the deceitfulness of wealth and other desires choking the word, while Luke includes pleasures and fruit that does not mature. Luke also uses the verb for the crowd pressing around Jesus as He goes with Jairus, whose daughter is dying.
This physical crowd scene is distinct from the parable's account of hearing that becomes unfruitful. The word therefore requires attention to what is being pressed and what effect the passage describes. It does not diagnose a modern anxiety disorder or declare every person struggling under economic pressure unfaithful. Teaching can invite honest examination of what competes with hearing while offering practical help and keeping Jesus' care for vulnerable people in view.
Crowded proximity to Him is not itself the same as the faithful hearing the parable commends.
How the Bible Uses It
Five direct BSB verbal witnesses describe thorns choking seedlings, competing pressures choking heard teaching, and a crowd pressing around Jesus on the way to Jairus' daughter.
- Mark.4.7
Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings, and they yielded no crop.
Thorns grow and choke the seedlings within the sowing story, leaving no crop before Jesus explains the hearers represented.
- Mark.4.19
But the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Worries, deceitful wealth and other desires enter and choke the word, distinguishing the stated competing pressures from a medical diagnosis.
- Matt.13.22
The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
The hearer receives the word but worry and deceitful wealth choke it; the explanation concerns unfruitful hearing rather than poverty as guilt.
- Luke.8.14
The seeds that fell among the thorns are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life, and their fruit does not mature.
Worries, riches and pleasures choke the hearers as they continue through life, and their fruit does not mature.
- Luke.8.42
Because his only daughter, who was about twelve, was dying. As Jesus went with him, the crowds pressed around Him,
The crowd presses around Jesus as He accompanies Jairus toward his dying daughter, a physical action rather than the parable's moral image.
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[and] choke1×Mark 4:19
choke1×Matthew 13:22
choked1×Mark 4:7
pressed around1×Luke 8:42
they are choked1×Luke 8:14
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 13:22συμπνίγειtochokeVerb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person SingularMark 4:7συνέπνιξανtochokedVerb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person PluralMark 4:19συμπνίγουσινto[and] chokeVerb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person PluralLuke 8:14συμπνίγονταιtothey are chokedVerb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person PluralLuke 8:42συνέπνιγονtopressed aroundVerb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 13:22
Aligned rows5
Books represented3
Matthew1Mark2Luke2
Source forms
συμπνίγει1xsympnigeiMatthew 13:22
συμπνίγονται1xsympnigontaiLuke 8:14
συμπνίγουσιν1xsympnigousinMark 4:19
συνέπνιγον1xsynepnigonLuke 8:42
συνέπνιξαν1xsynepnixanMark 4:7
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural1xMark 4:7
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural1xLuke 8:42
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural1xMark 4:19
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular1xMatthew 13:22
Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Plural1xLuke 8:14
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Offer practical help and patient attention when worry or need burdens someone.
- Review competing demands without demanding unsafe isolation or the abandonment of responsibilities.
Avoid claiming...
- This verb cannot diagnose illness or label every economically distressed person unfaithful.
- A crowded religious setting does not automatically demonstrate fruitful reception of the word.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Choke by crowding or overwhelming pressure; figuratively, spiritual word suffocated by worldly concerns
Strong'sG4846
Lexical occurrences5 versesGreek text appearances5 timesWord forms1 form5 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study linkLuke 8:40-56Source Gloss
to choke
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 13:22Verb Third Person Singular Present Active Indicative
συμπνίγειsumpnigei
I choke utterly, crowd upon
Read verseMark 4:7Verb Third Person Plural Aorist Active Indicative
συνέπνιξανsunepnixan
I choke utterly, crowd upon
Read verseMark 4:19Verb Third Person Plural Present Active Indicative
συμπνίγουσιsumpnigousin
I choke utterly, crowd upon
Read verseLuke 8:14Verb Third Person Plural Present Passive Indicative
συμπνίγονται,sumpnigontai
I choke utterly, crowd upon
Read verseLuke 8:42Verb Third Person Plural Imperfect Active Indicative
συνέπνιγονsunepnigon
I choke utterly, crowd upon
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 groups1Aligned forms5TensesPresent, Aorist, ImperfectVoicesActive, Passive
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Indicativestates a fact or reality5×
Present ActiveMatt 13:22 · Mark 4:192×
Aorist ActiveMark 4:71×
Present PassiveLuke 8:141×
Imperfect ActiveLuke 8:421×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 5 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
present3imperfect1aorist1
Voice
active4passive1
Mood
indicative5
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)
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
literal choking or crowding by a pressing multitude of people
figurative choking of God's word by worldly cares and riches in spiritual growth
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 5 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
συμπνίγω is built from these roots:
For the Preacher and Teacher
Jesus explains the thorn-filled ground by naming pressures that crowd out the heard word. Mark emphasizes worries, wealth's deceitfulness and other desires; Luke includes pleasures and fruit that fails to mature. Those concrete descriptions call for attention to direction and effect rather than a diagnosis based on one feeling. Someone living with anxiety or financial strain may need patient support, and the parable cannot turn that need into a verdict of unbelief.
The neighboring good-soil explanation in Luke names hearing, retaining the word and producing fruit with perseverance, giving the warning a constructive direction. Luke's other use of the verb describes a crowd pressing Jesus during His journey to Jairus' dying daughter. That scene makes physical closeness visible, but Jesus' encounter with the suffering woman distinguishes a crowd's contact from her personal approach.
Teaching can therefore invite sustained hearing and practical freedom from competing demands without prescribing isolation, neglect of family duties or relentless religious activity as the cure for unfruitfulness.
Anchor passage
Luke.8.14
Doctrinal connections
- Jesus explains the sowing image through the reception of God's word.
- The good-soil explanation includes retaining the word and persevering toward fruit.
- Wealth's deceitfulness is named among pressures that obstruct fruitful hearing.
- Luke places pleasures beside worries and riches rather than condemning every joy.
- The crowded journey begins with Jairus seeking Jesus for his dying daughter.
- Jesus' response to the suffering woman includes personal address and peace.
The witnesses include active verb forms and Luke's form describing hearers being choked. The object and narrative setting distinguish choking plants, obstructing the word and crowd pressure; tense does not assign the same moral quality to each action.
From Old to New Testament
Isaiah 5:1-7 portrays a tended vineyard whose expected justice becomes bloodshed and cries of distress. It can accompany attention to fruit and conduct while retaining its own covenant warning, without converting either agricultural image into a diagnosis of illness or treating its Hebrew terms as direct Greek witnesses.