To assemble
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συνάγω (synagō) means to gather, bring together, collect, or assemble. Its object and setting determine the kind of gathering in view: people can assemble for deliberation or opposition, crops can be collected into a barn, and scattered persons can be brought into unity.
Reader summary
Full entry for συνάγω (G4863) · Open the biblical lexicon
συνάγω (synagō) means to gather, bring together, collect, or assemble. Its object and setting determine the kind of gathering in view: people can assemble for deliberation or opposition, crops can be collected into a barn, and scattered persons can be brought into unity.
The BSB source-word alignment has 59 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include gather (6), gathered (6), assembled (4), [and] gathered (2), gather together (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 2:4. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (24), Acts (11), John (7), Luke (6).
συνάγω (synagō) means to gather, bring together, collect, or assemble. Its object and setting determine the kind of gathering in view: people can assemble for deliberation or opposition, crops can be collected into a barn, and scattered persons can be brought into unity. Jesus uses the verb to demand allegiance, declaring that whoever does not gather with Him scatters.
He laments Jerusalem's refusal to be gathered under His protective care. John interprets Jesus' death as the means by which the scattered children of God are gathered into one, while Matthew's harvest parable uses gathering for final separation and judgment. The word therefore cannot be reduced to pleasant fellowship or to the church meeting. It can describe the action of hostile councils, compassionate protection, mission, unity, harvest, or judgment.
Its deepest pastoral value lies in the question of center and purpose: who gathers, what is gathered, and toward what end? In the Gospel witness, faithful gathering is finally defined by Christ, accomplished through His death, and ordered toward His one people.
συνάγω names the act of bringing persons or things together, with moral force supplied by the agent, object, and purpose. The selected passages range from hostile assembly and harvest collection to Jesus' protective longing and His death gathering God's scattered children into one.
He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
In the controversy over Jesus' authority, gathering is not neutral organization but participation in His mission. The antithesis with scattering makes allegiance to Jesus the governing center of faithful gathering.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
Jesus' lament presents gathering as desired protection and covenant mercy, yet it also names Jerusalem's resistance. The image holds together Christ's compassion and the seriousness of refusing His shelter.
And not only for the nation, but also for the scattered children of God, to gather them together into one.
John interprets the death of Jesus as more than a political expedient for one nation. Through that death, the scattered children of God are gathered into one people, making unity a fruit of the cross rather than human coordination.
Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat into my barn.’”
The harvest command uses gathering within final separation. Wheat is gathered into the barn while weeds are collected for burning, so the verb's positive or negative force cannot be decided apart from its object and eschatological setting.
The next day the rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem,
A governing council assembles to examine Peter and John after the healing at the temple. The occurrence reminds readers that gathering can consolidate resistance to the Gospel as readily as it can express fellowship.
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. Gather together for assembly; in late usage, also receive/welcome as hospitality toward strangers.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 62 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I gather together
Read verseI gather together
Read verseI gather together
Read verseI gather together
Read verseI gather together
Read verseI gather together
Read verseI gather together
Read verseI gather together
Read verseI gather together
Read verseI gather together
Read verseI gather together
Read verseI gather together
Read verseI gather together
Read verseI gather together
Read verseI gather together
Read verseI gather 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 56 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 1 selected witness from 59 lexical occurrence verses.
συνάγω is built from these roots:
Describes unifying work of redemption.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Gathering is never made holy merely by increasing the number of people in one place. Acts 4 shows leaders assembled in opposition to the name of Jesus, and Matthew 13 shows harvest gathering ordered toward final separation. Jesus therefore identifies the decisive center in Matthew 12: gathering with Him rather than scattering. His lament over Jerusalem reveals that His desire is not coercive crowd-building but protective covenant mercy, like sheltering chicks under wings, even as He names the city's unwillingness.
John 11 then gives the gathering its redemptive ground. Jesus dies not only for the nation but to gather God's scattered children into one. Christian unity is thus neither institutional density nor sentimental togetherness. It is the reconciling fruit of Christ's death, formed around His person and mission. Churches should ask not only whether people are assembling, but what truth, allegiance, and end hold them together.
A faithful gathering receives Christ's shelter, shares the unity He purchased, and joins rather than frustrates His work.
John.11.52
The compound joins σύν, “together,” with ἄγω, “to lead or bring,” but current usage, not component arithmetic, governs meaning. The verb may take persons, crops, money, or other objects; active and passive forms can emphasize the gatherer, the collected object, or the fact of assembly. Context alone supplies approval, hostility, protection, or judgment.
The prophets repeatedly promise that God will gather Israel's scattered people, while also announcing gatherings for judgment. Shepherd imagery, return from exile, and the ingathering of the nations converge in the New Testament around Jesus, whose death gathers God's scattered children into one without erasing the warnings attached to final harvest.
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