What does σύρω (sýrō) mean in the Bible?
σύρω (sýrō): Forcibly drag someone away, often implying arrest, violence, or legal compulsion toward judgment.
Greek · G4951
σύρω
To trail
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σύρω G4951
Pronunciation sýrō
What does σύρω (sýrō) mean in the Bible?
σύρω (sýrō): Forcibly drag someone away, often implying arrest, violence, or legal compulsion toward judgment.
Full entry for σύρω (G4951) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G4951?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [and] dragged [him] (1), he dragged off (1), swept (1), they dragged (1), They dragged in (1).
Where does σύρω (sýrō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 21:8. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (3), John (1), Revelation (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 [and] dragged [him] 1× Acts 14:19
he dragged off 1× Acts 8:3
swept 1× Revelation 12:4
they dragged 1× Acts 17:6
They dragged in 1× John 21:8
Show sample aligned rows
John 21:8 σύροντες to They dragged in Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural Acts 8:3 σύρων to he dragged off Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular Acts 14:19 ἔσυρον to [and] dragged [him] Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural Acts 17:6 ἔσυρον to they dragged Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural Revelation 12:4 σύρει to swept Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row John 21:8
Aligned rows 5
Books represented 3
John 1 Acts 3 Revelation 1
Source forms
ἔσυρον 2x esyron Acts 14:19, Acts 17:6
σύρει 1x syrei Revelation 12:4
σύροντες 1x syrontes John 21:8
σύρων 1x syrōn Acts 8:3
Parsing patterns
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural 2x Acts 14:19, Acts 17:6
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x Revelation 12:4
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural 1x John 21:8
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular 1x Acts 8:3
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Forcibly drag someone away, often implying arrest, violence, or legal compulsion toward judgment.
Strong's G4951
Lexical occurrences 5 verses Greek text appearances 5 times Word forms 2 forms 5 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link John 21:8 Source Gloss
to trail
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Forcibly drag someone away, often implying arrest, violence, or legal compulsion toward judgment.
to draw, drag: with accusative of thing(s), Jhn.21:8, Rev.12:4; with accusative of person(s), of taking to trial or punishment, Act.8:3; ἔξω τ. πόλεως, Act.14:19; ἐπὶ τ. πολιτάρχας (cf. 4Mac, l.with), Act.17:6 (cf. κατα-ούρω).
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
John 21:8 Verb Present Active Participle Nominative Plural Masculine
σύροντες surontev
I draw, drag
Read verse Acts 8:3 Verb Present Active Participle Nominative Singular Masculine
σύρων surwn
I draw, drag
Read verse Acts 14:19 Verb Third Person Plural Imperfect Active Indicative
ἔσυρον esuron
I draw, drag
Read verse Acts 17:6 Verb Third Person Plural Imperfect Active Indicative
ἔσυρον esuron
I draw, drag
Read verse Revelation 12:4 Verb Third Person Singular Present Active Indicative
σύρει surei
I draw, drag
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 2 Aligned forms 5 Tenses Imperfect, Present Voices Active
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×
Imperfect Active Acts 14:19 · Acts 17:6 2×
Present Active Rev 12:4 1×
Participle verbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality 2×
Present Active John 21:8 · Acts 8:3 2×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 5 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
present 3 imperfect 2
Voice
active 5
Mood
indicative 3 participle 2
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
Drawing or hauling a fishing net full of fish toward the shore
Forcibly taking men and women to prison for persecution
Violently pulling a person outside the city for execution
Dragging or sweeping away stars from heaven with a tail
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 5 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
σύρω is built from this root:
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