To honor
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Τιμάω (timaō) means to honor, value, treat as worthy, or assign proper respect. Jesus cites God's command to honor father and mother while exposing traditions that redirect resources and nullify filial responsibility.
Reader summary
Full entry for τιμάω (G5091) · Open the biblical lexicon
Τιμάω (timaō) means to honor, value, treat as worthy, or assign proper respect. Jesus cites God's command to honor father and mother while exposing traditions that redirect resources and nullify filial responsibility.
The BSB source-word alignment has 21 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Honor (10), . . . (2), does not honor (2), he need not honor (1), honored (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 15:4. Its strongest book concentrations include John (6), Matthew (6), Mark (3), 1 Peter (2).
Τιμάω (timaō) means to honor, value, treat as worthy, or assign proper respect. Jesus cites God's command to honor father and mother while exposing traditions that redirect resources and nullify filial responsibility. He quotes Isaiah against people whose lips honor God while their hearts remain distant, proving that verbal praise can counterfeit honor. The rich ruler knows the command to honor parents as part of covenant obedience.
In John, all must honor the Son just as they honor the Father, a striking claim about Jesus' divine relation and mission. On Malta, grateful islanders honor Paul and his companions in many ways and supply their needs. Honor can be commanded, hypocritically performed, withheld, or expressed materially. Its object, source, and embodied practice reveal whether it is genuine and rightly ordered.
Τιμάω describes treating someone as worthy of honor. It governs care for parents, exposes lip service without the heart, belongs to obedience, demands honor for the Son as for the Father, and appears in grateful material support.
For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
Jesus sets God's command to honor parents against a tradition that lets religious dedication excuse practical care, insisting that honor carries material responsibility.
Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.
Isaiah's indictment describes lips honoring God while hearts remain far away, revealing worship vocabulary without covenant devotion as hypocrisy.
You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.’”
Jesus includes honoring father and mother among commands known by the ruler, placing it within a moral life that still must answer the call to follow Him.
So that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
The Father wills that everyone honor the Son just as they honor the Father, and withholding honor from the sent Son dishonors the Father Himself.
The islanders honored us in many ways and supplied our needs when we were ready to sail.
The Maltese honor Paul and his companions in many ways and provide what they need for departure, embodying gratitude through generous hospitality.
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. Honor that ascribes worth or value to someone, particularly obedience and respect toward authority figures.
Honor that ascribes worth or value to someone, particularly obedience and respect toward authority figures.
(τιμή), [in LXX for כָּבַד pi., עָרַךְ hi., etc. ;]
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 21 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I value at a price, honor
Read verseI value at a price, honor
Read verseI value at a price, honor
Read verseI value at a price, honor
Read verseI value at a price, honor
Read verseI value at a price, honor
Read verseI value at a price, honor
Read verseI value at a price, honor
Read verseI value at a price, honor
Read verseI value at a price, honor
Read verseI value at a price, honor
Read verseI value at a price, honor
Read verseI value at a price, honor
Read verseI value at a price, honor
Read verseI value at a price, honor
Read verseI value at a price, honor
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 21 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 2 selected witnesses from 21 lexical occurrence verses.
τιμάω is built from this root:
Reveals relational unity between Father and Son. 1 Timothy 5:3-16
Honor includes tangible care, not merely verbal respect.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Honor becomes visible where words cost something. Jesus rejects a religious system that sounds devoted while shielding resources from parents, because the command to honor includes practical care. Isaiah's quotation exposes the same fracture vertically: lips can speak reverence while hearts remain distant from God. The ruler's moral record shows that knowing the honor command, though good, cannot replace surrender to Jesus.
John 5 raises the word to its Christological height. The Son must receive honor just as the Father does, and any worship that bypasses the sent Son fails to honor the Father. Acts shows honor in ordinary gratitude as islanders supply the missionaries' needs. Churches should cultivate respectful speech, but never let ceremony substitute for provision, obedience, or Christ-centered worship.
True honor recognizes worth and orders conduct accordingly.
Matt.15.4
Τιμάω is a verb related to τιμή, honor or value. It can mean show respect, treat as worthy, or attach value. Context shows whether honor is verbal, relational, material, civic, or worshipful.
The law commands parental honor, wisdom commends giving honor where due, prophets expose empty worship, and the New Testament directs supreme honor to the Father through the Son.
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
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Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain