To expect fully
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
G553 describes waiting expectantly for something not yet seen or received. Romans 8 uses the verb for creation's longing and for believers who await adoption, the redemption of their bodies, with patient hope.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἀπεκδέχομαι (G553) · Open the biblical lexicon
G553 describes waiting expectantly for something not yet seen or received. Romans 8 uses the verb for creation's longing and for believers who await adoption, the redemption of their bodies, with patient hope.
The BSB source-word alignment has 8 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include eagerly await (2), as we wait eagerly for (1), as you eagerly await (1), waited (1), waits (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Romans 8:19. Its strongest book concentrations include Romans (3), 1 Corinthians (1), 1 Peter (1), Galatians (1).
G553 describes waiting expectantly for something not yet seen or received. Romans 8 uses the verb for creation's longing and for believers who await adoption, the redemption of their bodies, with patient hope. First Corinthians 1:7, Philippians 3:20, Hebrews 9:28, and Galatians 5:5 direct expectation toward Christ's appearing, a Savior from heaven, salvation, or the hope of righteousness.
First Peter 3:20 instead speaks of God's patience waiting in Noah's days, so the subject and object must be identified before application. The word presents active, hope-shaped waiting, but it does not promise a preferred timetable, make passivity virtuous, or authorize predictions about when the awaited event will occur.
The selected artifact reflects about eight New Testament uses of G553. The passages share expectant waiting while differing in subject, object, and theological setting.
Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Possessing the Spirit's firstfruits does not remove groaning; it sustains hope while believers await bodily redemption.
But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the hope of righteousness.
The expectation belongs to Paul's contrast between faith working through love and reliance on circumcision for justification.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Waiting for the Savior is joined to citizenship in heaven and the promised transformation of believers' lowly bodies.
Who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In the ark a few people, only eight souls, were saved through water.
Here God is the one who waits, and His patience appears in a passage about former disobedience, Noah's household, and baptismal correspondence.
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. Eager, patient anticipation of God's future fulfillment; waiting with hopeful certainty for what is promised.
Eager, patient anticipation of God's future fulfillment; waiting with hopeful certainty for what is promised.
to await or expect eagerly (Lft., Notes, 149; MM, VGT, see word): absol., 1Pe.3:20; C. accusative of thing(s), Rom.8:19, 23 8:25, 1Co.1:7, Gal.5:5; with accusative of person(s), Php.3:20, Heb.9:28.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I expect eagerly, wait for eagerly
Read verseI expect eagerly, wait for eagerly
Read verseI expect eagerly, wait for eagerly
Read verseI expect eagerly, wait for eagerly
Read verseI expect eagerly, wait for eagerly
Read verseI expect eagerly, wait for eagerly
Read verseI expect eagerly, wait for eagerly
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)
ἀπεκδέχομαι is built from these roots:
Romans 8 prevents teachers from presenting expectant waiting as denial, ease, or inactivity. Creation groans, believers groan, and the Spirit's firstfruits coexist with an unredeemed body and an unseen hope. Galatians 5 shows that waiting can also express confidence in the Spirit rather than confidence in circumcision. Philippians 3 and the other appearing passages give expectation a personal center in Christ, not in speculation about dates.
First Peter 3:20 supplies an important grammatical control because God, not believers, is the one waiting there. Faithful teaching should therefore identify the subject, the promised object, and the action required during the interval before drawing pastoral conclusions.
Rom.8.19-25
The verb can be rendered wait for, eagerly await, or expect. Its force is relational and contextual: grammar identifies the waiting subject, and the passage supplies the awaited object. The selected artifact reflects about eight New Testament uses, including about six in the Pauline Epistles.
The New Testament's expectant waiting belongs to the wider biblical pattern of hoping in God's word and awaiting His saving action. That thematic connection does not establish that every Old Testament waiting term is a lexical equivalent of G553.