Feebleness (of mind or body); by implication, malady; morally, frailty
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Astheneia names weakness, frailty, or sickness, but the kind of weakness must be learned from its setting. Matthew applies Isaiah's servant language to Jesus bearing human infirmities in His healing ministry.
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Full entry for ἀσθένεια (G769) · Open the biblical lexicon
Astheneia names weakness, frailty, or sickness, but the kind of weakness must be learned from its setting. Matthew applies Isaiah's servant language to Jesus bearing human infirmities in His healing ministry.
The BSB source-word alignment has 24 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include weakness (9), weaknesses (4), infirmities (2), [an] invalid (1), ailments (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 8:17. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Corinthians (6), Hebrews (4), Luke (4), 1 Corinthians (2).
Astheneia names weakness, frailty, or sickness, but the kind of weakness must be learned from its setting. Matthew applies Isaiah's servant language to Jesus bearing human infirmities in His healing ministry. Luke and John describe bodily sickness. Acts records diseases healed through Paul's ministry on Malta. Romans uses the word analogically for the weakness of the flesh while Paul explains sanctification.
Scripture neither treats every weakness as personal sin nor makes every healing text an unconditional promise of immediate recovery. The noun gives honest language for creaturely limitation and illness, while the passages direct attention to Christ's compassion, God's power, and the call to offer even weak members in the service of righteousness.
Astheneia can describe bodily disease, human frailty, or weakness used as an analogy for limited understanding and moral practice. Jesus bears infirmities and heals the sick; sufferers seek Him; apostolic mercy reaches Malta; and Paul accommodates his explanation to the weakness of his hearers' flesh.
This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.”
Matthew 8:17 interprets Jesus' healings through Isaiah 53. Matthew presents the Servant entering human misery and bearing infirmities, while the Gospel's larger story still moves toward the cross.
But the news about Jesus spread all the more, and great crowds came to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses.
Luke 5:15 reports crowds coming to hear Jesus and to be healed of their sicknesses. Hearing and healing stand together, and the next verse preserves Jesus' withdrawal for prayer.
One man there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
John 5:5 introduces a man who had lived with illness for thirty-eight years. The duration magnifies his helplessness and Jesus' initiative without making the man's condition a universal explanation of suffering.
After this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured as well.
Acts 28:9 describes other sick people on Malta coming and being healed after Publius's father. The scene displays mercy and authenticates apostolic presence among islanders who had shown hospitality.
I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
Romans 6:19 says Paul speaks in human terms because of the weakness of the flesh. He adapts the slavery analogy to his readers while pressing a decisive transfer from impurity to righteousness.
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. Physical infirmity, mental limitation, or spiritual frailty—weakness that invites divine compassion and grace.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 24 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
want of strength, weakness, illness
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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 this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 7 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 24 lexical occurrence verses.
ἀσθένεια is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Astheneia helps the church speak truthfully about lives that are not self-sufficient. Bodies become ill, long afflictions exhaust hope, and human understanding requires patient accommodation. Jesus does not stand aloof from such need. Matthew portrays His healing ministry as the Servant's burden-bearing compassion, and the narratives show sufferers coming to Him rather than mastering their condition.
Acts extends that mercy through apostolic ministry. Yet weakness is not a slogan that cancels responsibility. In Romans 6 Paul acknowledges the weakness of the flesh while calling believers, freed from sin's dominion, to present themselves to righteousness. Pastoral use should therefore combine tenderness and moral clarity. Do not blame sufferers for every illness, promise what a passage does not promise, or use frailty to excuse settled disobedience.
Bring weakness honestly to Christ and walk in the obedience His grace enables.
Matt.8.17
Astheneia is related to asthenēs, "weak," and may denote lack of strength, bodily illness, or incapacity. The surrounding subject and predicates determine whether physical disease, frailty, or another limitation is meant.
The Psalms bring bodily weakness before God, while Isaiah's Servant bears griefs and sicknesses in the mission Matthew sees embodied in Jesus. The prophets' restoration hopes reach their fullness in resurrection, not in an expectation that every illness ends immediately.
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