StrongerBible

elpizō

ἐλπίζω

GreekG1679hope, trust, ...

Appears 31 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 12:21Luk 6:34Luk 23:8Luk 24:21Jhn 5:45Act 24:26Act 26:7Rom 8:24Rom 8:25Rom 15:12Rom 15:241Co 13:71Co 15:191Co 16:72Co 1:102Co 1:132Co 5:112Co 8:52Co 13:6Php 2:19Php 2:231Ti 3:141Ti 4:101Ti 5:51Ti 6:17Phm 1:22Heb 11:11Pe 1:131Pe 3:52Jn 1:123Jn 1:14
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studyel-PID-zoverb

What elpizō means

to look ahead to something good with expectation, ranging from ordinary anticipation to settled trust in God

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This verb points the mind forward. At its lightest it simply means to expect or count on something happening, the way a traveler counts on reaching a city or a writer counts on visiting friends soon. At its fullest it means to fix one's confidence on a person, above all on God, so that the expectation is really a form of reliance: the one who hopes is leaning on someone to come through.

The two shades share one core, a forward look toward a good outcome, which is why the same word carries both. What separates them is not the direction of the look but where the weight rests. Ordinary hope rests on circumstances and can be disappointed, as when the disciples on the road to Emmaus said they had hoped Jesus would redeem Israel, and then he was crucified. Confident hope rests on God, and the New Testament treats that kind as steady precisely because its object does not fail.

Greek marks the stronger sense with a small tell: when the word means trust, it is usually followed by a phrase meaning to hope on or hope in a person. That wording, hoping on the living God, is the New Testament's settled language for faith that looks to the future.

Nuances

1ato expect or count on something happening, ordinary forward-looking anticipation that may or may not come true
Luk 6:34Luk 23:8Luk 24:21Rom 15:241Co 16:72Co 1:132Co 5:112Co 13:6Php 2:23Phm 1:222Jn 1:123Jn 1:14
1bto set one's hope on someone, to trust: a confident reliance, usually on God, that leans forward to what he will do
Mat 12:21Jhn 5:45Rom 8:24Rom 8:25Rom 15:121Co 13:71Co 15:191Ti 4:101Ti 5:51Ti 6:171Pe 1:131Pe 3:5

What scholars say about elpizō

The lexica are agreed that ἐλπίζω denotes forward-looking expectation and split it into two related senses: a general sense of expecting or looking forward to something (BDAG sense 1), and a sense colored by trust, hoping in or setting one's hope on someone, characteristically construed with ἐπί or εἰς plus the object, and characteristically with God as that object (BDAG sense 2; cf. LSJ for the classical range of confident expectation). The theological weight of the second sense is a Septuagint inheritance: there the verb regularly renders Hebrew verbs of trust and refuge (בָּטַח, יָחַל, חָסָה), so that hoping and trusting fuse. Bultmann's TDNT article on ἐλπίς and ἐλπίζω stresses that biblical hope is not the anxious uncertainty of ordinary Greek usage but a confident waiting grounded in God, which explains why the same word covers both mundane expectation and settled faith.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. ἐλπίζωlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. ἐλπίζωlexicon
  • R. Bultmann and K. H. Rengstorf, "ἐλπίς, ἐλπίζω," TDNT 2:517-535theological-dictionary

All attested forms of ἐλπίζω

present active indicative 1s

ἐλπίζω, Ἐλπίζω

Rom 15:24, 1Co 16:7, 2Co 1:13, 2Co 5:11, 2Co 13:6, Php 2:23, Phm 1:22, 2Jn 1:12

present active indicative 3s

ἐλπίζει

Act 26:7, Rom 8:24, 1Co 13:7

future active indicative 3p

ἐλπιοῦσιν

Mat 12:21, Rom 15:12

perfect active indicative 1p

ἠλπίκαμεν

2Co 1:10, 1Ti 4:10

present active participle nominative m s

ἐλπίζων

Act 24:26, 1Ti 3:14

aorist active imperative 2p

ἐλπίσατε

1Pe 1:13

aorist active indicative 1p

ἠλπίσαμεν

2Co 8:5

imperfect active indicative 1p

ἠλπίζομεν

Luk 24:21

imperfect active indicative 3s

ἤλπιζέν

Luk 23:8

perfect active indicative 2p

ἠλπίκατε

Jhn 5:45

perfect active indicative 3s

ἤλπικεν

1Ti 5:5

perfect active infinitive

ἠλπικέναι

1Ti 6:17

perfect active participle nominative m p

ἠλπικότες

1Co 15:19

present active indicative 1p

ἐλπίζομεν

Rom 8:25

present active indicative 2p

ἐλπίζετε

Luk 6:34

present active participle nominative f p

ἐλπίζουσαι

1Pe 3:5

present passive participle genitive n p

ἐλπιζομένων

Heb 11:1