StrongerBible

eudokeō

εὐδοκέω

GreekG2106“be well pleased, be pleased to (do), ...”

Appears 21 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 3:17Mat 12:18Mat 17:5Mrk 1:11Luk 3:22Luk 12:32Rom 15:26Rom 15:271Co 1:211Co 10:52Co 5:82Co 12:10Gal 1:15Col 1:191Th 2:81Th 3:12Th 2:12Heb 10:6Heb 10:8Heb 10:382Pe 1:17
Compound of
euεὖwell/well done!5G2095
dokeōδοκέωto think64G1380
Names & words formed with this
Word studyResearch-gradeyoo-dok-EH-ohverb

What eudokeō means

1

to decide freely and gladly: to resolve on something, or to consent and agree to it

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

This is the word's decision side. Underneath it sits an old everyday phrase, "it seems good to me," and in ordinary Greek business documents this verb was the standard way to record that someone had willingly agreed to a contract, a marriage, or a sale. The agreement is real and settled, but the prefix keeps it warm: a person consents because the matter pleases them, not under compulsion.

The New Testament puts this decisive sense to two kinds of use. When God is the one deciding, and an action follows ("God decided to save," "God chose to set his fullness in Christ"), the word names a free and gracious resolve that is not up for review. When people are the ones deciding, it can carry the same contract-like force (the churches "agreed" to send relief and so put themselves under obligation) or a softer note of preference ("we would rather").

The reason this matters is that a flat "was pleased" hides the backbone in the word. In these settings it is closer to "resolved," "determined," or "agreed." The feeling is present, but the center of gravity is the decision itself.

Nuances

1aof God: to resolve or determine freely and graciously, often shading into choosing or electing
Luk 12:321Co 1:21Gal 1:15Col 1:19
1bof people: to agree or consent to something, or to decide in favor of it
Rom 15:26Rom 15:272Co 5:81Th 3:1
2

to look on with favor: to be well pleased with, take pleasure in, or find acceptable

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

This is the word's favor side, and it comes from Scripture's Greek translation of the Old Testament, where this verb rendered Hebrew words for God's gracious acceptance (רצה) and delight (חפץ). In that background it is the language of God receiving a worshipper, a sacrifice, or a people with favor, and it fuses two things English tends to separate: choosing and delighting in.

When God is the one who looks with favor, the favor is never sentimental. At Jesus' baptism the voice from heaven says "in whom I am well pleased," but the phrasing reaches back to Isaiah's chosen servant, so it means something fuller: I have set my favor on him, chosen him, delighted in him as my appointed one. The same background lets the word turn negative, naming favor withheld: God took no pleasure in the sacrifices that could not truly deal with sin, and no pleasure in a wilderness generation that turned away.

When people are the ones taking pleasure, the range runs from a healthy, hard-won contentment (being content even in weakness and hardship, for the sake of Christ) to a warm, self-giving delight in others, and even, on the dark side, taking pleasure in wrongdoing.

Nuances

2aof God: to set favor upon and delight in a chosen one
Mat 3:17Mat 12:18Mat 17:5Mrk 1:11Luk 3:222Pe 1:17
2bof God: to find acceptable or take pleasure in (often stated as favor withheld)
1Co 10:5Heb 10:6Heb 10:8Heb 10:38
2cof people: to be well content in, or to take pleasure in
2Co 12:101Th 2:82Th 2:12

What scholars say about eudokeō

A late Hellenistic verb, absent from the classical authors and coined by univerbation of εὖ δοκεῖ μοι, εὐδοκέω enters literary Greek with Polybius already carrying two intertwined values: "be content / well pleased with" (with the dative) and "consent, agree, resolve" (with the infinitive). Moulton-Milligan and Spicq document the participle εὐδοκῶ as the standard juridical formula of formal consent across three centuries of documentary papyri (marriage contracts, manumissions, sales). The verb's second parent is the Septuagint, where it renders chiefly רָצָה (cultic favorable acceptance) and חָפֵץ (delight/desire), and where the calqued construction εὐδοκέω ἐν + dative reproduces Hebrew רָצָה/חָפֵץ בְּ. Schrenk's foundational TDNT article synthesizes the two pedigrees under German Wohlgefallen, a settled gracious effective inclination holding decision and delight together. The lexica preserve a real fault-line: BDAG orders the decisional sense first, Louw-Nida splits the verb across two unrelated domains (25.88; 30.97), while TDNT, Spicq, and NIDNTTE (Silva) argue the volitional/elective dimension is foundational and that a flat "well pleased" at Matt 3:17 loses the electing nuance pressed in from Isa 42:1 (whose Greek behind Matthew is a non-LXX, proto-Theodotionic rendering using εὐδόκησα for רָצְתָה). The baptismal aorist is widely read (Davies-Allison, France, Marcus, Luz, Fitzmyer, Bock, Marshall) as a constative aorist for a Hebrew stative, declaring an abiding relationship rather than a moment's onset, and thus as anti-adoptionist. Luke 2:14's genitive εὐδοκίας, decisively supported externally and illuminated by the Qumran בְּנֵי רְצוֹנְכָה idiom (Vogt, Hunzinger, Fitzmyer, Metzger), fixes the noun as God's elective favor rather than human goodwill. Paul's usage is construction-driven: εὐδόκησεν + infinitive with God as subject is a Heilsratschluss (1 Cor 1:21; Gal 1:15; Col 1:19, per Thiselton, Conzelmann, Betz, Martyn, Moo, O'Brien); the Rom 15:26-27 collection carries the papyrological contractual sense (Jewett); εὐδοκέω ἐν + dative at 2 Cor 12:10 is the LXX affective idiom (Thrall, Harris). Hebrews 10:6, 8, 38 anchor the cultic-acceptance pole via Ps 39:7 LXX and Hab 2:4 LXX (Attridge, Lane, Ellingworth, Koester, Cockerill).

Where scholars disagree about eudokeō

Whether the word is best treated as one continuous sense in Greek or as two distinct meanings (decide/resolve versus be pleased/delight in).

  • majorityOne integrated word whose decision, election, and delight are facets of a single disposition, shaped passage by passage by construction rather than split into discrete senses.; G. Schrenk, TDNT 2:738-751; C. Spicq, TLNT 2:99-106; M. Silva, ed., NIDNTTE 1:626-630
  • minorityTwo separate senses belonging to unrelated semantic domains, one an emotion (take pleasure in) and one a choice (think, prefer).; J. P. Louw and E. A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic Domains, 2nd ed. (UBS, 1989), 25.88; 30.97
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • G. Schrenk, "εὐδοκέω, εὐδοκία," in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. G. Kittel, vol. 2 (Eerdmans, 1964), 738-751lexicon
  • BDAG, 3rd ed. (2000), 404, s.v. εὐδοκέωlexicon
  • C. Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, trans. J. D. Ernest, vol. 2 (Hendrickson, 1994), 99-106lexicon
  • J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (Hodder & Stoughton, 1930), s.v. εὐδοκέωlexicon
  • M. Silva, ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis, vol. 1 (Zondervan, 2014), 626-630lexicon
  • H. Balz, "εὐδοκέω, εὐδοκία," in Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 2 (Eerdmans, 1991), 75-76lexicon
  • W. D. Davies and D. C. Allison, The Gospel according to Saint Matthew, ICC, vol. 1 (T&T Clark, 1988), 336-339commentary
  • R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, NICNT (Eerdmans, 2007), 122-124commentary
  • J. Marcus, Mark 1-8, Anchor Yale Bible 27 (Doubleday, 2000), 161-167commentary
  • J. A. Fitzmyer, "Peace upon Earth among Men of His Good Will (Lk 2:14)," Theological Studies 19 (1958): 225-227article
  • B. M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed. (UBS, 1994), 111reference
  • R. Jewett, Romans, Hermeneia (Fortress, 2007), 931-934commentary
  • A. C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, NIGTC (Eerdmans, 2000), 167-169commentary
  • H. W. Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Hermeneia (Fortress, 1989), 273-276, 302-305commentary

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of εὐδοκέω

aorist active indicative 3s

εὐδόκησεν

Mat 12:18, Luk 12:32, 1Co 1:21, 1Co 10:5, Gal 1:15, Col 1:19

aorist active indicative 1s

εὐδόκησα

Mat 3:17, Mat 17:5, Mrk 1:11, Luk 3:22, 2Pe 1:17

aorist active indicative 2s

εὐδόκησας

Heb 10:6, Heb 10:8

aorist active indicative 3p

εὐδόκησαν

Rom 15:26, Rom 15:27

aorist active indicative 1p

εὐδοκήσαμεν

1Th 3:1

aorist active participle nominative m p

εὐδοκήσαντες

2Th 2:12

imperfect active indicative 1p

εὐδοκοῦμεν

1Th 2:8

present active indicative 1p

εὐδοκοῦμεν

2Co 5:8

present active indicative 1s

εὐδοκῶ

2Co 12:10

present active indicative 3s

εὐδοκεῖ

Heb 10:38