StrongerBible

thorubeō

θορυβέω

GreekG2350“troubled, uproar, ...”

Appears 5 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 9:23Mrk 5:39Luk 10:41Act 17:5Act 20:10
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradethor-oo-BEH-ohverb

What thorubeō means

to make, or be caught up in, a noisy commotion: an uproar, loud wailing, or inner turmoil

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

At its heart this is a noise word. What it names is disorder you can hear:

  • the uproar of a crowd
  • the loud wailing at a funeral
  • the churning of a troubled mind

One word covers all three because they were felt as one thing, the peace of a place or a person broken by noise and agitation.

Which kind of disorder is meant depends partly on grammar and partly on the scene. When the word points at something people do to others, as when opponents set a whole city in an uproar at Thessalonica, it means stirring up a public tumult. When it describes people caught up in the noise themselves, it can mean the loud, tumultuous wailing of mourners at a death, as at the house where Jesus raised a girl everyone thought was gone.

Its most striking use turns the noise inward. When Martha is troubled about many things, or when Paul tells the frightened crowd around a young man who has fallen not to be alarmed, the outward tumult becomes an inner one, a heart in an uproar. Careful readers often cannot decide, and may not need to, whether a given verse means the outward wailing or the inward alarm, because the word sits right at the seam between the two.

Nuances

1ato stir up an uproar: to throw a crowd or a whole city into turmoil
TranslatabilityApproximate
Act 17:5
1bto raise a loud commotion: the tumultuous noise of a grieving, wailing crowd
TranslatabilityApproximate
Mat 9:23Mrk 5:39
Mat 9:23

Whether the verb here specifically denotes the ritualized, semi-professional lament customary at a Jewish funeral, or a general loud commotion that reads as mourning only from the surrounding details (the flute players and the weeping crowd).

  • contestedThe verb marks the formal, semi-professional lament expected even at the funeral of a poor person.; W. D. Davies and D. C. Allison, Matthew, ICC (T&T Clark, 1988-97), 2:129, 132-34; U. Luz, Matthew 8-20, Hermeneia (Fortress, 2001), 43-45; C. S. Keener, A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Eerdmans, 1999), 304; J. Marcus, Mark 1-8, AB 27 (Doubleday, 2000), 366-72
  • contestedThe verb by itself means only to make a loud commotion; the funeral sense comes from the context, not the word.; R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark, NIGTC (Eerdmans, 2002), 239-40; J. Nolland, The Gospel of Matthew, NIGTC (Eerdmans, 2005), 400; A. Y. Collins, Mark, Hermeneia (Fortress, 2007), 285-86; M. D. Hooker, The Gospel according to Saint Mark, BNTC (A&C Black, 1991), 150
1cto be inwardly troubled: agitated, alarmed, or anxious in mind
Luk 10:41Act 20:10
Act 20:10

Whether the passive here means inward alarm (do not be distressed), outward mourning (stop wailing), or deliberately both.

  • majorityInward alarm: Paul calms the crowd's fear and distress.; J. A. Fitzmyer, The Acts of the Apostles, AB 31 (Doubleday, 1998), 670; F. F. Bruce, The Book of the Acts, rev. ed., NICNT (Eerdmans, 1988), 385; D. L. Bock, Acts, BECNT (Baker, 2007), 618-20; D. G. Peterson, The Acts of the Apostles, PNTC (Eerdmans, 2009), 552-54; E. J. Schnabel, Acts, ZECNT (Zondervan, 2012), 836-38
  • minorityOutward wailing: Paul tells them to stop the loud lamentation, the same use as at Jesus raising the girl in Mark 5:39.; C. K. Barrett, Acts of the Apostles, ICC (T&T Clark, 1998), 2:954-56; E. Haenchen, The Acts of the Apostles: A Commentary (Westminster, 1971), ad loc.; R. I. Pervo, Acts, Hermeneia (Fortress, 2009), 511-13
  • minorityBoth at once: outward lament and inward grief were not sharply separable, and the rebuke addresses the whole.; C. S. Keener, Acts: An Exegetical Commentary (Baker, 2012-15), 3:2967-68
Luk 10:41

Whether the verb here describes Martha's inward worry, her outward busyness, or both together.

  • majorityBoth at once: Luke chooses this rare verb to catch inward worry and outward bustle together, as if her household had become for her a private uproar.; F. Bovon, Luke 2, Hermeneia (Fortress, 2013), 71-74; J. Nolland, Luke 9:21-18:34, WBC 35B (Word, 1993), 604; D. L. Bock, Luke 9:51-24:53, BECNT (Baker, 1996), 1041-43
  • minorityInward: mental agitation reinforcing you are anxious, in line with the roaring heart of Jeremiah 4:19 in the Greek Old Testament.; J. A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel according to Luke X-XXIV, AB 28A (Doubleday, 1985), 892-94
  • minorityOutward: you are bothered and bustled about, the visible side of her anxiety.; I. H. Marshall, The Gospel of Luke, NIGTC (Eerdmans, 1978), 452-53

What scholars say about thorubeō

The lexica agree on a broad range and differ mainly in how they carve it. LSJ splits the verb into intransitive (to make a noise or uproar, of crowds and assemblies, extending to applaud or to shout down) and transitive (to throw into disorder), with a passive covering both external disorder and internal agitation. BDAG reduces this to two New Testament senses: transitive throw into disorder (Acts 17:5) and middle or passive be troubled, distressed, agitated, used both of external wailing (Matt 9:23; Mark 5:39) and of inner distress (Acts 20:10). Louw and Nida place the word-group in two semantic domains at once, one for emotional distress (25.244) and one for public riot (39.43-44), which captures why interpreters disagree. The verb is denominative from the noise noun theta-omicron-rho-upsilon-beta-omicron-sigma; Frisk and Beekes class the family as expressive, and Beekes judges it a Pre-Greek word. In the Septuagint the verb renders several Hebrew tumult and terror verbs, including he-mem-mem at 1 Sam 7:10 and 2 Chr 15:6, resh-gimel-zayin at 1 Sam 14:15, and the roaring heart of he-mem-he at Jer 4:19, already showing the same double profile of collective tumult and individual dread. Bauernfeind's TDNT article stresses that Christian usage turns the external category inward, making the command in Acts 20:10 parallel to the command not to be troubled in John 14:1; Spicq documents the civic and administrative flavor from decrees and papyri that forbid public disturbance at assemblies. The word-group is a Lukan and Markan favorite and is absent from Paul's own letters. At Luke 10:41 the reading behind be troubled (Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, C, L, 33), a rare late formation, is preferred by Metzger over the Byzantine variant on both external evidence and as the harder reading. The live exegetical debates are per verse rather than about the word's meaning: whether at Matt 9:23 and Mark 5:39 the verb specifically denotes professional ritual mourning (Davies and Allison, Luz, Keener, Marcus, Guelich, Edwards) or only general loud commotion colored by context (France, Nolland, Collins, Hooker); and whether at Acts 20:10 and Luke 10:41 the middle-passive is inward alarm, outward wailing or bustle, or deliberately both (Fitzmyer, Bruce, and most modern versions read Acts 20:10 as inward; Barrett, Haenchen, and Pervo as outward; Keener as both).

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

  • BDAG (3rd ed., 2000), 458, s.v. θορυβέω, θορυβάζωlexicon
  • LSJ (9th ed.), s.v. θορυβέωlexicon
  • J. P. Louw and E. A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains (UBS, 1988-89), 25.244; 39.43-44lexicon
  • O. Bauernfeind, θορυβέω, θόρυβος, in TDNT III (Eerdmans, 1965), 869-70theological dictionary
  • C. Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament (Hendrickson, 1994), 2, s.v. θόρυβος, θορυβέωlexicon
  • J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (Hodder & Stoughton, 1930), s.vv. θορυβέω, θόρυβοςlexicon
  • R. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Brill, 2010), 551lexicon
  • B. M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed. (UBS, 1994), 129-30reference

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

All attested forms of θορυβέω

imperfect active indicative 3p

ἐθορύβουν

Act 17:5

present passive imperative 2p

θορυβεῖσθε

Act 20:10

present passive indicative 2p

θορυβεῖσθε

Mrk 5:39

present passive indicative 2s

θορυβάζῃ

Luk 10:41

present passive participle accusative m s

θορυβούμενον

Mat 9:23