StrongerBible

parechō

παρέχω

GreekG3930provide, trouble, ...

Appears 16 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 26:10Mrk 14:6Luk 6:29Luk 7:4Luk 11:7Luk 18:5Act 16:16Act 17:31Act 19:24Act 22:2Act 28:2Gal 6:17Col 4:11Ti 1:41Ti 6:17Tit 2:7
Compound of
Word studypa-REH-khoverb

What parechō means

to make something available to someone: to furnish, provide, offer, or bring it about

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

The verb pictures holding something out at another person's side, where they can reach it. From that single image the New Testament draws a wide fan of uses, all held together by the idea of putting something at someone's disposal.

Most often it means to supply or grant. A fortune-telling slave girl "brought" her owners a large profit, God "richly provides" everything for us to enjoy, and masters are told to give their servants what is fair. It overlaps with the ordinary verb for giving (δίδωμι), but it leans toward furnishing something from one's own resources rather than simply handing it over. It can also mean to hold something out in the plain, physical sense, as when Jesus tells a person struck on one cheek to offer the other.

The same verb has a negative side in a fixed expression that means, literally, to furnish someone with trouble, which English simply renders "to bother" or "to trouble." When the disciples scold the woman with the costly perfume, when a persistent widow wears down a judge, and when Paul writes "let no one trouble me," this is the word at work. It can also produce something less concrete, such as the endless disputes that certain teachers "give rise to."

Used of oneself, it means to present or show oneself as something, as when Titus is told to make himself a model of good works.

Nuances

1ato hand over what someone needs: to provide, supply, or grant it (goods, gain, kindness, or proof)
Luk 7:4Act 16:16Act 17:31Act 19:24Act 22:2Act 28:2Col 4:11Ti 6:17
1bto hold something out toward someone: to offer or present it physically
Luk 6:29
1cto bring something upon a person: to cause or produce it, most often trouble or disputes
Mat 26:10Mrk 14:6Luk 11:7Luk 18:5Gal 6:171Ti 1:4
1dto present oneself as something: to show or prove oneself to be it
Tit 2:7

What scholars say about parechō

The compound (παρά + ἔχω, "to hold beside") is well attested from classical Greek through the Koine papyri, where BDAG and Moulton-Milligan document it as a standard commercial and legal term for furnishing or providing goods, services, and guarantees. LSJ and BDAG organize its range under three heads: to offer or present, to grant or supply, and to cause or occasion (with the stock object κόπους, "troubles"). The middle voice adds the nuance of providing from one's own resources and, reflexively, of showing oneself to be something (Titus 2:7), which EDNT treats as idiomatic Hellenistic usage. The lexica agree on this range, so the word's meaning is not in dispute.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. παρέχωlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. παρέχωlexicon
  • Moulton-Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, s.v. παρέχωlexicon
  • EDNT, s.v. παρέχωdictionary

All attested forms of παρέχω

present active imperative 2s

πάρεχε

Luk 6:29, Luk 11:7

present active indicative 2p

παρέχετε

Mat 26:10, Mrk 14:6

imperfect active indicative 3p

παρεῖχον

Act 28:2

imperfect active indicative 3s

παρεῖχεν

Act 16:16

imperfect middle indicative 3s

παρείχετο

Act 19:24

present active imperative 3s

παρεχέτω

Gal 6:17

present active indicative 3p

παρέχουσιν

1Ti 1:4

present active infinitive

παρέχειν

Luk 18:5

present active participle dative m s

παρέχοντι

1Ti 6:17

present middle imperative 2p

παρέχεσθε

Col 4:1

present middle participle nominative m s

παρεχόμενος

Tit 2:7

second-aorist active indicative 3p

παρέσχον

Act 22:2

second-aorist active participle nominative m s

παρασχὼν

Act 17:31

second-future middle indicative 2s

παρέξῃ

Luk 7:4