to direct one's attention to something and respond to it accordingly
TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled
At its heart this word pictures aiming the mind at something and keeping it fixed there. It is stronger than merely hearing or noticing; it is the kind of attention that carries over into what a person does.
That one idea turns in three directions depending on what the attention is aimed at. Aimed at a message or a teacher, it means to take the words to heart and follow them, which is why the same verb can also warn against being drawn in by false teaching. Aimed at a danger, it becomes a warning: watch out, be on your guard. Aimed at a task or a habit, it means to give yourself over to it.
The common thread is a will that has fastened onto something. Whether a person is told to embrace a truth, to steer clear of a threat, or to throw themselves into a duty, the word describes attention that has already begun to shape how they act.
Nuances
1ato give heed to a message or a person: to listen, take it to heart, and follow it
This word can describe giving yourself over to an ongoing occupation or habit, an applied and continuing engagement rather than a single act of noticing. The other word never describes settling into a practice this way.1Ti 3:81Ti 4:13
This word can describe heeding a teacher or a message as trustworthy and letting it govern how you live, whether the teaching is sound or false. The other word can register a fact with the mind, but it does not carry this sense of submitting to a teaching and following it.Act 8:101Ti 4:1
Both
Both words can issue the same urgent warning against a corrupting teaching. Jesus warns the disciples about the Pharisees' leaven, and where one Gospel writer records the warning with this word, another records it with the other word.Mrk 8:15Mat 16:6Luk 12:1
Both words can also warn against dangerous people rather than a teaching, telling the hearer to be wary of those who would do them harm.Php 3:2Mat 7:15
This word covers raw, physical eyesight: having working eyes rather than being blind, and the plain act of looking at something in front of you. The other word never drops down to that literal, optical level.Jhn 9:7Act 9:9
This word can describe simply grasping or noticing a fact with the mind, including a truth that has no physical form, without any claim that the person then acts on it. The other word's attention always feeds into a response; this word's noticing does not have to.Luk 6:41Heb 11:1
This word can describe a place facing a direction, such as a harbor oriented toward the wind. It is a spatial sense the other word does not have at all.Act 27:12
φυλάσσωto guard or keep safe like a sentry protecting something; this word is the alert attention that precedes and prompts such guarding
names the inward act of paying attention or giving heed: fixing the mind on a person's words or a teaching, not protecting something already heldAct 8:61Ti 4:13
can describe an unhealthy absorption in or devotion to something, such as wine or deceptive teaching, rather than a duty entrusted to someone1Ti 3:81Ti 4:1
Both
both can introduce a warning to steer clear of a specific danger, naming the thing to avoidMat 7:151Jn 5:21
names the outward task of standing guard over or safeguarding something already in one's charge, such as a flock or a deposit entrusted to someoneLuk 2:82Ti 1:14
covers keeping or obeying a commandment as a settled, ongoing practice rather than a single act of attentionMrk 10:20Rom 2:26
ἐπέχωa close cousin meaning to hold fast to or fix upon; this word is the ordinary, common term for turning the attention toward and heeding
Can picture physically or figuratively holding something out toward other people, offering it for them to see or take.Php 2:16
Can mean to remain or delay in a place a while longer, describing how long someone stays rather than what they attend to.Act 19:22
Can describe a bystander quietly taking note of what others are doing, without that noticing being urged on the watcher as a duty.Luk 14:7
prosechō in the other biblical languages
קָשַׁבHebrew“to listen”the Hebrew verb for pricking up the ears to listen closely; it covers the attentive-listening side, without this word's reach into guarding and devoting oneself
Often means to be on guard, to watch out for a danger and protect yourself from it. The attention is defensive: keep your eyes open so you are not taken in.Mat 7:15Mat 16:6Luk 12:1Act 20:28
Can mean to devote yourself to something, to apply your effort steadily to a task or pursuit, not only to listen but to commit attention over time.1Ti 1:41Ti 4:13Heb 2:1
Both
Both name a deliberate, focused turning of attention toward something, far more than passive hearing: the hearer is asked to fix the mind on what is said and act on it.Pro 4:1Act 8:6
Both can carry a warning charge, where giving heed means taking the message seriously enough to be changed by it.Isa 51:42Pe 1:19
Repeatedly the cry of a worshipper begging God to attend to a prayer, to bend down and take notice of a plea for help.Psa 5:2Psa 17:1Psa 86:6Dan 9:19
A summons to a hearer to listen with the aim of obeying, so that refusing to listen becomes a charge of rebellion against the speaker.Isa 28:23Jer 6:10Jer 6:17Zec 7:11
שָׁמַרHebrew“to keep: obey”the Hebrew verb to keep or guard, source of the common command "take heed to yourself"; it overlaps the protective-alertness side of this word
names the inward act of turning the mind toward something and giving it attention, not a physical action of guarding anythingAct 8:61Ti 4:13
is the New Testament's standing warning against being drawn in by a dangerous teacher or influence, always rendered as a call to bewareMat 7:15Luk 20:46
presses hearers to keep listening carefully to a message already received, urging closer attention rather than a first act of obedienceHeb 2:12Pe 1:19
Both
both are rendered as a charge to take heed to oneself, warning a person to watch their own conduct closely so they do not fall into wrong; the Hebrew word covers a broader duty of self-guarding while the Greek word names only the moment of watchful attentionDeu 4:9Luk 17:3
both appear in the picture of a shepherd's vigilance over a flock, though the Hebrew word names Jacob's whole ongoing work of tending and guarding the animals while the Greek word names only the elders' attentiveness to the church, without any hands-on herdingGen 30:31Act 20:28
does the concrete, hands-on work of guarding a place or a living thing, tending a garden or watching over a flock of animalsGen 2:15Gen 30:31
is the ordinary Hebrew word for keeping specific commandments and observing appointed feasts, spanning the whole vocabulary of covenant obedienceExo 20:6Exo 12:17
describes God's own protective care over a person, promised in blessing as active preservation from harmNum 6:24Psa 121:7
What scholars say about prosechō
The verb is a compound of the preposition "toward" with the verb "to hold", with an implied object "the mind" (τὸν νοῦν), yielding "to hold the mind toward". BDAG and LSJ organize its usage around a single core of directed attention, from which flow the nuances of heeding and following, being on guard, and occupying or applying oneself to a task or office. Documentary papyri catalogued by Moulton and Milligan attest the same spread, including the administrative "apply oneself to" and the reflexive "take heed to oneself". Louw and Nida distribute the New Testament occurrences across domains of paying attention, being ready to learn, and being cautious.
Sources
BDAG, s.v. προσέχωlexicon
LSJ, s.v. προσέχωlexicon
Louw & Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domainslexicon
Moulton & Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testamentlexicon