to find something out by asking: to inquire about a matter, or to learn the answer the asking turns up
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
This is the Greek word for asking with the goal of finding something out. It is never used for asking a favor or requesting a thing (that is αἰτέω), and it is broader in aim than simply putting a question to a person (ἐρωτάω). It is what someone does when there is information they lack and mean to get. Herod summons the experts and asks where the Messiah is to be born; a blind man on the roadside hears a crowd going past and asks what is happening; the older brother in the parable calls a servant over and asks what all the music is about.
In Acts the same word takes on the color of an official investigation. The council stands Peter and John in the middle and demands to know by what power they acted. The Roman commander who arrests Paul wants to know who he is and what he has done. The plotters propose bringing Paul down to the council to look into his case "more thoroughly," and this is the verb they use as the cover story for a formal hearing. The word itself has not shifted meaning; the setting is what gives it teeth.
A quieter use looks at the far end of the same act: not the question but what the question turned up. In Acts 23:34 the governor reads Paul's letter, asks him which province he comes from with a different word (ἐπερωτάω), and then this word reports the outcome, that Paul was from Cilicia. One Greek word can stand at either end of an inquiry, the asking or the finding out. English has to pick one.
Nuances
1ato ask someone a question in order to find something out: to inquire
TranslatabilityDirect
Mat 2:4Luk 15:26Luk 18:36Jhn 4:52Jhn 13:24Act 10:18Act 10:29
1bto question someone in the course of an official inquiry: to examine or interrogate
Act 4:7Act 21:33Act 23:19Act 23:20
1cto learn something by asking: to find out
Act 23:34*
Related words
The English words used to translate punthanomai
“inquire”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
πυνθάνομαι only ever seeks information, so what follows it is always a matter of fact: where the Messiah was to be born, whether a certain guest was staying in the house, who a prisoner was and what he had done. It is never a plea for someone to act.Mat 2:4Act 10:18Act 21:33
It leans toward finding something out rather than putting a question, so English often renders it "found out" or "learned": a father pins down the hour his son turned the corner, and a governor establishes which province his prisoner comes from.Jhn 4:52Act 23:34
Both
Both put a plain question to someone in order to learn what the asker does not know, and English translations render either as "asked" there: Jesus asking his disciples who people say he is, the disciples asking about the blind man's guilt, a servant asked what the music means, Peter asked with a nod who the traitor is.Mat 16:13Jhn 9:2Luk 15:26Jhn 13:24
Both serve for official questioning, where someone in authority presses a person under investigation: the high priest and Pilate question Jesus, the council demands to know by what power the apostles acted, and a commander questions Paul's nephew in private.Jhn 18:19Luk 23:3Act 4:7Act 23:19
Only ἐρωτάω can ask a person to DO something. Half its uses are requests rather than questions: friends ask Jesus to come and heal a dying servant, a household asks Peter to stay on for a few days, and Paul asks a congregation to keep living as they were taught. Nothing is being learned in these places; someone is being asked for an action.Luk 7:3Act 10:481Th 4:1
It is the word for asking God. Jesus uses it of what he will ask the Father for his followers, and John uses it of a believer praying for a brother who has sinned. A word that only gathered facts could not be used this way.Jhn 14:16Jhn 17:91Jn 5:16
It is the only one of the two that appears in the letters, and there it is always an appeal to the readers, never a question: "I ask you" to help these coworkers, "we ask you" not to be shaken, "I ask" that we love one another.Php 4:32Th 2:12Jn 1:5
Where the two words stand side by side, ἐρωτάω carries the request and πυνθάνομαι the fact-finding: plotters plan to ask the commander to bring Paul down, pretending they want to find out more about his case.Act 23:20
ἐπερωτάωthe common Gospel word for turning to a person and putting a question to them; it stands beside this word in Acts 23:34, where it supplies the asking and this word supplies what was learned
Puts a question directly to a person, often as a challenge, test, or formal interrogation that demands an answer. It is the verb for the hostile questions aimed at Jesus and for questioning under trial.Mat 22:35Mrk 14:60Mrk 15:2
Used when a teacher turns the question back on others, drawing out an answer face to face rather than seeking unknown facts.Mrk 8:27Mrk 9:33Luk 8:30
ἀνακρίνωsizes a person or a matter up under examination with a verdict in view, while inquiring here is about getting information rather than reaching a judgment
It is the plain act of asking a question in order to learn a fact the asker does not have: usually a where, a what, or a when. Herod asks the priests where the Messiah was to be born, the prodigal's brother asks what the noise means, a blind man asks what the crowd is, and a father asks at what hour his son began to mend.Mat 2:4Luk 15:26Luk 18:36Jhn 4:52
The asking can be handed off to someone else, because the point is simply that the question gets put and answered. At the supper Peter cannot reach Jesus, so he signals to the disciple next to him to do the asking for him.Jhn 13:24
Even in the mouth of an official it stays a request for information and never becomes a weighing of the answer. Peter asks the men at the gate whether Simon is lodging there, and then asks Cornelius his reason for sending for him; neither question is testing anyone.Act 10:18Act 10:29
Both
Both describe an authority questioning a man he has taken into custody, so the two words can open the same kind of scene in Acts. Herod puts the soldiers who lost Peter through questioning, while the Roman commander asks who Paul is and what he has done, and the governor asks which province he comes from.Act 12:19Act 21:33Act 23:34
Both can be aimed at finding out something the questioner did not know. Paul's accusers say that by questioning him Felix will learn the charges, and the same commander takes Paul's nephew aside and asks what he has come to report.Act 24:8Act 23:19Act 23:20
It is the word for a formal hearing, where someone in authority questions an accused man in order to reach a verdict about him. Pilate says he examined Jesus and found nothing deserving death, Peter and John are called to account for healing a lame man, and Paul twice describes Roman officials working through his case toward a decision.Luk 23:14Act 4:9Act 24:8Act 28:18
Nothing has to be asked out loud at all: what is examined may be a text or a truth rather than a person. The Bereans go through the Scriptures day after day to test whether what Paul said holds up, and Paul says the things of God's Spirit can only be sized up by someone the Spirit has taught.Act 17:111Co 2:141Co 2:15
It covers weighing up a person and his work, that is, appraising someone rather than gathering facts from him. Paul says the Corinthians' assessment of him counts for very little, that he does not even trust his own, and that the Lord's is the one that decides; he calls their sizing him up his cross-examination.1Co 4:31Co 4:41Co 9:3
It can shade into raising a scruple about whether something is allowed. Paul tells the Corinthians to eat what is set before them without probing where the meat came from, which is a decision about right and wrong rather than a request for information.1Co 10:251Co 10:27
ἐξετάζωsearches a matter out carefully until the facts are settled, while this word names the asking itself without that thoroughness built into it
μανθάνωlearning of any sort, whether from a teacher, from study, or from experience, while the learning this word reports always arrives through a question asked
Names the single act of putting a question to somebody, so the text normally names the person addressed and quotes the question itself.Mat 2:4Act 4:7Act 23:19
Is the ordinary word for an official questioning: a ruler or an officer establishing the facts of a case by interrogating those involved.Act 21:33Act 23:34Act 10:29
Fits the sudden puzzled question of a bystander who only wants to know what is going on right now.Luk 15:26Luk 18:36
Says nothing about honest intent, so it can name questioning used as a pretext, as when plotters offered to look into Paul's case more carefully while planning to kill him.Act 23:20
Both
Both can report the moment a fact became known, and either one can be rendered "found out" in the same breath of a narrative.Act 23:27Jhn 4:52
Both name getting information out of another person, which is why one can be answered by the other: what someone wants to learn, they get by asking.Gal 3:21Co 14:35Jhn 13:24
Both run through the account of Paul's arrest, where the Roman officers do the two halves of one job: questioning him about himself, and coming to know who he was.Act 23:27Act 21:33Act 23:34
Names knowledge that settles into a person and reshapes how they live, so what is learned becomes character or habit rather than a fact filed away.Php 4:11Heb 5:81Ti 5:4
Belongs to the world of teacher and pupil: what disciples do with a master, and what a congregation does under instruction it has received.Mat 11:29Col 1:7Rom 16:17
Covers mastering something you can then do or recognize, whether a new song, the schooled reading Jesus was never trained in, or a lesson read off the fig tree.Rev 14:3Jhn 7:15Mat 24:32
Names an ongoing process that can run on for years without ever arriving anywhere, which is why it can be said of people forever taking things in and never reaching the truth.2Ti 3:71Co 14:31
αἰτέωasks for something one wants to be given, while this word asks for an answer and never for a thing
πυνθάνομαι asks about a fact, and what it carries is a question of where, what, when, why or who. Herod asks where the Messiah is to be born, the father asks the hour his son began to improve, and the governor asks which province Paul comes from.Mat 2:4Jhn 4:52Act 23:34
It is the word for official questioning, where the point of asking is to establish the facts before a decision is made. The Jerusalem leaders demand to know by what power the apostles healed, the Roman commander asks who Paul is and what he has done, then takes Paul's nephew aside to ask what he has to report.Act 4:7Act 21:33Act 23:19
It is how someone standing outside an event finds out what is going on. The older son asks a servant what the celebration means, the blind man by the road asks what the passing crowd is, and the men sent by Cornelius ask whether Peter is staying at the house.Luk 15:26Luk 18:36Act 10:18
Both
English Bibles render both with "ask", so the two look identical to an English reader even though one is asking for a thing and the other is asking for information. The Samaritan woman is surprised that Jesus "asks" her for a drink, and the older son "asks" a servant what the noise is about.Jhn 4:9Luk 15:26
Both describe a real approach to another person who is expected to respond, and both are commonly aimed at someone in authority, which is why they turn up in the same scenes. In the proceedings over Paul his accusers put a request to the governor while Roman officers put questions to the prisoner.Act 25:3Act 25:15Act 21:33Act 23:34
What follows αἰτέω is normally the thing wanted rather than a question, and the speaker expects to be handed it. Zechariah asks for a writing tablet, the jailer calls for lights, Joseph asks Pilate for the body of Jesus, and Saul asks the high priest for letters.Luk 1:63Act 16:29Mat 27:58Act 9:2
It is the ordinary New Testament word for praying to God, and it carries the promise of actually receiving: "ask and it will be given to you", "ask and you will receive". James uses it both for the prayer that gets wisdom and for the prayer that gets nothing because it is asked with the wrong motive.Mat 7:7Jhn 16:24Jas 1:5Jas 4:3
It stretches to a demand pressed on someone with the power to grant it, including a crowd shouting for a verdict. The Jerusalem crowd asks for Barabbas and keeps asking that Jesus be crucified, and Paul's accusers ask the governor for a ruling against him.Mat 27:20Luk 23:23Act 3:14Act 25:15
It also covers a beggar's request for money and the giving that answers it: the lame man at the temple gate asks for alms, and Jesus tells his hearers to give to everyone who asks them.Act 3:2Mat 5:42Luk 6:30
punthanomai in the other biblical languages
שָׁאַלHebrew“to ask”the ordinary Hebrew verb for asking, which covers both questioning someone and requesting a thing; the Greek word here matches only its question-asking side
Every use is aimed at getting information, never at getting a thing. What the asker walks away with is knowledge, so the word shades naturally into "find out" or "learn": the governor asks and thereby establishes which province Paul comes from, and the father asks and pins down the exact hour his son recovered.Act 23:34Jhn 4:52Luk 18:36
It is the word for turning to a bystander to have a scene in progress explained. The older son hears music and dancing and asks a servant what it all means; the blind man hears a crowd going by and asks what is happening; Peter, at the table, gets someone closer to Jesus to ask which of them is meant.Luk 15:26Luk 18:36Jhn 13:24
Both
Both words carry the plain factual question put to another person, who is expected to answer in words. Where the Hebrew asks a stranger for a name or a son asks what the commandments are about, the Greek asks where the Messiah is to be born or whether a certain man is staying at this house.Gen 32:29Deu 6:20Mat 2:4Act 10:18
Both are used of someone in authority questioning a person in his power, often in private, to get to the bottom of a matter. Zedekiah takes Jeremiah aside and says he will ask him one thing with nothing held back; the commander takes Paul's nephew aside and asks what he has to report, and the council interrogates the apostles about the power they acted by.Jer 38:14Jer 37:17Act 23:19Act 4:7
It covers asking FOR something, where the expected reply is not an answer but a gift. Israel asks the Egyptians for silver and gold; God tells Solomon to name what he wants; the king in the psalm is told to ask and be given the nations.Exo 12:351Ki 3:5Psa 2:8
It stretches to borrowing, where the thing asked for is only lent and has to go back. The laws about a borrowed animal, Elisha telling the widow to get empty jars from her neighbours, and the lost axe head that was not the woodsman's own all use this one verb.Exo 22:142Ki 4:32Ki 6:5
It is the standard word for putting a question to God and waiting for a decision, whether through the priest, at a shrine, or by any other channel. David asks whether to go up and fight; Saul asks and gets no answer at all; Israel asks God at Bethel; and the same verb condemns asking wooden images instead.1Sa 23:21Sa 28:6Num 27:21Hos 4:12
Paired with a word for well-being it becomes a greeting or a prayer rather than a real question: Joseph asks after his brothers' health, Moses and his father-in-law ask after each other, David sends to ask how the war is going, and Israel is told to ask for the peace of Jerusalem.Gen 43:27Exo 18:72Sa 11:7Psa 122:6
דָּרַשׁHebrew“to seek”inquiring in the sense of seeking out or consulting, most often consulting God for an answer, while the Greek word here is plain human inquiry of other people
The words of the question are usually quoted in full, so the reader hears the actual asking: temple officials demanding to know by what power the apostles healed the lame man, a Roman commander taking Paul's young nephew aside to ask what he has to report, an older brother pulling a servant aside to ask what the music and dancing mean.Act 4:7Act 23:19Luk 15:26
It is the ordinary verb for wanting one small fact with nothing religious at stake, and the answer settles the matter on the spot: a father asking the exact hour his son's fever broke, a blind man by the road asking what the passing commotion is, messengers at a gate asking whether a particular guest is lodging inside.Jhn 4:52Luk 18:36Act 10:18
Both
Both are the plain word for putting a question to someone who is in a position to know, which is why English versions render each of them "inquire": Herod gathers the chief priests and scribes and asks them where the Messiah is to be born, and David sends and asks who the woman on the rooftop is.Mat 2:42Sa 11:3
Both cover asking around to pin down an unknown person or the doer of a deed: a commander asks who his prisoner is and what he has done, and the men of the town ask who tore down the altar of Baal.Act 21:33Jdg 6:29
Both are used of official fact-finding, where the asking is a careful examination of a charge: Paul's accusers pretend they want his case looked into more exactly, and Israel's judges are told to investigate an accusation thoroughly, as the people must investigate a report of a town gone over to other gods.Act 23:20Deu 19:18Deu 13:14
Only the Hebrew word is used of turning to God, or to some rival power, for a word or a decision: Rebekah goes to ask the LORD about the children struggling inside her, Jehoshaphat wants the LORD asked before the armies march, Ahaziah sends to Baal-zebub instead, and Saul looks for a medium so he can ask through her.Gen 25:221Ki 22:52Ki 1:21Sa 28:7
It stretches past asking anything into a whole life turned toward God, where no question is being put at all: seeking the LORD with all your heart, seeking the LORD and his strength continually, setting heart and soul to seek him. In these places it is the word for devotion, and "inquire" would be simply wrong.Deu 4:291Ch 16:111Ch 22:19
It can mean to demand something as a right and hold a person answerable for it, an idea the Greek word never carries: God will require a reckoning for shed lifeblood, Joseph's brothers are told his blood is being required of them, an unpaid vow will be required, and God will require it of anyone who will not listen to his prophet.Gen 9:5Gen 42:22Deu 23:21Deu 18:19
It can also mean searching for a thing or caring about someone's welfare, where what is sought is not information: a lost animal kept until its owner comes looking for it, a land the LORD watches over all year long, and the command not to seek the good of Moab and Ammon.Deu 22:2Deu 11:12Deu 23:6
What scholars say about punthanomai
The lexicons agree on the range. BDAG divides the verb into inquiry (seeking to learn by asking, with the person questioned marked by παρά plus the genitive at Matthew 2:4 and John 4:52) and result (learning by inquiry, with ὅτι following, at Acts 23:34), a division that follows LSJ, where learning by inquiry or by hearsay is the older Attic value and the sense of putting a question develops alongside it. Louw and Nida likewise place the verb in the domain of asking for information. In the New Testament the verb is deponent, occurring only in middle forms, and it is concentrated in Luke and Acts (nine of its twelve occurrences), where it belongs with the vocabulary of official and judicial inquiry alongside ἐπερωτάω and ἀνακρίνω; the comparative ἀκριβέστερον at Acts 23:20 makes that investigative force explicit, and the sequence ἐπερωτήσας ... πυθόμενος at Acts 23:34 sets the asking and its outcome side by side, which is why commentators on Acts read the participle there as reporting the result of the preceding question rather than a second examination.
Sources
BDAG, s.v. πυνθάνομαιlexicon
LSJ, s.v. πυνθάνομαιlexicon
Louw & Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, s.v. πυνθάνομαιlexicon
C. K. Barrett, The Acts of the Apostles, International Critical Commentary, vol. 2, on Acts 23:34commentary