StrongerBible

spoudazō

σπουδάζω

GreekG4704“make every effort, be diligent, ...”

Appears 11 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gal 2:10Eph 4:31Th 2:172Ti 2:152Ti 4:92Ti 4:21Tit 3:12Heb 4:112Pe 1:102Pe 1:152Pe 3:14
Word studyspoo-DAH-zoverb

What spoudazō means

to throw yourself into something and not put it off: to make every effort, and to make it now

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

Almost every time this verb appears, it is an instruction. Paul tells Timothy to do it, Peter tells his readers to do it, and the writer of Hebrews puts himself inside the appeal by saying "let us." That shape matters. The word does not describe a temperament some people happen to have; it names something a person is asked to go and do.

Two things are packed into it: real effort, and no delay. Which one comes forward depends on what follows. When the thing to be done is a duty, the effort leads, and English reaches for "make every effort," "be diligent," or "do your best." When the thing to be done is a journey, the promptness leads, and English reaches for "hurry" or "come quickly." It is one word doing one job in both: apply yourself, and start now.

It belongs to a small family of words. The noun (σπουδή) is the eagerness or the haste itself, the adjective (σπουδαῖος) describes a person as earnest, and the older verb for plain hurrying (σπεύδω) stays with speed of movement. Among them, this is the one that presses a request or a command home.

Two neighboring words mark its edges:

  • To struggle in a contest (ἀγωνίζομαι) pictures an opponent and a fight to be won.
  • To labor to the point of exhaustion (κοπιάω) names the toil and what it costs the worker.

This verb names neither the fight nor the fatigue. It names the willing energy a person brings, and the refusal to leave the thing for later.

Nuances

1ato put real work into something you are responsible for, and to get on with it
Gal 2:10Eph 4:31Th 2:172Ti 2:15Heb 4:112Pe 1:102Pe 1:152Pe 3:14
1bto lose no time in getting somewhere: to hurry a journey along, in a request for someone to come
TranslatabilityApproximate
2Ti 4:92Ti 4:21Tit 3:12

What scholars say about spoudazō

σπουδάζω is the verb of the σπεύδω / σπουδή root and occurs 11 times in the New Testament, heavily concentrated in exhortation: four aorist imperatives in the Pastoral Epistles (2 Tim 2:15; 4:9; 4:21; Titus 3:12), two in 2 Peter (1:10; 3:14), a hortatory subjunctive at Heb 4:11, a future at 2 Pet 1:15, indicatives at Gal 2:10 and 1 Thess 2:17, and a single participle at Eph 4:3. LSJ documents both branches in classical usage: to make haste, and to be busy, earnest or serious about something, including exertion undertaken on another's behalf. BDAG divides the New Testament material accordingly: to hasten, with an infinitive of motion (2 Tim 4:9; 4:21; Titus 3:12), and to be especially conscientious in discharging an obligation, glossed be zealous, take pains, make every effort (Gal 2:10; Eph 4:3; 1 Thess 2:17; 2 Tim 2:15; Heb 4:11; 2 Pet 1:10; 1:15; 3:14). Harder (TDNT) and NIDNTTE read the New Testament usage as predominantly ethical, the eagerness proper to an obligation received from God, with the older sense of speed surviving mainly in the travel requests of the Pastoral Epistles. Moulton and Milligan, and Spicq, document σπουδάζω in the papyri as standard letter-writing vocabulary for taking trouble on someone's behalf, which suits its concentration in the closing sections of the letters. Marshall takes σπούδασον at 2 Tim 2:15 as a general call to exert oneself in ministry rather than a call to study, against the King James rendering. Attridge and Ellingworth read Heb 4:11 as zeal or diligence in pursuit of the promised rest rather than as physical haste, set against the sluggishness the letter warns about. Bauckham reads the imperatives of 2 Pet 1:10 and 3:14 as strenuous moral effort answering divine gift rather than as a condition of election, and σπουδάσω at 2 Pet 1:15 as the author's undertaking to leave a lasting record. Malherbe takes ἐσπουδάσαμεν at 1 Thess 2:17 as intensified eagerness rather than speed, given περισσοτέρως and ἐν πολλῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ. In the Septuagint the verb and its noun render chiefly Hebrew haste vocabulary, above all מהר and חושׁ.

Sources

  • Frederick W. Danker, ed., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2000), s.v. σπουδάζωlexicon
  • Henry Liddell, Robert Scott, and Henry Stuart Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed. with revised supplement (Oxford: Clarendon, 1940), s.v. σπουδάζωlexicon
  • Günther Harder, "σπουδάζω, σπουδή, σπουδαῖος, σπουδαίως," in Gerhard Friedrich, ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Eerdmans, 1971), vol. 7dictionary
  • Moisés Silva, ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis, rev. ed. (Zondervan, 2014), s.v. σπουδάζωdictionary
  • Ceslas Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, trans. and ed. James D. Ernest (Hendrickson, 1994), s.v. σπουδάζω, σπουδήlexicon
  • James Hope Moulton and George Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament Illustrated from the Papyri and Other Non-Literary Sources (Hodder and Stoughton, 1930), s.v. σπουδάζωlexicon
  • I. Howard Marshall, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles, International Critical Commentary (T&T Clark, 1999), on 2 Tim 2:15; 4:9, 21; Titus 3:12commentary
  • Harold W. Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Hermeneia (Fortress, 1989), on Heb 4:11commentary
  • Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Eerdmans, 1993), on Heb 4:11commentary
  • Richard J. Bauckham, Jude, 2 Peter, Word Biblical Commentary 50 (Word, 1983), on 2 Pet 1:10, 15; 3:14commentary
  • Abraham J. Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians, Anchor Bible 32B (Doubleday, 2000), on 1 Thess 2:17commentary

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

All attested forms of σπουδάζω

aorist active imperative 2s

σπούδασον, Σπούδασον

2Ti 2:15, Tit 3:12, 2Ti 4:9, 2Ti 4:21

aorist active imperative 2p

σπουδάσατε

2Pe 1:10, 2Pe 3:14

aorist active indicative 1p

ἐσπουδάσαμεν

1Th 2:17

aorist active indicative 1s

ἐσπούδασα

Gal 2:10

aorist active subjunctive 1p

Σπουδάσωμεν

Heb 4:11

future active indicative 1s

σπουδάσω

2Pe 1:15

present active participle nominative m p

σπουδάζοντες

Eph 4:3