StrongerBible

sōzō

σῴζω

GreekG4982save, heal, ...

Appears 109 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 1:21Mat 8:25Mat 9:21Mat 9:22 (2×)Mat 10:22Mat 14:30Mat 16:25Mat 18:11Mat 19:25Mat 24:13Mat 24:22Mat 27:40Mat 27:42 (2×)Mat 27:49Mrk 3:4Mrk 5:23Mrk 5:28Mrk 5:34Mrk 6:56Mrk 8:35 (2×)Mrk 10:26Mrk 10:52Mrk 13:13Mrk 13:20Mrk 15:30Mrk 15:31 (2×)Mrk 16:16Luk 6:9Luk 7:50Luk 8:12Luk 8:36Luk 8:48Luk 8:50Luk 9:24 (2×)Luk 9:56Luk 13:23Luk 17:19Luk 18:26Luk 18:42Luk 19:10Luk 23:35 (2×)Luk 23:37Luk 23:39Jhn 3:17Jhn 5:34Jhn 10:9Jhn 11:12Jhn 12:27Jhn 12:47Act 2:21
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studySOZE-ohverb

What sōzō means

to bring someone safely through a threat into wholeness: to rescue, heal, or save

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

At its core this word means to carry a person safely through something that would otherwise destroy them, and leave them whole on the other side. The threat can be a storm, a sword, a disease, or finally death and judgment itself, and the wholeness can be a body that works again, a life spared, or a person made right with God forever.

Because one verb covers all of that, the Bible can let one rescue stand for another. When Jesus tells a healed woman that her faith has saved her, the same words that mean her body is well also point past her body to something larger. The Gospels keep that double ring on purpose, so a reader should hear the everyday sense and the deeper one at once rather than forcing the word into only one of them.

In the letters, especially Paul's, the word settles most often on the largest threat of all, being lost before God. There it names being brought safe through judgment into lasting life with him. The senses below are not separate words but one rescue seen at different depths, from a sinking boat to the day of judgment.

Nuances

1ato rescue from danger or death: to bring through a deadly threat alive
TranslatabilityApproximate
Mat 8:25Mat 14:30Mat 27:40Mat 27:42 (2×)Mat 27:49Mrk 15:30Mrk 15:31 (2×)Luk 23:35 (2×)Luk 23:37Luk 23:39Act 27:20Act 27:31
1bto heal or make well: to restore a sick or dying body to health
Mat 9:21Mat 9:22 (2×)Mrk 5:23Mrk 5:28Mrk 5:34Mrk 6:56Mrk 10:52Luk 8:36Luk 8:48Luk 8:50Luk 17:19Luk 18:42
1cto save in the lasting sense: to bring a person safe through judgment into eternal life with God
Mat 1:21Mat 10:22Mat 18:11Mat 19:25Mat 24:13Mrk 10:26Mrk 13:13Mrk 16:16Luk 8:12Luk 9:56Luk 13:23Luk 18:26

What scholars say about sōzō

Standard lexica (BDAG; Louw-Nida) lay out this verb across a closely related range: rescue or preserve from danger and death, restore a sick body to health, and save in the transcendent sense of deliverance from judgment into eternal life. The theological dictionaries (TDNT, EDNT, NIDNTT) trace how the New Testament writers, drawing on the Septuagint's use of the word for the Hebrew yasha, let the everyday and the saving senses interpenetrate, so that physical rescues and healings can foreshadow final salvation. The shading varies by author: the Gospels keep the bodily and spiritual senses in deliberate tension, while Paul concentrates the word on eschatological salvation.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. σῴζωlexicon
  • Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic Domains, s.v. σῴζωlexicon
  • W. Foerster and G. Fohrer, "σῴζω, σωτηρία, κτλ.," TDNT 7:965-1024theological-dictionary
  • K. H. Schelkle, "σῴζω," EDNT 3:319-321theological-dictionary
  • J. Schneider and C. Brown, "Redemption, Loose, Ransom, Deliver," NIDNTT 3:205-221theological-dictionary

All attested forms of σῴζω

aorist active infinitive

σῶσαι

Mat 16:25, Mat 18:11, Mat 27:42, Mrk 3:4, Mrk 8:35, Mrk 15:31, Luk 6:9, Luk 9:24

future passive indicative 3s

σωθήσεται

Mat 10:22, Mat 24:13, Mrk 13:13, Mrk 16:16, Luk 8:50, Jhn 10:9, Jhn 11:12, Act 2:21

aorist passive infinitive

σωθῆναι

Mat 19:25, Mrk 10:26, Luk 18:26, Act 4:12, Act 14:9, Act 15:1, Act 15:11, Act 27:31

aorist active imperative 2s

σῶσον, σῶσόν

Mat 8:25, Mat 27:40, Mrk 15:30, Luk 23:37, Luk 23:39, Mat 14:30, Jhn 12:27

perfect active indicative 3s

σέσωκέν

Mat 9:22, Mrk 5:34, Mrk 10:52, Luk 7:50, Luk 8:48, Luk 17:19, Luk 18:42

future active indicative 3s

σώσει

Mat 1:21, Mrk 8:35, Luk 9:24, 2Ti 4:18, Jas 5:15, Jas 5:20

aorist active indicative 3s

ἔσωσεν

Mat 27:42, Mrk 15:31, Luk 23:35, Tit 3:5

aorist passive indicative 3s

ἐσώθη

Mat 9:22, Mat 24:22, Mrk 13:20, Luk 8:36

aorist passive subjunctive 3p

σωθῶσιν

Luk 8:12, 1Co 10:33, 1Th 2:16

aorist passive subjunctive 3s

σωθῇ

Mrk 5:23, Jhn 3:17, 1Co 5:5

future active indicative 2s

σώσεις

1Co 7:16, 1Co 7:16, 1Ti 4:16

future passive indicative 2s

σωθήσῃ

Act 11:14, Act 16:31, Rom 10:9

aorist active subjunctive 1s

σώσω

Jhn 12:47, 1Co 9:22

future passive indicative 1p

σωθησόμεθα

Rom 5:9, Rom 5:10

future passive indicative 1s

σωθήσομαι

Mat 9:21, Mrk 5:28

perfect passive participle nominative m p

σεσῳσμένοι

Eph 2:5, Eph 2:8

present active infinitive

σῴζειν

Heb 5:7, Heb 7:25

present passive participle dative m p

σῳζομένοις

1Co 1:18, 2Co 2:15

aorist active imperative 3s

σωσάτω

Luk 23:35

aorist active participle genitive m s

σώσαντος

2Ti 1:9

aorist active participle nominative m s

σώσας

Jud 1:5

aorist passive imperative 2p

σώθητε

Act 2:40

aorist passive indicative 1p

ἐσώθημεν

Rom 8:24

aorist passive subjunctive 1s

σωθῶ

Act 16:30

aorist passive subjunctive 2p

σωθῆτε

Jhn 5:34

future active indicative 1s

σώσω

Rom 11:14

future active participle nominative m s

σώσων

Mat 27:49

imperfect passive indicative 3p

ἐσῴζοντο

Mrk 6:56

perfect passive indicative 3s

σέσωται

Act 4:9

present active imperative 2p

σῴζετε

Jud 1:23

present active indicative 3s

σῴζει

1Pe 3:21

present passive indicative 2p

σῴζεσθε

1Co 15:2

present passive indicative 3s

σῴζεται

1Pe 4:18

present passive infinitive

σῴζεσθαι

Act 27:20

present passive participle accusative m p

σῳζομένους

Act 2:47

present passive participle genitive m p

σωζομένων

Rev 21:24

present passive participle nominative m p

σῳζόμενοι

Luk 13:23