StrongerBible

phagein

φαγεῖν

GreekG5315eat, devour

Appears 97 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 6:25Mat 6:31Mat 12:4 (2×)Mat 14:16Mat 14:20Mat 15:20Mat 15:32Mat 15:37Mat 25:35Mat 25:42Mat 26:17Mat 26:26Mrk 2:26 (2×)Mrk 3:20Mrk 5:43Mrk 6:31Mrk 6:36Mrk 6:37 (2×)Mrk 6:42Mrk 6:44Mrk 8:1Mrk 8:2Mrk 8:8Mrk 8:9Mrk 11:14Mrk 14:12Mrk 14:14Mrk 14:22Luk 4:2Luk 6:4Luk 7:36Luk 9:17Luk 12:19Luk 12:22Luk 12:29Luk 13:26Luk 14:15Luk 15:23Luk 17:8 (2×)Luk 22:8Luk 22:11Luk 22:16Luk 24:43Jhn 4:31Jhn 6:5Jhn 6:23Jhn 6:26Jhn 6:31Jhn 6:49Jhn 6:50
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studyfah-GANEverb

What phagein means

to eat: to take in food, and by extension to consume or use something up.

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

This is the ordinary word for eating, used all over the New Testament for taking a meal, sharing food, going hungry, or being filled. It is one half of a single verb "to eat": the present-tense forms come from one stem (the word behind "eats" and "eating"), and the past-tense and "to eat" forms come from this one ("ate," "to eat"). The two stems are not two different words but two parts of the same verb, the way English uses "go" and "went."

Most of the time it simply means eating food, and nothing more is meant. But the same plain word carries real weight when the meal itself matters: eating the Passover, eating the consecrated bread, sharing the bread and cup of the Lord's Supper, or the long discussion in John where Jesus speaks of eating the bread of life and even eating his flesh. The word does not change; the meal it names is what makes the moment heavy.

It also stretches, as eating words do in many languages, to mean consuming or using up. Fire "eats" what it burns, and in the visions of Revelation a scroll is eaten and bodies are devoured. These are not a separate word, just the everyday picture of eating pressed into service for destruction and for taking something fully into oneself.

Nuances

1ato eat ordinary food: to take a meal, be fed, or satisfy hunger.
Mat 6:25Mat 6:31Mat 14:16Mat 14:20Mat 15:20Mat 15:32Mat 15:37Mrk 3:20Mrk 5:43Mrk 6:31Mrk 6:36Mrk 6:37 (2×)
1bto eat in a sacred meal: the Passover, the consecrated bread, the Lord's Supper, or the bread of life Jesus speaks of in John.
Mat 12:4 (2×)Mat 26:17Mat 26:26Mrk 2:26 (2×)Mrk 14:12Mrk 14:14Mrk 14:22Luk 6:4Luk 22:8Luk 22:11Luk 22:15Luk 22:16
1cto consume or devour: the everyday picture of eating used for fire, beasts, or destruction taking something up completely.
Jas 5:3Rev 10:10Rev 17:16Rev 19:18

What scholars say about phagein

The standard lexicons treat this form as part of a single suppletive verb for eating: the present system is supplied by one stem and the aorist and future by this one, so they are listed together as one lexical verb "to eat" (BDAG; Moulton-Milligan). The core sense is literal eating, with a well attested extension to "consume" or "use up" (of fire, of being devoured), paralleling the same range in the Hebrew counterpart. The most discussed passages are John 6, where the discourse moves from this word to the blunter "chew" word, a shift widely read as underscoring that the eating is real rather than merely metaphorical (Brown; Barrett), and the Lord's Supper accounts, where the eating language is sacramental in setting rather than in the verb itself.

Sources

  • Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (BDAG), 3rd ed., s.v. ἐσθίωlexicon
  • J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, s.v. ἐσθίω / φάγομαιlexicon
  • L. Goppelt, "τρώγω," in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT) 8:236-237dictionary
  • Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John I-XII, Anchor Bible (1966)commentary
  • C. K. Barrett, The Gospel According to St John, 2nd ed. (1978)commentary

All attested forms of φαγεῖν

aorist active infinitive

φαγεῖν

Mat 12:4, Mat 14:16, Mat 15:20, Mat 25:35, Mat 25:42, Mat 26:17, Mrk 2:26, Mrk 3:20

aorist active indicative 3p

ἔφαγον

Mat 12:4, Mat 14:20, Mat 15:37, Mrk 6:42, Mrk 8:8, Luk 9:17, Jhn 6:23, Jhn 6:31

aorist active subjunctive 3p

φάγωσιν

Mat 15:32, Mrk 6:36, Mrk 8:1, Mrk 8:2, Jhn 6:5, Jhn 18:28

aorist active indicative 3s

ἔφαγεν

Mrk 2:26, Luk 4:2, Luk 6:4, Luk 24:43, Act 9:9

aorist active subjunctive 1p

φάγωμεν

Mat 6:31, Luk 22:8, 1Co 8:8, 1Co 8:8, 1Co 15:32

aorist active subjunctive 1s

φάγω

Mrk 14:14, Luk 17:8, Luk 22:11, Luk 22:16, 1Co 8:13

aorist active subjunctive 2p

φάγητε

Mat 6:25, Luk 12:22, Luk 12:29, Jhn 6:53, Rev 19:18

aorist active imperative 2s

φάγε

Luk 12:19, Jhn 4:31, Act 10:13, Act 11:7

aorist active subjunctive 3s

φάγῃ

Luk 7:36, Jhn 6:50, Jhn 6:51, Rom 14:23

aorist active indicative 1p

ἐφάγομεν

Luk 13:26, 2Th 3:8

aorist active indicative 1s

ἔφαγον

Act 10:14, Rev 10:10

aorist active participle nominative m p

φαγόντες

Mrk 6:44, Luk 15:23

future middle indicative 3s

φάγεται

Luk 14:15, Jas 5:3

second-aorist active imperative 2p

φάγετε

Mrk 14:22, 1Co 11:24

aorist active imperative 2p

φάγετε

Mat 26:26

aorist active indicative 2p

ἐφάγετε

Jhn 6:26

aorist active optative 3s

φάγοι

Mrk 11:14

aorist active subjunctive 2s

φάγῃς

Mrk 14:12

future middle indicative 2s

φάγεσαι

Luk 17:8

future middle indicative 3p

φάγονται

Rev 17:16

second-aorist active infinitive

φαγεῖν

Rev 2:17

second-aorist active participle nominative m p

φαγόντες

Mrk 8:9