verb
elpizamō
Strong’sG1679
I hope, hope for, expect
stem elpiz-31 times in the New Testamentin 14 of 27 books17 forms occur
What it means
A plain-English reading of the word, with the lexicons it draws on — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones — right below it, in full.
AI Summary
hope, hope for, expect — to look forward to something with confidence, or to place trust and confidence in a person 1234. It is used with a direct object naming the thing hoped for, with an infinitive ("hope to..."), or with a clause introduced by "that" 1. It is also used with prepositions marking the one trusted or hoped in — hoping "in" or "on" someone, such as God or the Lord — a usage carrying the sense of trust or confidence rather than mere expectation 13. Strong's likewise notes that the word can mean simply to confide or trust, alongside hoping and expecting 2.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-23 — it may still misstate what these say; check them yourself if it matters to you.
The lexicons it was drawn from, in full:
Abbott-Smith — the 1922 lexicon entry, in full
ἐλπίζω
[in LXX chiefly for בָּטַח, also for חָסָה, יָחַל pi., hi., etc.;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G1679 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidel-pid'-zo
to expect or confide
Fromfrom G1680;
King James(have, thing) hope(-d) (for), trust.
James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890 — public domain. The numbers in it link to the entries here.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
Attic dialect future -ῐῶLXX+NT+4th c.BC+: aorist ἤλπισα Refs 5th c.BC+: perfect ἤλπικα NT+3rd c.BC+: pluperfect ἠλπίκειν Refs 1st c.AD+:—middle, Refs 1st c.BC+:—passive, aorist ἠλπίσθην Refs 5th c.BC+: perfect ἤλπισμαι Refs 5th c.BC+, hope for, or rather (in earlier writers) look for, expect:—Constr.: with accusative, Refs 5th c.BC+: frequently with a dependent clause in infinitive, hope to do, or hope or expect that..; with future infinitive, ἐ. μιν ἀποθανέεσθαι Refs 5th c.BC+; ἐ. τὴν Εὐρώπην δουλώσεσθαι (variant{-ασθαι}) Refs: with aorist infinitive, ἐ. ποτὲ δεῖξαι Refs 5th c.BC+; the infinitive may be omitted, ἔκλυον ἃν.. οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἤλπισ᾽ αὐδάν (i.e. κλύειν) Refs 5th c.BC+; also ἐ. ὅπως.., with future, Refs 5th c.BC+:—passive, τὸ μηδαμὰ ἐλπισθὲν ἥξειν Refs 1st c.AD+
2 of evils, look for, fear, in same construction, δύστανον ἐ. αἶσαν Refs 5th c.BC+ followed by aorist subjunctive, οὐδαμὰ ἐλπίσας μή κοτε ἐλάσῃ Refs 5th c.BC+
3 with present infinitive, deem, suppose that.., Refs 5th c.BC+; οἰκότα ἐλπίζωνRefs 4th c.BC+; βοῦν ἢ λέοντ᾽ ἤλπιζες ἐντείνειν βρόχοι; Refs 5th c.BC+
4 with dative, hope in.., τῇ τύχῃ NT+5th c.BC+: also with Preps., ἔν τισι LXX; πρός τιLXX+NT
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed., 1925–1940) — digitised by the Perseus Digital Library and corrected and expanded by Tyndale House, Cambridge, via STEPBible-Data's TFLSJ table, CC BY 4.0. Covers all of Greek literature, not just the Bible.
Translated as
Every occurrence, sorted by the English it was actually given — the evidence for what the word means, not a gloss of it.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.
Biblang forms
What the New Testament actually uses, first — the whole system this verb is built from is one click further down.
| Form and the Greek behind it | What it is | Usually | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| elpizamōἐλπίζω | happening now · Ipresent active indicative 1st person singular | hope | 10× |
| elpizatōἐλπίζει | happening now · he/she/itpresent active indicative 3rd person singular | hope | 3× |
| elpizanōἐλπίζομεν | happening now · wepresent active indicative 1st person plural | hope | 1× |
| elpizavōἐλπίζετε | happening now · yepresent active indicative 2nd person plural | expect | 1× |
| elpizateἤλπιζέν | was happening · he/she/itimperfect active indicative 3rd person singular | hoping | 1× |
| elpizaneἠλπίζομεν | was happening · weimperfect active indicative 1st person plural | hoping | 1× |
| elpizaliἐλπιοῦσιν | will happen · theyfuture active indicative 3rd person plural | hope | 2× |
| elpizanaἠλπίσαμεν | happened · weaorist active indicative 1st person plural | expected | 1× |
| elpizatēἤλπικεν | has happened · he/she/itperfect active indicative 3rd person singular | put … hope | 1× |
| elpizanēἠλπίκαμεν | has happened · weperfect active indicative 1st person plural | set … hope | 2× |
| elpizavēἠλπίκατε | has happened · yeperfect active indicative 2nd person plural | set … hope | 1× |
| elpizavarἐλπίσατε | happened · yeaorist active imperative 2nd person plural | set … hope | 1× |
| elpizarēἠλπικέναι | has happened · the “to …” formperfect active infinitive | put … hope | 1× |
| elpizarōntosἐλπίζων | happening now · subjectpresent active participle nominative singular masculine | hope | 2× |
| elpizarōntaisἐλπίζουσαι | happening now · subjectpresent active participle nominative plural feminine | hoped | 1× |
| elpizorōnteiuἐλπιζομένων | happening now · of, belonging topresent middle or passive participle genitive plural neuter | hoped for | 1× |
| elpizarēntoisἠλπικότες | has happened · subjectperfect active participle nominative plural masculine | hope | 1× |
Every form the New Testament uses, in paradigm order. What the system can build beyond them — the whole of this verb, whether the text happens to use it or not — is in the tables below.
Every form the system can build — all 140, by mood, including the ones the New Testament never uses
Statements — indicative mood, 24 occurrences
the subject acts active voice
| Who person | happening now present | was happening imperfect | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect | had happened pluperfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | elpizamō10×ἐλπίζω | elpizame | elpizami | elpizama | elpizamē | elpizamelē |
| you 2nd person singular | elpizasō | elpizase | elpizasi | elpizasa | elpizasē | elpizaselē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | elpizatō3×ἐλπίζει | elpizate1×ἤλπιζέν | elpizati | elpizata | elpizatē1×ἤλπικεν | elpizatelē |
| we 1st person plural | elpizanō1×ἐλπίζομεν | elpizane1×ἠλπίζομεν | elpizani | elpizana1×ἠλπίσαμεν | elpizanē2×ἠλπίκαμεν | elpizanelē |
| ye 2nd person plural | elpizavō1×ἐλπίζετε | elpizave | elpizavi | elpizava | elpizavē1×ἠλπίκατε | elpizavelē |
| they 3rd person plural | elpizalō | elpizale | elpizali2×ἐλπιοῦσιν | elpizala | elpizalē | elpizalelē |
acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice
| Who person | happening now present | was happening imperfect | has happened perfect | had happened pluperfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | elpizomō | elpizome | elpizomē | elpizomelē |
| you 2nd person singular | elpizosō | elpizose | elpizosē | elpizoselē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | elpizotō | elpizote | elpizotē | elpizotelē |
| we 1st person plural | elpizonō | elpizone | elpizonē | elpizonelē |
| ye 2nd person plural | elpizovō | elpizove | elpizovē | elpizovelē |
| they 3rd person plural | elpizolō | elpizole | elpizolē | elpizolelē |
May, might — subjunctive mood, no occurrences
the subject acts active voice
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | elpizameiō | elpizameia | elpizameiē |
| you 2nd person singular | elpizaseiō | elpizaseia | elpizaseiē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | elpizateiō | elpizateia | elpizateiē |
| we 1st person plural | elpizaneiō | elpizaneia | elpizaneiē |
| ye 2nd person plural | elpizaveiō | elpizaveia | elpizaveiē |
| they 3rd person plural | elpizaleiō | elpizaleia | elpizaleiē |
acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice
| Who person | happening now present | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | elpizomeiō | elpizomeiē |
| you 2nd person singular | elpizoseiō | elpizoseiē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | elpizoteiō | elpizoteiē |
| we 1st person plural | elpizoneiō | elpizoneiē |
| ye 2nd person plural | elpizoveiō | elpizoveiē |
| they 3rd person plural | elpizoleiō | elpizoleiē |
Commands — imperative mood, 1 occurrence
the subject acts active voice
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| you 2nd person singular | elpizasōr | elpizasar | elpizasēr |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | elpizatōr | elpizatar | elpizatēr |
| ye 2nd person plural | elpizavōr | elpizavar1×ἐλπίσατε | elpizavēr |
| they 3rd person plural | elpizalōr | elpizalar | elpizalēr |
acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice
| Who person | happening now present | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|
| you 2nd person singular | elpizosōr | elpizosēr |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | elpizotōr | elpizotēr |
| ye 2nd person plural | elpizovōr | elpizovēr |
| they 3rd person plural | elpizolōr | elpizolēr |
Wishes — optative mood, no occurrences
the subject acts active voice
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist |
|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | elpizamoiō | elpizamoia |
| you 2nd person singular | elpizasoiō | elpizasoia |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | elpizatoiō | elpizatoia |
| we 1st person plural | elpizanoiō | elpizanoia |
| ye 2nd person plural | elpizavoiō | elpizavoia |
| they 3rd person plural | elpizaloiō | elpizaloia |
acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice
| Who person | happening now present |
|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | elpizomoiō |
| you 2nd person singular | elpizosoiō |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | elpizotoiō |
| we 1st person plural | elpizonoiō |
| ye 2nd person plural | elpizovoiō |
| they 3rd person plural | elpizoloiō |
The “to …” form — infinitive, 1 occurrence
| Who is acting voice | happening now present | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the subject acts active voice | elpizarō | elpizari | elpizara | elpizarē1×ἠλπικέναι |
| acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice | elpizorō | elpizorē |
Used as an adjective — participle, 5 occurrences
| Who is acting voice | happening now present | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the subject acts active voice | elpizarōntos3×ἐλπίζων | elpizarintos | elpizarantos | elpizarēntos1× |
| acts on itself, or is acted on middle or passive voice | elpizorōntos1× | elpizorēntos |
Each is given in the form it takes as a subject. From there a participle carries the ordinary noun endings, in every case, number and gender — so these four columns are the whole of what the verb contributes.
How every form is built — the slots that make them
elpiz is this word in every one of its forms. The slots after it make all the rest.
same in every form varies — every value shown
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
31 occurrences, every one of them listed
elpizamō“hope”happening now · Ipresent active indicative 1st person singular10×
Romans 15:24hōs an poreuomeiō eis tan Spanian, elpizamō gar diaporeuorōntos theasera vin kai hupo …I hope to see you on my way …
1 Corinthians 16:7… gar vin arti en paroda horara, elpizamō gar chronon tinon epimenara pros vin, …… you now only in passing; I hope to spend some time with you …
2 Corinthians 1:13… ē heim anagnōskavō ē kai epignōskavō, elpizamō de hoti heōs teleu epignōskevi,… to read and understand. And I hope that you will understand us completely,
2 Corinthians 5:11… kuriou anthrōpoin peithanō, theo de faneronē; elpizamō de kai en tai suneidēsiai vu …… is clear to God, and I hope it is clear to your conscience …
2 Corinthians 13:6elpizamō de hoti gnōskevi hoti nis ouk …And I hope you will realize that we have …
Philippians 2:19Elpizamō de en kurio Iēso Timotheon tacheōs …Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send …
Philippians 2:23houton men oun elpizamō pempara hōs an aforameia teim peri …So I hope to send him as soon as …
Philemon 1:22hama de kai hetoimazasōr mi xenian, elpizamō gar hoti dia taiu proseuchaiu vu …… guest room for me, because I hope that through your prayers I will …
2 John 1:12… boulima dia chartou kai melaneu, alla elpizamō genera pros vin kai stomem pros …… with paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come and speak with you …
3 John 1:14elpizamō de eutheōs sin horara, kai stomem …Instead, I hope to see you soon and speak …
elpizatō“hope”happening now · he/she/itpresent active indicative 3rd person singular3×
Acts 26:7“hope”… en ekteneia nuktan kai hēmeran latreuarōntem elpizatō katantara; peri hau elpidau enkalomō hupo …… they earnestly serve God day and night. It is because of this hope, O king, that I am accused by the Jews.
Romans 8:24… atō elpidas, hem gar blepatō tinos elpizatō?… is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see?
1 Corinthians 13:7panteim stegatō, panteim pisteuatō, panteim elpizatō, panteim hupomenatō.… bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
elpizanō“hope”happening now · wepresent active indicative 1st person plural1×
Romans 8:25ei de hem ouk blepanō elpizanō, dia hupomonau apekdechonō.But if we hope for what we do not yet …
elpizavō“expect”happening now · yepresent active indicative 2nd person plural1×
Luke 6:34kai ean daneizaveia para hoiu elpizavō labara, poias vi charitas atō? kai …… lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to …
elpizate“hoping”was happening · he/she/itimperfect active indicative 3rd person singular1×
Luke 23:8… dia tem akouarō peri autou, kai elpizate tinem sēmem horara hupo autou genorōntem.… had heard about Him and was hoping to see Him perform a miracle.
elpizane“hoping”was happening · weimperfect active indicative 1st person plural1×
Luke 24:21nis de elpizane hoti autos atō tos mellarōntos lutrorō …But we were hoping He was the One who would …
elpizali“hope”will happen · theyfuture active indicative 3rd person plural2×
Matthew 12:21kai te onome autou ethneim elpizali.… name the nations will put their hope.”
Romans 15:12… anastēorōntos archarō ethneiu; epi auto ethneim elpizali.… Him the Gentiles will put their hope.”
elpizana“expected”happened · weaorist active indicative 1st person plural1×
2 Corinthians 8:5kai ouk kathōs elpizana alla heautoin dōala prōtem to kurio …… only did they do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to …
elpizatē“put … hope”has happened · he/she/itperfect active indicative 3rd person singular1×
1 Timothy 5:5tas de ontōs chēras kai monorēntas elpizatē epi theon kai prosmenatō tai deēsiai …… and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and …
elpizanē“set … hope”has happened · weperfect active indicative 1st person plural2×
2 Corinthians 1:10… rueta nin kai rueti, eis hon elpizanē hoti kai ēti rueti,… In Him we have placed our hope that He will yet again deliver …
1 Timothy 4:10… houtem gar kopianō kai oneidizonō, hoti elpizanē epi theo zōarōnto, hos atō sōtēros …… strive, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is …
elpizavē“set … hope”has happened · yeperfect active indicative 2nd person plural1×
John 5:45… katēgorarōntos vu Mōusos, eis hon vis elpizavē.… in whom you have put your hope.
elpizavar“set … hope”happened · yeaorist active imperative 2nd person plural1×
1 Peter 1:13… osfuain tau dianoiau vu, nēfarōntois teleiōs, elpizavar epi tan ferorōntan vi charitan en …… your minds for action. Be sober-minded. Set your hope fully on the grace to be …
elpizarē“put … hope”has happened · the “to …” formperfect active infinitive1×
1 Timothy 6:17… nun aiōno parangelasōr mē hupsēlofronarō mēde elpizarē epi ploutou adēlota, alla epi theo …… to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but …
elpizarōntos“hope”happening now · subjectpresent active participle nominative singular masculine2×
Acts 24:26hama kai elpizarōntos hoti chrēmeim dōiti auto hupo tou …At the same time, he was hoping that Paul would offer him a …
1 Timothy 3:14Houteim si grafamō, elpizarōntos erchara pros sin en tache,Although I hope to come to you soon, I …
elpizarōntais“hoped”happening now · subjectpresent active participle nominative plural feminine1×
1 Peter 3:5“hoped”… pote kai tais hagiais gunaikais tais elpizarōntais eis theon kosmale heautain, hupotassorōntais toi …… is how the holy women of the past adorned themselves. They put their hope in God and were submissive to their …
elpizorōnteiu“hoped for”happening now · of, belonging topresent middle or passive participle genitive plural neuter1×
Hebrews 11:1“hoped for”Atō de pistias elpizorōnteiu hupostasias, pragmeiu elenchos ouk bleporōnteiu;Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.
elpizarēntois“hope”has happened · subjectperfect active participle nominative plural masculine1×
1 Corinthians 15:19… en ta zōa houta en Christo elpizarēntois anō monem, eleeinoterois pantoiu anthrōpoiu anō.If our hope in Christ is for this life …