verb
epispeiramō
Strong’sG4687
I sow on top
stem epispeir-once in the New Testament1 forms occur
What it means
What the word means, in the words of the lexicons out of copyright — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones, wherever each has an entry for it.
* ἐπι-σπείρω,
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G4687 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidspi'-ro
to scatter, i.e. sow (literally or figuratively)
Fromprobably strengthened from G4685 (through the idea of extending);
King Jamessow(- er), receive seed.
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
Aeolic dialect σπέρρωRefs: Ionic dialect imperfect σπείρεσκον Refs 5th c.BC+: future σπερῶ Refs 5th c.BC+; Aeolic dialect σπέρσω Refs 5th c.BC+: aorist ἔσπειρα Refs 5th c.BC+: perfect ἔσπαρκα Refs 2nd c.AD+:—middle, aorist infinitive σπείρασθαι Refs 3rd c.BC+; aorist 2 σπαρέσθαι uncertain reading in Refs 2nd c.AD+:—passive, future σπᾰρήσομαι LXX+1st c.BC+aorist ἐσπάρην [ᾰ] Refs 5th c.BC+: perfect ἔσπαρμαι Refs 5th c.BC+:— sow,
I sow seed, with accusative, [κέγχρους] Refs 8th c.BC+; of Cadmus, σ. γηγενῆ στάχυν Refs (so in middle, σπείρασθαι ὀδόντας Refs 3rd c.BC+: absolutely, sow, Refs 8th c.BC+; opposed to θερίζω, Refs 5th c.BC+; καρπὸν ὧν ἔσπειρε θερίζειν Refs 5th c.BC+; σ. κατὰ πετρῶν, i.e. εἰς πέλαγος Refs 2nd c.AD+
I.2 engender, beget offspring Refs 5th c.BC+; οἱ σπείραντες the parents, Refs; ἄθυτα παλλακῶν σπέρματα σ. Refs 5th c.BC+:—passive, spring or be born, ὅθενπερ αὐτὸς ἐσπάρη Refs 5th c.BC+; πρὸ τοῦ Ζήνωνα.. σπαρῆναι before Z. was begotten, Refs 5th c.BC+
I.3 scatter like seed, strew, χρυσὸν καὶ ἄργυρον Refs 5th c.BC+; of liquids, scatter or sprinkle, ἐκ τευχέων σ. δρόσον Refs 5th c.BC+; spread abroad, extend, σ. ἀγλαΐαν νάς ῳ Refs 5th c.BC+; spread rumour, σ. ματαίαν βάξιν Refs 5th c.BC+; μὴ σπεῖρε πολλοῖς τὸν παρόντα δαίμονα do not speak of it indiscriminately, Refs:—passive, to be scattered or dispersed, ἐσπαρμένος κατὰ.. πόλιν, of the ashes of Solon scattered over Salamis, Refs 5th c.BC+; of persons, ἐσπάρησαν καθ᾽ Ἑλλάδα Refs 5th c.BC+; κατὰ χώρανRefs 5th c.BC+
II sow a field, νειόν Refs 8th c.BC+; γῆν, τέμενος, πεδιάδα, Refs 5th c.BC+; ἡ σπειρομένη Αἴγυπτος the arable part of Egypt, Refs 5th c.BC+, of lost labour, Refs 6th c.BC+
II.2 of procreation, ματρὸς.. σ. ἄρουραν Refs 5th c.BC+; ἣν ἔσπειρε, i.e. his wife, Refs 4th c.AD+
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| epispeirataἐπέσπειρεν | happened · he/she/itaorist active indicative 3rd person singular | sowed | 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 86, by mood, including the ones the New Testament never uses
Statements — indicative mood, 1 occurrence
| Who person | happening now present | was happening imperfect | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect | had happened pluperfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | epispeiramō | epispeirame | epispeirami | epispeirama | epispeiramē | epispeiramelē |
| you 2nd person singular | epispeirasō | epispeirase | epispeirasi | epispeirasa | epispeirasē | epispeiraselē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epispeiratō | epispeirate | epispeirati | epispeirata1×ἐπέσπειρεν | epispeiratē | epispeiratelē |
| we 1st person plural | epispeiranō | epispeirane | epispeirani | epispeirana | epispeiranē | epispeiranelē |
| ye 2nd person plural | epispeiravō | epispeirave | epispeiravi | epispeirava | epispeiravē | epispeiravelē |
| they 3rd person plural | epispeiralō | epispeirale | epispeirali | epispeirala | epispeiralē | epispeiralelē |
May, might — subjunctive mood, no occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | epispeirameiō | epispeirameia | epispeirameiē |
| you 2nd person singular | epispeiraseiō | epispeiraseia | epispeiraseiē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epispeirateiō | epispeirateia | epispeirateiē |
| we 1st person plural | epispeiraneiō | epispeiraneia | epispeiraneiē |
| ye 2nd person plural | epispeiraveiō | epispeiraveia | epispeiraveiē |
| they 3rd person plural | epispeiraleiō | epispeiraleia | epispeiraleiē |
Commands — imperative mood, no occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| you 2nd person singular | epispeirasōr | epispeirasar | epispeirasēr |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epispeiratōr | epispeiratar | epispeiratēr |
| ye 2nd person plural | epispeiravōr | epispeiravar | epispeiravēr |
| they 3rd person plural | epispeiralōr | epispeiralar | epispeiralēr |
Wishes — optative mood, no occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist |
|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | epispeiramoiō | epispeiramoia |
| you 2nd person singular | epispeirasoiō | epispeirasoia |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | epispeiratoiō | epispeiratoia |
| we 1st person plural | epispeiranoiō | epispeiranoia |
| ye 2nd person plural | epispeiravoiō | epispeiravoia |
| they 3rd person plural | epispeiraloiō | epispeiraloia |
The “to …” form — infinitive, no occurrences
| Who is acting voice | happening now present | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the subject acts active voice | epispeirarō | epispeirari | epispeirara | epispeirarē |
Used as an adjective — participle, no occurrences
| Who is acting voice | happening now present | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the subject acts active voice | epispeirarōntos | epispeirarintos | epispeirarantos | epispeirarēntos |
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
epispeir 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.
1 occurrence, every one of them listed
epispeirata“sowed”happened · he/she/itaorist active indicative 3rd person singular1×
Matthew 13:25… anthrōpoin erchata autou tos echthros kai epispeirata zizanieim ana mesem tou sitou kai …… was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and slipped …