verb
foneuamō
Strong’sG5407
I murder
stem foneu-12 times in the New Testamentin 5 of 27 books7 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
φονεύω means to murder or kill 1234. It is used both without an object, as a general statement or command ("you shall not murder"), and with a direct object naming the person killed 1. In the Septuagint it typically renders the Hebrew word for killing found in the commandment against murder 1. The passive form describes being slain 3.
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
φονεύω
(< φονεύς), [in LXX chiefly for רָצַח;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G5407 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidfon-yoo'-o
to be a murderer (of)
Fromfrom G5406;
King Jameskill, do murder, slay.
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
murder, kill, τινα Refs 5th c.BC+; with double accusative, [φόνον] φ. τινά Refs 5th c.BC+:—passive, to be slain, Refs 5th c.BC+
2 of an animal, ἐὰν.. ζῷον.. τι φονεύσῃ τινά Refs 5th c.BC+
3 stain with blood, φασγάνῳ δέρην Refs 5th c.BC+
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| foneuasōφονεύεις | happening now · youpresent active indicative 2nd person singular | murder | 1× |
| foneuavōφονεύετε | happening now · yepresent active indicative 2nd person plural | murder | 1× |
| foneuasiφονεύσεις | will happen · youfuture active indicative 2nd person singular | murder | 3× |
| foneuavaἐφονεύσατε | happened · yeaorist active indicative 2nd person plural | murdered | 2× |
| foneuaseiaφονεύσῃς | happened · youaorist active subjunctive 2nd person singular | murder | 3× |
| foneuateiaφονεύσῃ | happened · he/she/itaorist active subjunctive 3rd person singular | murders | 1× |
| foneuarantoiuφονευσάντων | happened · of, belonging toaorist active participle genitive plural masculine | murdered | 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, 7 occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | was happening imperfect | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect | had happened pluperfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | foneuamō | foneuame | foneuami | foneuama | foneuamē | foneuamelē |
| you 2nd person singular | foneuasō1×φονεύεις | foneuase | foneuasi3×φονεύσεις | foneuasa | foneuasē | foneuaselē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | foneuatō | foneuate | foneuati | foneuata | foneuatē | foneuatelē |
| we 1st person plural | foneuanō | foneuane | foneuani | foneuana | foneuanē | foneuanelē |
| ye 2nd person plural | foneuavō1×φονεύετε | foneuave | foneuavi | foneuava2×ἐφονεύσατε | foneuavē | foneuavelē |
| they 3rd person plural | foneualō | foneuale | foneuali | foneuala | foneualē | foneualelē |
May, might — subjunctive mood, 4 occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | foneuameiō | foneuameia | foneuameiē |
| you 2nd person singular | foneuaseiō | foneuaseia3×φονεύσῃς | foneuaseiē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | foneuateiō | foneuateia1×φονεύσῃ | foneuateiē |
| we 1st person plural | foneuaneiō | foneuaneia | foneuaneiē |
| ye 2nd person plural | foneuaveiō | foneuaveia | foneuaveiē |
| they 3rd person plural | foneualeiō | foneualeia | foneualeiē |
Commands — imperative mood, no occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| you 2nd person singular | foneuasōr | foneuasar | foneuasēr |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | foneuatōr | foneuatar | foneuatēr |
| ye 2nd person plural | foneuavōr | foneuavar | foneuavēr |
| they 3rd person plural | foneualōr | foneualar | foneualēr |
Wishes — optative mood, no occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist |
|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | foneuamoiō | foneuamoia |
| you 2nd person singular | foneuasoiō | foneuasoia |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | foneuatoiō | foneuatoia |
| we 1st person plural | foneuanoiō | foneuanoia |
| ye 2nd person plural | foneuavoiō | foneuavoia |
| they 3rd person plural | foneualoiō | foneualoia |
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 | foneuarō | foneuari | foneuara | foneuarē |
Used as an adjective — participle, 1 occurrence
| Who is acting voice | happening now present | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the subject acts active voice | foneuarōntos | foneuarintos | foneuarantos1× | foneuarēntos |
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
foneu 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.
12 occurrences, every one of them listed
foneuasō“murder”happening now · youpresent active indicative 2nd person singular1×
James 2:11… Mē foneuaseia; ei de ouk moicheuasō foneuasō de, genasē parabatos nomou.… not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
foneuavō“murder”happening now · yepresent active indicative 2nd person plural1×
James 4:2“murder”epithumavō, kai ouk echavō; foneuavō kai zēlavō, kai ouk dunovō epitunchanara; …… you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because …
foneuasi“murder”will happen · youfuture active indicative 2nd person singular3×
Matthew 5:21Akouava hoti legita toi archaioi; Ouk foneuasi; hos de an foneuateia, enochos eti …… said to the ancients, ‘Do not murder’ and ‘Anyone who murders will be …
Matthew 19:18… tos de Iēsus legata; Tem Ouk foneuasi, Ouk moicheuasi, Ouk kleptasi, Ouk pseudomarturasi,… man asked. Jesus answered, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not …
Romans 13:9tem gar; Ouk moicheuasi, Ouk foneuasi, Ouk kleptasi, Ouk epithumasi, kai ei …… Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet …
foneuava“murdered”happened · yeaorist active indicative 2nd person plural2×
Matthew 23:35… teu haimeu Zachariou huiou Barachiou, hon foneuava metaxu tou naou kai teu thusiastērieu.… Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
James 5:6katadikazava, foneuava ton dikaion. ouk antitassotō vi?You have condemned and murdered the righteous, who did not resist …
foneuaseia“murder”happened · youaorist active subjunctive 2nd person singular3×
Mark 10:19tain entolain oidasē; Mē foneuaseia, Mē moicheuaseia, Mē kleptaseia, Mē pseudomarturaseia, …You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not …
Luke 18:20tain entolain oidasē; Mē moicheuaseia, Mē foneuaseia, Mē kleptaseia, Mē pseudomarturaseia, Timasōr ton …… Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear …
James 2:11… legarantos Mē moicheuaseia legata kai Mē foneuaseia; ei de ouk moicheuasō foneuasō de, …… commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery …
foneuateia“murders”happened · he/she/itaorist active subjunctive 3rd person singular1×
Matthew 5:21… archaioi; Ouk foneuasi; hos de an foneuateia, enochos eti ta krisia.… Do not murder’ and ‘Anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’
foneuarantoiu“murdered”happened · of, belonging toaorist active participle genitive plural masculine1×
Matthew 23:31… marturavō heautoi hoti huiois avō toiu foneuarantoiu toin profētoin.… are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.