noun · masculine
thumos
Strong’sG2372
an outburst of passion, wrath
stem thum-18 times in the New Testamentin 9 of 27 books4 of 10 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
θυμός refers to passion, especially strong or hot anger, wrath 1234. It describes intense feeling that boils over, as though breathing hard 2, and covers wrath, indignation, and fierceness 2, including the outbursts or impulses of anger a person can experience, sometimes spoken of in the plural 1. This is the sense the word carries throughout its biblical use, whether of human anger or of divine wrath 1.
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
θυμός, -οῦ, ὁ
(< θύω), [in LXX most freq. for אַף, also for חֵמָה, חָרוֹן, etc., 30 words in all;]
SYN.: ὀργή, παροργισμός.
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G2372 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidthoo-mos'
passion (as if breathing hard)
Fromfrom G2380;
King Jamesfierceness, indignation, wrath.
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
soul, spirit, as the principle of life, feeling and thought, especially of strong feeling and passion (rightly derived from θύω (B) by Refs 5th c.BC+
I in physical sense, breath, life, θ. ἀπηύρα, ἀφελέσθαι, ἐξαίνυσθαι, ὀλέσαι, frequently in Refs 8th c.BC+; ἀπὸ δ᾽ ἔπτατο θ. Refs 8th c.BC+; of animals, Refs, etc.: less frequently in Trag., Refs 5th c.BC+
I.2 spirit, strength, τείρετο δ᾽ ἀνδρῶν θ. ὑπ᾽ εἰρεσίης Refs 8th c.BC+
I.3 πάτασσε δὲ θ. ἑκάστου each man's heart beat high, Refs
II soul, as shown by the feelings and passions; and so,
II.1 desire or inclination, especially desire for meat and drink, appetite, πιέειν ὅτε θ. ἀνώγοι Refs 8th c.BC+; βαλέειν δέ ἑ ἵετο θRefs; θ. ἐποτρύνῃ [τινά] Refs 8th c.BC+; θ. ἐπέσσυταί τινι, ἐφορμᾶται, Refs 8th c.BC+; ἤθελε θυμῷ he wished in his heart or with all his heart, Refs; so later θυμῷ βουλόμενοι wishing with all their heart, Refs 7th c.BC+; ἄρχ᾽ αὐτὸς ὥς σοι θ. Refs 5th c.BC+; ὅπου ὑμῖν θ. Refs 5th c.BC+
II.2 mind, temper, will, θ. πρόφρων, ἵλαος, Refs 8th c.BC+; ἕνα θ. ἔχειν to be of one mind, Refs 8th c.BC+; ἐμὸν θ. ἔπειθενRefs 5th c.BC+
II.3 spirit, courage, μένος καὶ θ. Refs 8th c.BC+; πᾶσιν δὲ παραὶ ποσὶ κάππεσε θ. Refs 8th c.BC+; ψῦχρος ἔγεντο θ., of doves, Refs 7th c.BC+; ἴωμεν ῥώμῃ καὶ θυμῷ ἐπί.. Refs 5th c.BC+; personified, Passion, Emotion, opposed to Λογισμός, Refs 4th c.BC+
II.4 the seat of anger, χωόμενον κατὰ θυμόν Refs 8th c.BC+: hence, anger, wrath, δάμασον θυμόν Refs; εἴξας ᾧ θυμῷRefs 5th c.BC+; θυμῷ falsa lectio for{θυμοῦ} in Refs 5th c.BC+; opposed to λογισμός, Refs 5th c.BC+; ἐπανάγειν τὸν θ. Refs 5th c.BC+; of horses, Refs 5th c.BC+, fits of anger, passions, περὶ φόβων τε καὶ θυμῶν Refs 5th c.BC+
II.5 the heart, as the seat of the emotions, especially joy or grief, χαῖρε, γήθησε δὲ θυμῷ, Refs 8th c.BC+; δόκησε δ᾽ ἄρα σφίσι θ. ὣς ἔμεν ὡς εἰ.. they felt as glad at heart as if.., Refs 8th c.BC+; μηδ᾽ ὀνίαισι δάμνα.. θ. Refs 7th c.BC+; of fear, δέος ἔμπεσε θυμῷ Refs 8th c.BC+; of love, τὴν ἐκ θυμοῦ φίλεον Refs 3rd c.BC+; ἐμῷ κεχαρισμένε θυμῷ my heart's beloved, Refs 8th c.BC+; reversely, ἀπὸ θ. μᾶλλον ἐμοὶ ἔσεαι wilt be alien from my heart, Refs; ἐκ θ. πεσέειν, i.e. to lose thy favour,Refs 5th c.BC+
II.6 mind, soul, as the seat of thought, ταῦθ᾽ ὥρμαινε κατὰ φρένα καὶ κατὰ θ. Refs 8th c.BC+; φράζετο θυμῷ Refs 5th c.BC+; οὐκ ἐς θ. φέρω I bring him not into my mind or thoughts, Refs
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
Every form this word takes in Biblang, with the Greek it corresponds to and how often the New Testament uses it.
| Job in the sentence case | one singular | more than one plural |
|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | thumos3×θυμὸς | thumois2×θυμοί |
| object accusative | thumon3×θυμὸν | thumoin |
| direct address vocative | thumor | thumoir |
| of, belonging to genitive | thumou10×θυμοῦ | thumoiu |
| to, for dative | thumo | thumoi |
Tinted cells are forms the New Testament never uses, so there is no Greek to show against them — but they are still correct Biblang, built from the slots below like any other.
Why these forms, and no others — the slots that make them
thumo 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
Words built on the same stem
Other words sharing the exact same stem — not merely related in meaning.
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
18 occurrences, every one of them listed
thumos“anger”subjectnominative singular3×
Romans 2:8… peithorōntoi de ta adikia orgas kai thumos,… wickedness, there will be wrath and anger.
Ephesians 4:31pantas pikrias kai thumos kai orgas kai kraugas kai blasfēmias …… rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every …
Revelation 15:1… eschatain, hoti en autai telita tos thumos tou theou.… seven final plagues, with which the wrath of God is completed.
thumon“wrath”objectaccusative singular3×
Colossians 3:8“wrath”… apotithevar kai vis teim panteim, organ, thumon, kakian, blasfēmian, aischrologian ek teu stomeu …But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
Hebrews 11:27pistia kataleipata Aiguptan, mē fobirantos ton thumon tou basilevou, ton gar aoraton hōs …… left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him …
Revelation 12:12“wrath”… katabainata tos diabolos pros vin, echarōntos thumon megon, horarēntos hoti oligon kairon echatō.… sea; with great fury the devil has come down to you, knowing he has only a short time.”
thumou“wrath”of, belonging togenitive singular10×
Luke 4:28“rage”kai pimplēila pantois thumou en ta sunagōga akouarōntois houteim,… hearing this, all the people in the synagogue were enraged.
Acts 19:28“rage”Akouarantois de kai generantois plērois thumou krazale legarōntois; Megas tas Artemias Efesioiu.… the men heard this, they were enraged and began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
Revelation 14:8“wrath”… megas, has ek tou oinou tou thumou tau porneiau autau potizatē panteim teim …… Babylon the great, who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.”
Revelation 14:10… autos pineti ek tou oinou tou thumou tou theou tou kerannuorēntou akratou en …… undiluted into the cup of His wrath. And he will be tormented in …
Revelation 14:19… kai balata eis tan lēnan tou thumou tou theou ton megon.… into the great winepress of God’s wrath.
Revelation 15:7… angeloi hepta fialain chrusouain gemarōntain tou thumou tou theou tou zōarōntou eis toin …… seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and …
Revelation 16:1… kai ekchavōr tain hepta fialain tou thumou tou theou eis tan gēan.… earth the seven bowls of God’s wrath.”
Revelation 16:19… auta tem potēriem tou oinou tou thumou tau orgau autou;… cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath.
Revelation 18:3“wrath”hoti ek tou oinou tou thumou tau porneiau autau pinalē panteim teim …All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The …
Revelation 19:15… patatō tan lēnan tou oinou tou thumou tau orgau tou theou tou pantokratorou.… He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the …
thumois“anger”subjectnominative plural2×
2 Corinthians 12:20“anger”… ouk thelavō, mē pōs eridas, zēlos, thumois, eritheiais, katalaliais, psithurismois, fusiōsiais, akatastasiais;… you may not find me as you wish. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, rage, rivalry, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.
Galatians 5:20“anger”eidōlolatrias, farmakeias, echthrais, eridas, zēlos, thumois, eritheiais, dichostasiais, hairesiais,idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,