What does δακρύω (dakrýō) mean in the Bible?
G1145 means to weep or shed tears. Its one New Testament occurrence is John 11:35, where Jesus weeps after seeing Mary and those with her weeping and before he goes to Lazarus' tomb.
Greek · G1145
δακρύω
To shed tears
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δακρύω G1145
Pronunciation dakrýō
What does δακρύω (dakrýō) mean in the Bible?
G1145 means to weep or shed tears. Its one New Testament occurrence is John 11:35, where Jesus weeps after seeing Mary and those with her weeping and before he goes to Lazarus' tomb.
Reader summary
Full entry for δακρύω (G1145) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G1145?
The BSB source-word alignment has 1 aligned row for this entry. Common renderings include wept (1).
Where does δακρύω (dakrýō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 11:35. Its strongest book concentrations include John (1).
Are there verse guides for δακρύω (dakrýō)?
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
What This Word Actually Means
G1145 means to weep or shed tears. Its one New Testament occurrence is John 11:35, where Jesus weeps after seeing Mary and those with her weeping and before he goes to Lazarus' tomb. John uses other grief language in the surrounding scene, but this single verb should not be made to encode a complete scale or theory of emotion. The narrative supplies the meaning of Jesus' tears.
Jesus has already spoken of resurrection and life, and he will call Lazarus out of the tomb. His knowledge and authority do not make the tears unreal, while the tears do not show that death has defeated him. The verse gives strong warrant for receiving grief without treating it as unbelief. It does not require mourners to imitate one emotional expression, explain why Jesus wept beyond what John narrates, or move quickly past loss because resurrection hope is true.
Lexical sourcePassage contextBook contextPastoral application
How the Bible Uses It
John 11:35 uses δακρύω when Jesus sheds tears at Lazarus' tomb.
- John 11:33-35 places Jesus' tears after He sees Mary and the mourners weeping and is deeply moved.
- John 11:25-26 has already declared Jesus as the resurrection and the life, so His tears do not cancel His authority.
- John 11:43-44 shows the same Jesus calling Lazarus from the tomb. Compassion and power are joined.
- The word is rare and should be anchored primarily in this narrative rather than expanded beyond what John says.
δακρύω is rare, but John 11 gives it immense weight. Jesus weeps at Lazarus' tomb after speaking resurrection hope and before commanding Lazarus to come out. That placement matters. His tears are not a denial of hope, and His hope is not a denial of tears.
The surrounding narrative protects the reader from shallow conclusions. Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. He delayed for the glory of God. He taught that He is the resurrection and the life. Then He entered the sorrow of the mourners and shed tears. John presents a Savior whose compassion is not sentimental weakness and whose power is not cold distance.
For pastoral ministry, δακρύω teaches the church how to stand near graves. We do not need to choose between tears and resurrection faith. Jesus held them together. The One who wept also called the dead man out. That makes Christian grief honest, reverent, and hope-filled.
John places Jesus' tears inside a narrative of love, grief, divine glory, resurrection promise, and authority over death. The one occurrence supports real sorrow in the presence of death, while the surrounding chapter supplies every larger christological claim.
Passage contextCanonical parallelBook contexttheological_synthesis
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It wept 1× John 11:35
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row John 11:35
Aligned rows 1
Books represented 1
John 1
Source forms
Ἐδάκρυσεν 1x Edakrysen John 11:35
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular 1x John 11:35
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Give mourners room to grieve before Christ without requiring a particular emotional display.
- Keep Jesus' tears, resurrection promise, and authority together without using one to cancel another.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that Jesus wept because He lacked confidence in the resurrection.
- Do not claim that Christian grief is unbelief.
- Do not claim that the word proves every detail about Jesus' emotional life apart from the narrative.
Passage contextPastoral application
Key Verse and Form Guides
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Silent weeping without audible crying, distinguishing quiet tears from κλαίω's loud vocal expression of grief
Source Gloss
to shed tears
Extended definition Source: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Silent weeping without audible crying, distinguishing quiet tears from κλαίω's loud vocal expression of grief
to weep, shed tears: Jhn.11:35.
Synonymsκλαίω, of audible weeping, to cry; ὀδύρομαι, of grief expressed verbally, to lament; θρηνέω, of formal lamentation, to sing a dirge; ἀλαλάζω, to wail in Oriental fashion; στενάζω, of grief expressed by inarticulate sounds, to groan.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
1 Greek text appearance shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
edakrusen
I shed tears, week
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups 1 Aligned forms 1 Tenses Aorist Voices Active
Tenses
Voices
Indicative states a fact or reality 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 1 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
aorist 1
Voice
active 1
Mood
indicative 1
NT Occurrences
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Word Origins
δακρύω is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
John does not ask readers to choose between Jesus' tears and Jesus' authority. The same chapter says that Jesus loves this family, declares himself the resurrection and the life, is deeply moved in the presence of grief, weeps, and calls Lazarus from the tomb. G1145 contributes one direct observation: Jesus shed tears. The surrounding narrative permits teachers to speak of genuine sorrow without making grief a spiritual failure, but it also restrains speculation about the precise mixture of compassion, anger, loss, and anticipation in Jesus' inner life.
Pastoral care should follow that restraint. Mourners may receive Christ's presence and resurrection promise without being hurried into emotional performance or rebuked for tears. Hope can sustain grief without silencing it.
Anchor passage
John.11.35
Doctrinal connections
- John 11:3-5 identifies Jesus' love for Lazarus, Martha, and Mary.
- John 11:25-26 records Jesus' declaration that he is the resurrection and the life.
- John 11:33-35 places Jesus' tears in the presence of Mary and the mourners.
- John 11:38-44 narrates Jesus calling Lazarus from the tomb.
G1145 is a verb for weeping or shedding tears. The local artifact records one New Testament occurrence, John 11:35. Comparison with nearby grief vocabulary may clarify the scene, but this verb alone does not establish relative volume, duration, cause, or emotional intensity.
From Old to New Testament
Biblical lament often holds sorrow and trust together, but John 11 remains the direct evidence for G1145. Psalms of lament may provide pastoral parallels without functioning as lexical occurrences or explanations of Jesus' motive.
Book contextPastoral applicationCanonical parallelLexical sourcelocal_artifact
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain