To govern
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through the Connect page. Screenshots are helpful.
G2233 can mean to consider, count, regard, or esteem, and in several contexts its participial form identifies a leader. The governed witness contains twenty-eight forms in twenty-seven verses across eleven books.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἡγέομαι (G2233) · Open the biblical lexicon
G2233 can mean to consider, count, regard, or esteem, and in several contexts its participial form identifies a leader. The governed witness contains twenty-eight forms in twenty-seven verses across eleven books.
The BSB source-word alignment has 28 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include leaders (3), consider (2), I thought [it] (2), [two] leaders (1), a ruler (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 2:6. Its strongest book concentrations include Hebrews (6), Philippians (6), 2 Peter (4), Acts (4).
G2233 can mean to consider, count, regard, or esteem, and in several contexts its participial form identifies a leader. The governed witness contains twenty-eight forms in twenty-seven verses across eleven books. Philippians uses the evaluative sense for esteeming others, Christ's consideration in taking the servant path, and Paul's revaluation of former gains beside knowing Christ.
Hebrews uses both senses: people consider God's promise or covenant blood in sharply different ways, and congregations are told to remember and respond to leaders whose faith and accountable care are in view. James commands believers to consider trials joy, while 2 Peter corrects how apparent delay and the Lord's patience are evaluated. The sentence determines whether the word concerns judgment, value, or leadership.
G2233 names acts of evaluation and, in several participial contexts, people who lead. The two senses are related through context but should not be merged into a claim that every act of considering is leadership or every leader is automatically worthy of esteem.
‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of My people Israel.’”
The participle identifies the promised ruler within a prophetic citation.
But you shall not be like them. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves.
Jesus places leadership under the pattern of service.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.
Humble consideration opposes rivalry and pride without requiring contempt for one's own God-given worth.
Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
The evaluative verb belongs inside the complete Christ-hymn movement and should not be isolated from verses 6 through 8.
More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
Two forms express a Christ-centered revaluation of status and gain.
How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
The verb belongs to the warning's description of treating covenant blood as profane.
By faith Sarah, even though she was barren and beyond the proper age, was enabled to conceive a child, because she considered Him faithful who had promised.
The local translation connects faith with judging the Promiser faithful.
Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
Leadership is placed beside God's word, observable conduct, and imitable faith.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds,
The following explanation grounds this commanded evaluation in the tested faith's production of perseverance.
Consider also that our Lord’s patience brings salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom God gave him.
The command corrects how readers interpret the Lord's patience.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. To lead as a ruler or to regard/consider something as having a certain value or status.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 28 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I lead, think
Read verseI lead, think
Read verseI lead, think
Read verseI lead, think
Read verseI lead, think
Read verseI lead, think
Read verseI lead, think
Read verseI lead, think
Read verseI lead, think
Read verseI lead, think
Read verseI lead, think
Read verseI lead, think
Read verseI lead, think
Read verseI lead, think
Read verseI lead, think
Read verseI lead, think
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.
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.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
How this verb appears across 28 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
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)
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 28 lexical occurrence verses.
ἡγέομαι is built from this root:
G2233 exposes the judgments that shape conduct. People count some things gain, regard others with honor or contempt, interpret trials, and evaluate whether God is faithful or slow. Scripture repeatedly redirects those judgments: others are considered in humility, former advantages become loss beside Christ, trials are read through what tested faith produces, and divine patience is counted as salvation.
The leadership uses add another discipline. A leader is not made faithful by the participle alone. Jesus places leading under service, while Hebrews points readers to spoken truth, observable conduct, imitable faith, and accountability. A faithful teacher should therefore name the object being considered and the standard supplied by the passage. This guards Philippians 2 from self-hatred, Hebrews 13 from unaccountable authority, James 1 from denial of pain, and 2 Peter 3 from speculative timetables.
Php.2.3
The twenty-eight forms span sixteen morphology patterns. Several present participles function substantivally for leaders, while finite and participial forms elsewhere express considering, counting, or esteeming. Philippians 3:8 contains two tokens.
Matthew 2:6 explicitly uses the word within a prophetic citation about the ruler from Bethlehem. Other cross-testament leadership or wisdom connections should be made through specific passages rather than assumed from the verb alone.
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