What does ἱλάσκομαι (hiláskomai) mean in the Bible?
G2433 occurs twice. In Luke 18:13, the tax collector asks God to show mercy to him, a sinner.
Greek · G2433
ἱλάσκομαι
To propitiate
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ἱλάσκομαι G2433
Pronunciation hiláskomai
What does ἱλάσκομαι (hiláskomai) mean in the Bible?
G2433 occurs twice. In Luke 18:13, the tax collector asks God to show mercy to him, a sinner.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἱλάσκομαι (G2433) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G2433?
The BSB source-word alignment has 2 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include have mercy (1), make atonement (1).
Where does ἱλάσκομαι (hiláskomai) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 18:13. Its strongest book concentrations include Hebrews (1), Luke (1).
What This Word Actually Means
G2433 occurs twice. In Luke 18:13, the tax collector asks God to show mercy to him, a sinner. In Hebrews 2:17, Jesus is made like His brothers so that He may become a merciful and faithful high priest and make atonement for the people's sins. The two passages place human need and Christ's priestly work beside one another without making them the same grammatical action.
Luke gives a plea addressed to God; Hebrews names what the incarnate High Priest does concerning sins. This small corpus supports humble appeal, divine mercy, and Christ's atoning work. It does not by itself settle every question about how all biblical atonement terms relate.
How the Bible Uses It
The complete G2433 corpus consists of a sinner's plea for mercy and Hebrews' account of Christ making atonement as a merciful and faithful High Priest.
- Luk.18.13
But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’
The plea names both the one addressed and the speaker's need.
- Heb.2.17
For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people.
Atonement is tied to Jesus' incarnation and faithful high-priestly service.
Passage context
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 have mercy 1× Luke 18:13
make atonement 1× Hebrews 2:17
Show sample aligned rows
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Luke 18:13
Aligned rows 2
Books represented 2
Luke 1 Hebrews 1
Source forms
ἱλάσθητί 1x hilasthēti Luke 18:13
ἱλάσκεσθαι 1x hilaskesthai Hebrews 2:17
Parsing patterns
Verb - Aorist Imperative Passive - 2nd Person Singular 1x Luke 18:13
Verb - Present Infinitive Middle or Passive 1x Hebrews 2:17
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Invite honest confession and appeal to God without presenting a formula for earning justification.
- Ground atonement language in Jesus' merciful and faithful priesthood.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim G2433 occurs in Romans 3:25.
- Do not claim mercy means God ignores sin.
- Do not claim two lexical uses provide a complete atonement system.
Evidence Summary
MessiahPriesthood
Greek word. To expiate sin and make God propitious; shifts from appeasing anger to removing defilement.
Strong's G2433
Lexical occurrences 2 verses Greek text appearances 2 times Word forms 2 forms 2 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link Luke 18:9–14 Source Gloss
to propitiate
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
2 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Luke 18:13 Verb Second Person Singular Aorist Passive Imperative
ἱλάσθητί ilasqhti
I have mercy on, forgive
Read verse Hebrews 2:17 Verb Present Passive Infinitive
ἱλάσκεσθαι ilaskesqai
I have mercy on, forgive
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 2 Aligned forms 2 Tenses Aorist, Present Voices Passive
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Imperative command or strong request 1×
Aorist Passive Luke 18:13 1×
Infinitive verbal noun — the action in abstract 1×
Present Passive Heb 2:17 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 2 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
present 1 aorist 1
Voice
passive 2
Mood
infinitive 1 imperative 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)
Where It Appears in Scripture
Where this word appears in Scripture: passage, original form, and sense in context.
New Testament Witnesses
be propitiated
Additional Occurrences
Luke 18:9–14 ἱλάσθητί hiláskomai
Be merciful, make atonement
Word Origins
ἱλάσκομαι is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
Points to atonement fulfilled in Christ. Luke 18:9–14
Canonical Themes
Messiah Priesthood
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
G2433 gives teachers only two direct passages, and that limitation is a gift because it requires close attention. Luke 18 does not present a technique for manipulating God. The tax collector stands far off, refuses self-exaltation, confesses himself a sinner, and asks God for mercy. Hebrews 2 does not present an abstract definition detached from Christ's person.
The Son is made like His brothers and becomes a merciful and faithful High Priest who makes atonement for sins and helps the tempted. Together, the passages support a gospel-shaped pastoral movement from confessed need to mercy grounded in Christ's priestly work. Yet the word should not be forced to answer every dispute about atonement terminology. Its exact two-verse boundary should produce confidence in what the texts say and restraint about what they do not.
Anchor passage
Heb.2.17
Doctrinal connections
- Luk.18.9-14 - humility and self-exaltation frame the plea and Jesus' verdict.
- Heb.2.14-18 - shared humanity, suffering, priesthood, atonement, and help belong together.
- Heb.4.14-16 - the merciful High Priest grounds confident approach for mercy and grace.
- Rom.3.25 - related atonement language appears in a separate lexical identity.
- 1Jn.2.2 - a related noun describes Christ concerning sins.
The two forms have different functions: Luke uses an aorist middle or passive imperative in a direct plea, while Hebrews uses a present infinitive describing the purpose of Christ's high-priestly service.
From Old to New Testament
Israel's priestly atonement patterns stand behind Hebrews 2, while biblical prayers for mercy illuminate Luke's plea. Those wider connections should be made through the passages' arguments rather than loaded into the verb by itself.
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