What does παραμυθέομαι (paramythéomai) mean in the Bible?
Paramytheomai means to comfort, console, or encourage by coming alongside someone with words suited to their distress or need. The New Testament preserves only four verse witnesses.
Greek · G3888
παραμυθέομαι
To encourage
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παραμυθέομαι G3888
Pronunciation paramythéomai
What does παραμυθέομαι (paramythéomai) mean in the Bible?
Paramytheomai means to comfort, console, or encourage by coming alongside someone with words suited to their distress or need. The New Testament preserves only four verse witnesses.
Reader summary
Full entry for παραμυθέομαι (G3888) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3888?
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include comforting (1), console (1), consoling (1), encourage (1).
Where does παραμυθέομαι (paramythéomai) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 11:19. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Thessalonians (2), John (2).
What This Word Actually Means
Paramytheomai means to comfort, console, or encourage by coming alongside someone with words suited to their distress or need. The New Testament preserves only four verse witnesses. In John 11, mourners gather around Martha and Mary after Lazarus dies, showing ordinary human consolation within real grief. First Thessalonians 2 places comforting speech beside encouragement and earnest appeal as Paul describes fatherly pastoral care that calls believers to walk worthy of God.
First Thessalonians 5 directs the church to encourage the fainthearted while distinguishing that care from admonishing the unruly and helping the weak. The verb does not promise that pain will immediately end, nor does it make every gentle word faithful. Christian comfort listens to the person’s actual condition, speaks truth appropriate to that condition, and serves hope under God’s call, Christ’s resurrection, and the patient care of the church.
How the Bible Uses It
Paramytheomai names consoling or encouraging speech fitted to grief, discouragement, or pastoral need. Its four New Testament verse witnesses place comfort inside human presence and congregational care.
- John.11.19
And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them in the loss of their brother.
Neighbors come to the sisters after Lazarus dies. The verb describes ordinary consoling presence before Jesus speaks and acts in the scene.
- John.11.31
When the Jews who were in the house consoling Mary saw how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
Those consoling Mary remain near enough to follow her toward the tomb. The narrative portrays comfort as accompaniment within grief.
- 1Thess.2.12
Encouraging you, comforting you, and urging you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
Paul places comfort beside encouragement and appeal in fatherly pastoral care. The words serve a walk fitting God’s gracious call.
- 1Thess.5.14
And we urge you, brothers, to admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with everyone.
The congregation must distinguish needs. The fainthearted receive encouragement, while patience governs care for everyone.
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 comforting 1× 1 Thessalonians 2:12
console 1× John 11:19
consoling 1× John 11:31
encourage 1× 1 Thessalonians 5:14
Show sample aligned rows
John 11:19 παραμυθήσωνται to console Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Middle - 3rd Person Plural John 11:31 παραμυθούμενοι to consoling Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural 1 Thessalonians 2:12 παραμυθούμενοι to comforting Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural 1 Thessalonians 5:14 παραμυθεῖσθε to encourage Verb - Present Imperative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person Plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row John 11:19
Aligned rows 4
Books represented 2
John 2 1 Thessalonians 2
Source forms
παραμυθούμενοι 2x paramythoumenoi John 11:31, 1 Thessalonians 2:12
παραμυθεῖσθε 1x paramytheisthe 1 Thessalonians 5:14
παραμυθήσωνται 1x paramythēsōntai John 11:19
Parsing patterns
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural 2x John 11:31, 1 Thessalonians 2:12
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Middle - 3rd Person Plural 1x John 11:19
Verb - Present Imperative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person Plural 1x 1 Thessalonians 5:14
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Listen for the person’s actual grief or discouragement before deciding what words and presence will serve.
- Join encouragement to patience and gospel hope without making promises Scripture has not made.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that comfort requires suppressing sorrow or avoiding lament.
- Do not claim that one pastoral response fits the unruly, fainthearted, weak, and grieving alike.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. to encourage
Strong's G3888
Lexical occurrences 4 verses Greek text appearances 4 times Word forms 3 forms 4 references Verse guides 0 guides
Source Gloss
to encourage
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
4 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
John 11:19 Verb Third Person Plural Aorist Middle Deponent Subjunctive
παραμυθήσωνται paramuqhswntai
I encourage, comfort, console
Read verse John 11:31 Verb Present Middle or Passive Deponent Participle Nominative Plural Masculine
παραμυθούμενοι paramuqoumenoi
I encourage, comfort, console
Read verse 1 Thessalonians 2:11 Verb Present Middle or Passive Deponent Participle Nominative Plural Masculine
παραμυθούμενοι paramuqoumenoi
I encourage, comfort, console
Read verse 1 Thessalonians 5:14 Verb Second Person Plural Present Middle or Passive Deponent Imperative
παραμυθεῖσθε paramuqeisqe
I encourage, comfort, console
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 3 Aligned forms 4 Tenses Present, Aorist Voices Middle
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Participle verbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality 2×
Present Middle John 11:31 · 1 Thess 2:12 2×
Subjunctive possibility, probability, or purpose 1×
Aorist Middle John 11:19 1×
Imperative command or strong request 1×
Present Middle 1 Thess 5:14 1×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 3 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
present 2 aorist 1
Voice
middle 3
Mood
imperative 1 subjunctive 1 participle 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
παραμυθέομαι is built from these roots:
For the Preacher and Teacher
Paramytheomai helps a church see that faithful care is neither one-size-fits-all speech nor the avoidance of hard truth. John 11 shows friends entering a house marked by death and remaining near the grieving sisters. Their consolation does not raise Lazarus, and the narrative does not present human comfort as a substitute for Jesus. It does, however, portray the social nearness in which grief is shared.
First Thessalonians 2 places comfort within Paul’s fatherly ministry alongside encouragement and appeal, all directed toward a life worthy of the God who calls believers into His kingdom and glory. First Thessalonians 5 becomes even more specific: the unruly need admonition, the fainthearted encouragement, the weak help, and everyone patience. Wise pastoral care therefore discerns rather than merely reacts.
It speaks gospel truth without treating grief as unbelief, offers presence without pretending presence is sufficient, and directs discouraged believers toward God’s call and sustaining hope.
Anchor passage
1Thess.5.14
Doctrinal connections
- John.11.19 places consolation inside the real grief of Martha and Mary after the death of their brother.
- John.11.31 portrays consolers remaining near Mary as she moves toward the tomb to mourn.
- The larger John 11 narrative keeps human consolation distinct from Jesus’ identity as the resurrection and the life.
- 1Thess.2.12 joins comfort to encouragement and appeal within fatherly pastoral care.
- 1Thess.2.12 directs that pastoral speech toward a walk worthy of the God who calls believers into His kingdom and glory.
- 1Thess.5.14 assigns encouragement to the fainthearted while preserving admonition, help, and patience for differing needs.
Paramytheomai is a middle-form verb used for consoling, comforting, or encouraging. Its four New Testament verse witnesses occur in John and 1 Thessalonians. The surrounding verbs and recipients show whether the emphasis falls on grief support or strengthening the fainthearted.
From Old to New Testament
Across Scripture, God’s people mourn together, speak hope to the downcast, strengthen weak hands, and wait for God’s final defeat of death. Paramytheomai contributes a small but clear New Testament witness to that canonical ministry of truthful, patient consolation.
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