To fight
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This Greek verb means to fight or wage war. James 4:2 uses it in a rebuke of quarrels driven by craving, and Revelation uses it in visions or warnings involving Christ, heavenly combat, the beast and opposition to the Lamb.
Reader summary
Full entry for πολεμέω (G4170) · Open the biblical lexicon
This Greek verb means to fight or wage war. James 4:2 uses it in a rebuke of quarrels driven by craving, and Revelation uses it in visions or warnings involving Christ, heavenly combat, the beast and opposition to the Lamb.
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include wage war (2), fight (1), fought (1), fought [back] (1), wages war (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at James 4:2. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (6), James (1).
This Greek verb means to fight or wage war. James 4:2 uses it in a rebuke of quarrels driven by craving, and Revelation uses it in visions or warnings involving Christ, heavenly combat, the beast and opposition to the Lamb. The agent and purpose matter. Christ's righteous judgment, the dragon's resistance and a community's selfish fighting cannot be treated as morally identical because they share the verb.
Revelation 2:16 calls for repentance and warns that Christ will wage war with the sword of His mouth. Revelation 13:4 records worshipers boasting that no one can wage war against the beast, while Revelation 17:14 announces the Lamb's victory over those who attack Him. The later statement answers the impression of invincibility without making the boast true. Revelation 19:11 characterizes the rider's judging and warfare by righteousness. These passages require attention to the speaker's claim and the vision's outcome, not a transfer of divine judgment into a reader's personal quarrel.
James rebukes desire-driven fighting, while Revelation distinguishes Christ's warning and righteous judgment from heavenly conflict, beastly boasting and war against the victorious Lamb.
You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask.
The rebuke connects quarrels and fighting with craving and coveting. The following verse challenges selfish motives even in asking, so the passage calls for examination and repentance rather than a technique for obtaining every desire.
Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth.
Christ calls for repentance and warns of warfare with the sword of His mouth. The threatened action belongs to the speaking Lord; the church is not instructed to carry out a physical attack.
Then a war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
Michael and his angels fight the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fight back. Both verbal occurrences belong to this heavenly vision, whose participants and outcome must remain distinct.
They worshiped the dragon who had given authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can wage war against it?”
The question about who can fight the beast is spoken by its worshipers. It expresses their allegiance and admiration rather than the narrator's final verdict that the beast is unbeatable.
They will make war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will triumph over them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and He will be accompanied by His called and chosen and faithful ones.”
The kings wage war against the Lamb, who triumphs because He is Lord of lords and King of kings. The verse grounds confidence in His identity rather than in the apparent strength of those opposing Him.
Then I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse. And its rider is called Faithful and True. With righteousness He judges and wages war.
The rider is called Faithful and True and judges and wages war with righteousness. His named character governs the scene, which should not be reduced to a model of human anger or aggression.
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 fight
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I make war, contend
Read verseI make war, contend
Read verseI make war, contend
Read verseI make war, contend
Read verseI make war, contend
Read verseI make war, contend
Read verseI make war, contend
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 6 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)
πολεμέω is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Revelation 13:4 lets the reader hear the beast's worshipers marvel at its power. Their question carries confidence, but the book does not ask the church to adopt their judgment. Revelation 17:14 describes opposition to the Lamb and names the reason for His victory: He is Lord of lords and King of kings. The reader's hope is directed to the Lamb's identity, not to the intimidation produced by a boast.
James 4:2 places the same fighting verb in an exposure of craving and coveting within a troubled community. These settings must not be collapsed. Christ's righteousness does not supply a righteous label for our appetite to win. Revelation 12:11 speaks of conquest through the Lamb's blood and faithful testimony, while Ephesians 6:12 distinguishes the church's struggle from conflict against flesh and blood. Teaching these passages should strengthen faithful witness and repentance, not recruit hearers into hostility toward a person or group.
Rev.17.14
The verb describes fighting, but it does not encode a single moral evaluation or set of combatants. Revelation 12:7 contains two occurrences with opposing subjects. James' use concerns quarrels, so the word cannot by itself turn every conflict into military action.
Isaiah 11:4 portrays righteous judgment with imagery of the ruler's mouth and lips; Revelation 19:11-15 likewise places righteous judgment beside the sword from the rider's mouth. This is a thematic comparison, not a claim that one Greek verb contains the entire connection. Both settings require attention to the ruler's righteousness and give no private person a commission to imitate divine judgment.