To call to/summon
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Prosphoneo is a Greek verb for calling someone to oneself, calling out to others, summoning, or addressing an audience. Luke uses it when Jesus calls disciples before choosing the Twelve and when He calls a disabled woman over before announcing her release.
Reader summary
Full entry for προσφωνέω (G4377) · Open the biblical lexicon
Prosphoneo is a Greek verb for calling someone to oneself, calling out to others, summoning, or addressing an audience. Luke uses it when Jesus calls disciples before choosing the Twelve and when He calls a disabled woman over before announcing her release.
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include calling out (2), [and] he addressed [them] (1), addressed (1), He called (1), He called [her] over (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 11:16. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (4), Acts (2), Matthew (1).
Prosphoneo is a Greek verb for calling someone to oneself, calling out to others, summoning, or addressing an audience. Luke uses it when Jesus calls disciples before choosing the Twelve and when He calls a disabled woman over before announcing her release. The same verb can describe children calling to one another in a public square and Pilate addressing a crowd whose demand he is trying to answer.
Acts uses it for Paul's formal address after he receives permission to speak. The verb identifies an act of directed speech, not the righteousness of the speaker or the response of the hearer. A summons can open vocation, dignity, healing, deliberation, or public testimony, but it can also serve compromised power. Teachers should attend to who calls, whom they call, what is said next, and what authority governs the encounter.
The word must not be used to baptize every invitation, leadership demand, or claimed calling as the voice of God.
Prosphoneo directs speech toward a person or group, ranging from summons to public address; the narrative supplies the speaker's authority, purpose, and result.
When daylight came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also designated as apostles:
Jesus summons the wider disciple group before choosing twelve apostles, so calling and appointment are related but not identical actions.
When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your disability.”
Jesus sees and calls the woman before speaking release, restoring her to public attention without making the verb itself mean healing.
Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate addressed them again,
Pilate addresses the crowd within a compromised judicial scene, showing that directed speech alone does not establish courage or justice.
Having received permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. A great hush came over the crowd, and he addressed them in Hebrew:
Paul's public address follows permission and attentive silence, preparing for testimony whose content unfolds in the next chapter.
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 call to/summon
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 call to, summon
Read verseI call to, summon
Read verseI call to, summon
Read verseI call to, summon
Read verseI call to, summon
Read verseI call to, summon
Read verseI call to, summon
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 7 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)
προσφωνέω is built from these roots:
A call creates an encounter, but the verb alone does not tell us whether that encounter is faithful. Jesus calls disciples before choosing the Twelve and calls a bent woman over before speaking freedom; His attention brings people into vocation and restored dignity. Pilate also addresses a crowd, yet his repeated speech occurs amid political fear and judicial failure.
Paul addresses a hostile crowd after receiving permission, using the occasion to bear witness. These contrasts protect readers from romanticizing the force of a summons. Christian leaders may invite, commission, teach, or ask for response, but they do not gain Christ's authority merely by speaking forcefully or claiming divine backing. A healthy call is transparent about its source and purpose, leaves room for discernment where Scripture leaves room, and never uses spiritual pressure to override safety or conscience.
The church should listen closely to Christ, honor persons He sees, and test human appeals by truth, character, accountability, and fruit.
Luke.13.12
The compound verb joins direction toward someone with speaking or calling. It can take a person as its object or describe an address, but lexical form alone does not specify office, obedience, healing, or divine vocation.
Biblical summons scenes range from prophetic calls to Jesus' invitations and apostolic testimony. Those canonical patterns help evaluate authority and response, but they do not make every use of G4377 a technical term for effectual calling or ministerial office.