An intestine (plural); figuratively, pity or sympathy
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G4698 literally names inner organs or intestines and figuratively names deep affection, compassion, or relational concern. The governed corpus has one anatomical use in Acts 1:18 and ten figurative uses across Luke, Paul's letters, Philemon, and First John.
Reader summary
Full entry for σπλάγχνον (G4698) · Open the biblical lexicon
G4698 literally names inner organs or intestines and figuratively names deep affection, compassion, or relational concern. The governed corpus has one anatomical use in Acts 1:18 and ten figurative uses across Luke, Paul's letters, Philemon, and First John.
The BSB source-word alignment has 11 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include affection (3), hearts (2), [the] affection (1), [the] tender (1), compassion (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 1:78. Its strongest book concentrations include Philemon (3), 2 Corinthians (2), Philippians (2), 1 John (1).
G4698 literally names inner organs or intestines and figuratively names deep affection, compassion, or relational concern. The governed corpus has one anatomical use in Acts 1:18 and ten figurative uses across Luke, Paul's letters, Philemon, and First John. The bodily image gives emotional language force, but it does not prescribe one visible feeling style or make intense emotion a measure of holiness.
Luke 1:78 places the noun in the phrase describing God's tender mercy and the promised dawn from on high. The expression names divine mercy within Zechariah's prophecy without requiring a literal anatomy for God or settling philosophical disputes about divine emotion. Philippians 1:8 speaks of Paul's longing in the affection of Christ Jesus, Philippians 2:1 names affection and compassion within communal unity, and Colossians 3:12 calls God's chosen and beloved people to clothe themselves with compassionate hearts. These texts form Christ-shaped care without authorizing emotional surveillance, performative intimacy, or leader-centered dependency.
Second Corinthians and Philemon place the noun inside strained or consequential relationships. Affections can be restrained, Titus's affection can deepen, saints' hearts can be refreshed, and Onesimus can be called Paul's very heart. Philemon must remain inside the realities of Roman slavery and unequal power. Affectionate language cannot sanitize enslavement, compel a vulnerable person to return to danger, erase restitution, or make reconciliation independent of consent, freedom, truth, and safety.
First John 3:17 asks how God's love abides in a person who has resources, sees a fellow believer in need, and closes compassion. The question joins inward concern to material response, but it does not permit manipulation, invasive monitoring, reckless giving, or control of recipients. Acts 1:18 uses the literal sense in a graphic account of Judas's death. It must not become entertainment, collective Jewish blame, contempt for bodies, or stigma toward suicide, mental illness, trauma, or bereaved people.
Eleven governed forms move from literal inner organs to God's mercy, Christ-shaped affection, communal compassion, contested relationships, practical material care, and one graphic death account.
Because of the tender mercy of our God
God's mercy grounds the promised visitation and light.
Him who is my very heart
Paul's affection for Onesimus intensifies an appeal situated within unequal power.
Withholds his compassion from him
Closing compassion while possessing resources exposes a contradiction with abiding love.
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. Emotional compassion and mercy literally rooted in the bowels, NT's seat of deepest human feeling
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
11 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
bowels, compassion, pity
Read versebowels, compassion, pity
Read versebowels, compassion, pity
Read versebowels, compassion, pity
Read versebowels, compassion, pity
Read versebowels, compassion, pity
Read versebowels, compassion, pity
Read versebowels, compassion, pity
Read versebowels, compassion, pity
Read versebowels, compassion, pity
Read versebowels, compassion, pity
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 this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 3 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G4698 gives Christian affection a bodily image without demanding that every believer display emotion in the same way. God's tender mercy sends light; Christ shapes Paul's longing; communities are called to compassionate character; and First John tests love where a person with resources meets actual need. Yet affection appears amid power differences in Second Corinthians and Philemon.
Warm language is therefore not self-authenticating. Christ-shaped compassion remains truthful, nonpossessive, attentive to material conditions, open to review, and protective of the vulnerable. It can give, listen, advocate, repair, release control, honor distance, and seek professional help. It also leaves recipients free to name their needs, decline an offer, seek independent counsel, and retain legal or relational protections.
Luke.1.78
All eleven governed forms are plural: five accusatives, two datives, and four nominatives. Translation varies among intestines, affection, hearts, very heart, compassion, and tender mercy. The range is established by syntax and setting, not by assuming that one English gloss fits every verse.
Hebrew compassion language often uses bodily and family imagery for God's mercy. Those resonances can illuminate Luke 1, but they do not make every Hebrew organ term a direct lexical equivalent of G4698.
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