Lexicon :: Strong's G191 - akouō

ἀκούω [on the use of the present in a perfect sense cf. Winers Grammar, 274f (258); Buttmann, 203 (176)]; imperfect ἤκουον; future (in best Greek usage) ἀκούσομαι, John 5:25 R G L, John 5:28 R G L; Acts 3:22; Acts 7:37 R G; Acts 17:32; [Acts 21:22]; Acts 25:22; 28:28; [Romans 10:14 Tdf.], and (a later form) ἀκούσω, Matthew 12:19; Matthew 13:14 (both from the Sept.); [John 10:16; John 16:13 Tr WH marginal reading; Acts 28:26]; Romans 10:14 [R G]; and T Tr WH in John 5:25, 28 (cf. Winers Grammar, 82 (79); Buttmann, 53 (46) [Veitch, under the word]); [1 aorist ἤκουσα, John 3:32, etc.]; perfect ἀκήκοα; passive [present ἀκούομαι; 1 future ἀκουσθήσομαι]; 1 aorist ἠκούσθην; [from Homer down]; to hear.
I. absolutely
1. to be endowed with the faculty of hearing (not deaf): Mark 7:37; Luke 7:22; Matthew 11:5.
2. to attend to (use the faculty of hearing), consider what is or has been said. So in exhortations: ἀκούετε, Mark 4:3; ἀκούσατε, James 2:5; ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκουέτω, Matthew 11:15; Matthew 13:9 [in both T WH omit; Tr brackets ἀκούειν]; Mark 4:23; Luke 14:35 (34); ὁ ἔχων οὖς ἀκουσάτω, Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; Revelation 3:6, 13, 22, etc.
3. tropically, to understand, perceive the sense of what is said: Matthew 13:15; Mark 8:18; 1 Corinthians 14:2.
II. with an object [Buttmann, § 132, 17; Winer's Grammar, 199 (187f)];
1. ἀκούω τι, to hear something;
a. to perceive by the ear what is announced in one's presence (to hear immediately): τὴν φωνήν, Matthew 12:19; John 3:8; Revelation 4:1; Revelation 5:11; Revelation 18:4; Acts 22:9, etc.; τὸν ἀσπασμόν, Luke 1:41 (cf. Luke 1:44); Γαλιλαίαν, the name 'Galilee,' Luke 23:6 [T WH omits; Tr mrg. brackets Γαλ.; cf. Buttmann, 166 (145)]; ἀνάστασιν νεκρῶν, the phrase 'ἀνάστ. νεκρῶν,' Acts 17:32; τὸν λόγον, Mark 5:36 [R G L] (on this passage see παρακούω, 2); Matthew 19:22; John 5:24, etc.; τοὺς λόγους, Acts 2:22; Acts 5:24; Matthew 7:24; ῤήματα, 2 Corinthians 12:4; τί λέγουσιν, Matthew 21:16; passive, Matthew 2:18; Revelation 18:22f; τὶ ἔκ τινος, 2 Corinthians 12:6 [R G]; followed by ὅτι [Buttmann, 300 (257f)], Acts 22:2; Mark 16:11; John 4:42; John 14:28.
b. to get by hearinq, learn (from the mouth of the teacher or narrator): Acts 15:17; Matthew 10:27 (ὁ εἰς τὸ οὖς ἀκούετε, what is taught you in secret); Romans 15:21; Ephesians 1:13; Colossians 1:6; John 14:24; 1 John 2:7, 24; 1 John 3:11; Χριστόν i. e. to become acquainted with Christ from apostolic teaching, Ephesians 4:21 (cf. μαθεῖν τὸν Χριστόν, Ephesians 4:20 [Buttmann, 166 (144) note; Winer's Grammar, 199 (187) note]); passive, Luke 12:3; Hebrews 2:1; τὶ with the genitive of person from whom one hears, Acts 1:4; τὶ παρά τινος, John 8:26, 40; John 15:15; Acts 10:22; Acts 28:22; 2 Timothy 2:2 (Thucydides 6, 93; Xenophon, an. 1, 2, 5 [here Dindorf omits παρά]; Plato, rep. 6, p. 506 d., others; [Buttmann, 166 (145); Winer's Grammar, 199 (188)]); [παρά τινος, without an object expressed, John 1:40 (41)]; ἔκ τινος, John 12:34 (ἐκ τοῦ νόμου, from attendance on its public reading); ἀπό with the genitive of person, 1 John 1:5; with περί τινος added, Acts 9:13; followed by ὅτι, Matthew 5:21, 27, 33, 38, 43.
c. ἀκούω τι, a thing comes to one's ears, to find out (by hearsay), learn, (hear [(of)] mediately): with the accusative of thing, τὰ ἔργα, Matthew 11:2; ὅσα ἐποίει, Mark 3:8 [Treg. text ποιεῖ]; πολέμους, Luke 21:9; Matthew 24:6; Mark 13:7; to learn, absol, viz. what has just been mentioned: Matthew 2:3; Matthew 22:7 [R L]; Mark 2:17; Mark 3:21; Galatians 1:13; Ephesians 1:15; Colossians 1:4; Philemon 1:5, etc. followed by ὅτι, Matthew 2:22; Matthew 4:12; Matthew 20:30; Mark 6:55; Mark 10:47; John 4:47; John 9:35; John 11:6; John 12:12; Galatians 1:23; περί τινος, Mark 7:25; τὶ περί τινος, Luke 9:9; Luke 16:2; Luke 23:8 [R G L]; followed by an accusative with participle [Buttmann, 303 (260)]: Luke 4:23; Acts 7:12; 2 Thessalonians 3:11; 3 John 1:4; followed by an accusative with an infinitive in two instances [cf. Buttmann, the passage cited]: John 12:18; 1 Corinthians 11:18. passive: Acts 11:22 (ἠκούσθη ὁ λόγος εἰς τὰ ὦτα τῆς ἐκκλησίας was brought to the ears); 1 Corinthians 5:1 (ἀκούεται πορνεία ἐν ὑμῖν); Matthew 28:14 (ἐὰν ἀκουσθῇ τοῦτο ἐπί [L Tr WH marginal reading ὑπὸ] τοῦ ἡγεμόνος); Mark 2:1; John 9:32 ἠκούσθη ὅτι.
d. to give ear to teaching or teacher: τοὺς λόγους, Matthew 10:14; to follow with attentive hearing, τὸν λόγον, John 8:43; τὰ ῤήματα τοῦ θεοῦ, John 8:47.
e. to comprehend, understand, (like Latin audio): Mark 4:33; Galatians 4:21 ([Lachmann marginal reading ἀναγινώσκετε) yet cf. Meyer at the passage]; (Genesis 11:7).
2. ἀκούειν is not joined with the genitive of the object unless one hear the person or thing with his own ears [Buttmann, 166 (114)];
a. with the genitive of a person; simply;
α. to perceive anyone's voice: οὗ, i. e., of Christ, whose voice is heard in the instruction of his messengers (Luke 10:16), Romans 10:14 [Winer's Grammar, 199 (187) note²],
β. to give ear to one, listen, hearken, (German ihm zuhören, ihn anhören): Matthew 2:9; Mark 7:14; Mark 12:37; Luke 2:46; Luke 10:16; Luke 15:1; Luke 19:48; Luke 21:38; Acts 17:32; Acts 24:24 (in both these passages τινὸς περί τινος); Acts 25:22; John 6:60.
γ. to yield to, hear and obey, hear to one, (German auf einen hören): Matthew 17:5 (Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35); John 3:29; John 10:8; Acts 3:22; Acts 4:19; Acts 7:37 [R G]; 1 John 4:5f. Hence,
δ. its use by John in the sense to listen to, have regard to, of God answering the prayers of men: John 9:31; John 11:41; 1 John 5:14f (the Sept. render שָׁמַע by εἰσακούω).
ε. with the genitive of person and participle [Buttmann, 301 (259)]: Mark 14:58; Luke 18:36; John 1:37; John 7:32; Acts 2:6, 11; Revelation 16:5; ἤκουσα τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου λέγοντος, Revelation 16:7 G L T [Tr WH the Sinaiticus manuscript], a poetic personification; cf. DeWette at the passage, Winers Grammar, § 30, 11.
b. with the genitive of a thing: τῆς βλασφημίας, Mark 14:64 (Lachmann τὴν βλασφημίαν, as in Matthew 26:65; the accusative merely denotes the object; τῆς βλασφ. is equivalent, in sense to αὐτοῦ βλασφημοῦντος, [cf. Buttmann, 166 (145)]); τῶν λόγων, Luke 6:47 (Matthew 7:24 τοὺς λόγους); John 7:40 (L T Tr WH the Sinaiticus manuscript, but R G τὸν λόγον [cf. Buttmann, as above]); συμφωνίας κ. χορῶν, Luke 15:25; τοῦ στεναγμοῦ, Acts 7:34; τῆς ἀπολογίας, Acts 22:1. The frequent phrase ἀκούειν τῆς φωνῆς (equivalent to שָׁמַע בְּקוֹל, Exodus 18:19) means
α. to perceive the distinct words of a voice: John 5:25, 28; Acts 9:7; Acts 11:7; Acts 22:7; Hebrews 3:7, 15; Hebrews 4:7; Revelation 14:13; Revelation 21:3.
β. to yield obedience to the voice: John 5:25 (οἱ ἀκούσαντες namely, τῆς φωνῆς); John 10:16, 27; John 18:37; Revelation 3:20. In John 12:47; John 18:37; Luke 6:47; Acts 22:1, it is better to consider the pronoun μοῦ which precedes as a possessive genitive rather than, with Buttmann, 167 (145f), to assume a double genitive of the object, one of the person and one of the thing.
The Johannean phrase ἀκούειν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ, or τὶ παρὰ θεοῦ, signifies
a. to perceive in the soul the inward communication of God: John 6:45.
b. to be taught by God's inward communication: John 8:26, 40 (so, too, the simple ἀκούειν in John 8:30); to be taught by the devil, according to the reading of L T Tr WH, ἠκούσατε παρὰ τοῦ πατρός, in John 8:38. For the rest cf. Buttmann, 165 (144ff); 301 (258ff)
[Compare: δι-, εἰσ-, ἐπ-, παρ-, προ-, ὑπακούω.]

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