Grow With Me
Grow With Me

διώκω

diōkō · persecute, pursue

Greek word · Strong’s number G1377 · appears 45 times in the Bible

What is the Strong number?Strong’s number identifies this word: use it to find the same word in other study tools.

What it means

diōkō (διώκω) is a Greek word of the Bible that means “persecute, pursue”.

Also strive after.

How to say it

di·ō·kō

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

  1. To go after someone to harm them.
  2. To go after something with all you have.

From Abbott-Smith (1922) · Thayer (1889)

Word study

To go after someone with determination: to pursue in order to harm, and also to pursue something, to seek it constantly until reaching it.

How we translate it

When it is doing harm, “persecute” (“persecuted” 12 times, “persecute” 9, “are you persecuting” 3). When the object is something good, “pursue” (8: “Pursue love”, 1 Corinthians 14:1; “pursue righteousness”, 1 Timothy 6:11; “Pursue peace”, Hebrews 12:14) or, of Paul’s race, “I press on” (Philippians 3:12, 14).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

  • persecuted ×12
  • persecute ×9
  • pursue ×8
  • are persecuting ×3
  • are you persecuting ×3
  • persecuting ×3
  • I press on ×2
  • pursuing ×2
  • I pursued them ×1
  • he pursued ×1
  • others ×1

Related words

Words that come from it

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

  • Matthew 5:10

    Happy are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

  • Matthew 5:11

    Happy are you when they insult you and persecute you and say every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.

  • Matthew 5:12

    Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

  • Matthew 5:44

    But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

  • Matthew 10:23

    When they persecute you in this town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will never finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

  • Matthew 23:34

    Because of this, look, I am sending to you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,

  • Luke 11:49

    Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’

  • Luke 17:23

    And they will say to you, ‘Look, there! Look, here!’ Do not go off nor run after them.

  • Luke 21:12

    But before all these things they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, handing you over to the synagogues and prisons, you being led away before kings and governors for the sake of my name.

  • John 5:16

    And for this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.

  • John 15:20

    Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.

  • Acts 7:52

    Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand about the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become,

  • Acts 9:4

    And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

  • Acts 9:5

    And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

  • Acts 22:4

    I persecuted this Way to the point of death, binding and handing over to prisons both men and women,

  • Acts 22:7

    and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’

  • Acts 22:8

    And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’

  • Acts 26:11

    And throughout all the synagogues, often punishing them, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged against them I pursued them even to foreign cities.

  • Acts 26:14

    And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

  • Acts 26:15

    And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

  • Romans 9:30

    What then shall we say? That nations that did not pursue righteousness obtained righteousness, namely, the righteousness that is from faith;

  • Romans 9:31

    but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not attain to that law.

  • Romans 12:13

    sharing in the needs of the saints; pursuing hospitality.

  • Romans 12:14

    Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

  • Romans 14:19

    So then, let us pursue the things of peace and the things of building up one another.

  • 1 Corinthians 4:12

    and we toil, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;

  • 1 Corinthians 14:1

    Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

  • 1 Corinthians 15:9

    For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.

  • 2 Corinthians 4:9

    persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed;

  • Galatians 1:13

    For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, that I was persecuting the assembly of God beyond measure and ravaging it;

  • Galatians 1:23

    they were only hearing, “The one who once persecuted us now proclaims as good news the faith that he once ravaged.”

  • Galatians 4:29

    But just as then the one born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so it is also now.

  • Galatians 5:11

    But I, brothers, if I still proclaim circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished.

  • Galatians 6:12

    As many as want to make a good showing in the flesh, these compel you to be circumcised, only so that they may not be persecuted for the cross of the Messiah.

  • Philippians 3:6

    as to zeal, persecuting the assembly; as to the righteousness that is in the law, having become blameless.

  • Philippians 3:12

    Not that I have already received it or have already been brought to completion, but I press on, if indeed I may take hold of that for which I also was taken hold of by the Messiah.

  • Philippians 3:14

    I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in the Messiah Jesus.

  • 1 Thessalonians 5:15

    See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.

  • 1 Timothy 6:11

    But you, O man of God, flee these things; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.

  • 2 Timothy 2:22

    But flee youthful desires, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

And 5 more times.