gennaō · beget, be born

What it means

gennaō (γεννάω) is a Greek word of the Bible that means “beget, be born”.

Beget, become the father of; said of a mother, give birth; in the passive, be born. In family lists it also covers grandchildren and later descendants.

How to say it

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 have a son, or be his ancestor.
2. To give birth, or come into the world.
3. Giving life as God does: becoming God's children.

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

Word study

To beget, to be the father of someone; said of the mother, to give birth; in the passive, to be born. Figuratively, Thayer also gives to cause someone to be born to a new life. Of the same family is ἀναγεννάω, “to cause to be born again”.

• “Fathered” in the list of ancestors Matthew 1:2
• Giving birth; being born Luke 1:57Matthew 2:1John 9:2
• “Unless someone is born from above”; born of God John 3:31 John 5:1
• “I today have begotten you” Acts 13:33
• Figuratively: Paul, a father through the good news 1 Corinthians 4:15

Historical and cultural background

In the list of Matthew 1, “fathered” links generations that sometimes skip names: the verb also covers grandchildren and descendants.

How we translate it

“Fathered” 44 times, above all in Matthew 1; “born” 43, “have begotten” 3, “bear” 2, “she bore” 1… It is translated “father” when the subject is the father, “bear” or “give birth” when it is the mother (Luke 1:57), and “be born” in the passive.

How it is translated

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

• fathered ×44
• born ×43
• have begotten ×3
• bear ×2
• bearing children ×1
• has been conceived ×1
• she bore ×1
• she has borne ×1
• they produce ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Matthew×45
• Mark×1
• Luke×4
• John×18
• Acts×7
• Romans×1
• 1 Corinthians×1
• Galatians×3
• 2 Timothy×1
• Philemon×1
• Hebrews×4
• 2 Peter×1
• 1 John×10

• Matthew 1:2

  Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers.

• Matthew 1:3

  And Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez fathered Hezron, and Hezron fathered Ram.

• Matthew 1:4

  And Ram fathered Amminadab, and Amminadab fathered Nahshon, and Nahshon fathered Salmon.

• Matthew 1:5

  And Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, and Obed fathered Jesse.

• Matthew 1:6

  And Jesse fathered David the king. And David fathered Solomon by the wife of Uriah.

• Matthew 1:7

  And Solomon fathered Rehoboam, and Rehoboam fathered Abijah, and Abijah fathered Asaph.

• Matthew 1:8

  And Asaph fathered Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat fathered Joram, and Joram fathered Uzziah.

• Matthew 1:9

  And Uzziah fathered Jotham, and Jotham fathered Ahaz, and Ahaz fathered Hezekiah.

• Matthew 1:10

  And Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, and Manasseh fathered Amos, and Amos fathered Josiah.

• Matthew 1:11

  And Josiah fathered Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

• Matthew 1:12

  And after the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah fathered Shealtiel, and Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel.

• Matthew 1:13

  And Zerubbabel fathered Abiud, and Abiud fathered Eliakim, and Eliakim fathered Azor.

• Matthew 1:14

  And Azor fathered Zadok, and Zadok fathered Achim, and Achim fathered Eliud.

• Matthew 1:15

  And Eliud fathered Eleazar, and Eleazar fathered Matthan, and Matthan fathered Jacob.

• Matthew 1:16

  And Jacob fathered Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, the one called Messiah.

• Matthew 1:20

  And as he was considering these things, look, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to yourself Mary as your wife, for what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

• Matthew 2:1

  Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, look, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem,

• Matthew 2:4

  and gathering together all the high priests and scribes of the people, he was asking them where the Messiah is to be born.

• Matthew 19:12

  For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept this, let him accept it.”

• Matthew 26:24

  The Son of Man goes as it is written about him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is handed over! It would have been good for him if that man had not been born.”

• Mark 14:21

  For the Son of Man goes as it is written about him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is handed over! It would have been good for him if that man had not been born.”

• Luke 1:13

  But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will call his name John.

• Luke 1:35

  And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the holy one to be born will be called Son of God.

• Luke 1:57

  Now for Elizabeth the time came for her to give birth, and she bore a son.

• Luke 23:29

  for look, days are coming in which they will say, ‘Happy are the barren and the wombs that did not bear, and the breasts that did not nurse!’

• John 1:13

  who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God.

• John 3:3

  Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless someone is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

• John 3:4

  Nicodemus says to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

• John 3:5

  Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless someone is born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

• John 3:6

  What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

• John 3:7

  Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’

• John 3:8

  The wind blows where it wants, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes. So it is with everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

• John 8:41

  You are doing the works of your father.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality; we have one Father: God.”

• John 9:2

  And his disciples asked him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

• John 9:19

  and asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he see now?”

• John 9:20

  So his parents answered and said, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind;

• John 9:32

  Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.

• John 9:34

  They answered and said to him, “You were born entirely in sins, and you are teaching us?” And they threw him out.

• John 16:21

  A woman, when she is giving birth, has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she has borne the child, she no longer remembers the affliction because of the joy that a human being has been born into the world.

• John 18:37

  So Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

And 57 more times.