ginomai · become, happen

What it means

ginomai (γίνομαι) is a Greek word of the Bible that means “become, happen”.

Come about; be born.

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 come into being, to be made.
2. To turn into something new, different from before.
3. For an event to occur, for something to take place in history.
4. To reach a place, or fall upon someone.
5. "Let it be so"; or "by no means!".

From Thayer (1889)

Word study

Become, come into being, be born, happen, be made. Thayer: to come into existence; to happen; to be made. It is the verb of changes and events, distinct from εἰμί, “be”.

• To come into being, to be made John 1:3John 8:58
• To become John 1:14
• To happen; it opens an episode: “it happened…” Luke 2:1Matthew 5:18
• “Be done”, “let it be”: may it be fulfilled Matthew 6:10Luke 1:38
• “By no means!” (μὴ γένοιτο) Romans 6:2Galatians 6:14

How we translate it

“Become” 113 times, “came” 68, “it happened” 65, “be” 60, “became” 49. In John 8:58 the two verbs are kept apart: “before Abraham came to be (γίνομαι), I am (εἰμί)”; in John 1:3, “came into being”. This edition's glossary sets “By no means!” for μὴ γένοιτο (Romans 6:2); in Galatians 6:14, where it is followed by what should not be, “may it never be”.

How it is translated

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

• become ×113
• came ×68
• it happened ×65
• be ×60
• became ×49
• was ×36
• come ×23
• there was ×19
• had happened ×18
• happen ×17
• others ×199

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Matthew×75
• Mark×55
• Luke×129
• John×51
• Acts×125
• Romans×35
• 1 Corinthians×41
• 2 Corinthians×11
• Galatians×12
• Ephesians×8
• Philippians×6
• Colossians×5
• 1 Thessalonians×12
• 2 Thessalonians×1
• 1 Timothy×4
• 2 Timothy×4
• Titus×1
• Philemon×1
• Hebrews×29
• James×10
• 1 Peter×6
• 2 Peter×5
• 1 John×1
• 2 John×1
• 3 John×1
• Revelation×38

• Matthew 1:22

  And all this has happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, when he says:

• Matthew 4:3

  And the one testing him came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

• Matthew 5:18

  For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one iota or one stroke will ever pass from the law until all things take place.

• Matthew 5:45

  so that you may become sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

• Matthew 6:10

  may your kingdom come; may your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth.

• Matthew 6:16

  “And when you fast, do not become gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to people as fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received in full their reward.

• Matthew 7:28

  And it happened when Jesus finished these words that the crowds were astonished at his teaching;

• Matthew 8:13

  And Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; as you have believed, let it be done for you.” And the servant was healed in that hour.

• Matthew 8:16

  When evening came, they brought to him many who were possessed by demons; and he drove out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill,

• Matthew 8:24

  And look, a great shaking arose on the sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves; but he was sleeping.

• Matthew 8:26

  And he says to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

• Matthew 9:10

  And it happened, as he was reclining at table in the house, that look, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.

• Matthew 9:16

  And no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear results.

• Matthew 9:29

  Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be done for you.”

• Matthew 10:16

  Look, I am sending you like sheep among wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

• Matthew 10:25

  It is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they call the members of his household!

• Matthew 11:1

  And it happened when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, that he moved on from there to teach and proclaim in their towns.

• Matthew 11:20

  Then he began to reproach the towns in which most of his miracles had been done, because they had not changed their minds.

• Matthew 11:21

  “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have changed their minds long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

• Matthew 11:23

  And you, Capernaum, you will not be exalted to heaven, will you? To Hades you will go down; for if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

• Matthew 11:26

  Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing before you.

• Matthew 12:45

  Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So it will be also with this evil generation.”

• Matthew 13:21

  yet he has no root in himself, but is short-lived; and when affliction or persecution comes on account of the word, at once he falls away.

• Matthew 13:22

  And the one sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the worry of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

• Matthew 13:32

  it is smaller than all the seeds, but when it has grown, it is greater than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.”

• Matthew 13:53

  And it happened when Jesus had finished these parables that he went away from there.

• Matthew 14:6

  But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst and pleased Herod,

• Matthew 14:15

  When evening came, the disciples came to him, saying, “The place is deserted, and the hour has already passed; send the crowds away, so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

• Matthew 14:23

  And after sending the crowds away, he went up onto the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.

• Matthew 15:28

  Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

• Matthew 16:2

  But he answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘Fair weather, for the sky is red.’

• Matthew 17:2

  And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as the light.

• Matthew 18:3

  and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven.

• Matthew 18:12

  What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is going astray?

• Matthew 18:13

  And if it happens that he finds it, truly I tell you that he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.

• Matthew 18:19

  Again, truly I tell you that if two of you agree on earth about any matter that they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.

• Matthew 18:31

  So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were very grieved, and they went and reported to their master all that had happened.

• Matthew 19:1

  And it happened when Jesus had finished these words that he departed from Galilee and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

• Matthew 19:8

  He says to them, “Moses, because of your hardness of heart, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so.

• Matthew 20:8

  And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard says to his steward, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the first.’

And 627 more times.