eperōtaō · ask

What it means

eperōtaō (ἐπερωτάω) is a Greek word of the Bible that means “ask”.

Question.

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 turn to someone so they say what they know, or to request something.

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

Word study

To ask, to question; sometimes, to ask for. It is a compound of ἐρωτάω (G2065) with ἐπί, used above all for asking questions.

• Asking Jesus about the parables Luke 8:9Mark 9:28
• “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Luke 18:18Mark 10:17
• Questions to test him Mark 10:2Matthew 12:10Matthew 22:23
• Jesus asks Luke 8:30Mark 8:29Luke 6:9
• Pilate’s questioning Mark 15:2Mark 15:4Luke 23:9

How we translate it

“Ask” in its forms (“asked” 23 times, “ask” 8, “were asking” 8) and “question” in its forms when it is an interrogation (“questioned” 5; “Pilate questioned him”, Mark 15:2). In Luke 2:46, the boy Jesus was among the teachers “both listening to them and questioning them”. Unlike ἐρωτάω, which is also a request, this compound is almost always a question. It abounds in Mark and Luke, in Jesus’ dialogues with disciples, opponents and judges.

How it is translated

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

• asked ×23
• ask ×8
• were asking ×8
• questioned ×5
• he was asking ×3
• question ×2
• questioning ×2
• was asking ×2
• was questioning ×2
• they kept asking him ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Matthew×8
• Mark×25
• Luke×17
• John×2
• Acts×2
• Romans×1
• 1 Corinthians×1

• Matthew 12:10

  And look, there was a man with a withered hand. And they asked him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” so that they might accuse him.

• Matthew 16:1

  And the Pharisees and Sadducees came and, testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

• Matthew 17:10

  And the disciples asked him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

• Matthew 22:23

  On that day Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him, and they questioned him,

• Matthew 22:35

  And one of them, a lawyer, asked a question, testing him:

• Matthew 22:41

  Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,

• Matthew 22:46

  And no one was able to answer him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day to question him any longer.

• Matthew 27:11

  Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, saying, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And Jesus said, “You say so.”

• Mark 5:9

  And he was asking him, “What is your name?” And he says to him, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”

• Mark 7:5

  And the Pharisees and the scribes ask him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat the bread with defiled hands?”

• Mark 7:17

  And when he went into the house, away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable.

• Mark 8:23

  And taking the blind man by the hand, he brought him out of the village; and spitting on his eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked him, “Do you see anything?”

• Mark 8:27

  And Jesus went out, and his disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he was asking his disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?”

• Mark 8:29

  And he was asking them, “But you, who do you say that I am?” Peter answers him, “You are the Messiah.”

• Mark 9:11

  And they were asking him, saying, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

• Mark 9:16

  And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”

• Mark 9:21

  And he asked his father, “How long is it since this has been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood;

• Mark 9:28

  And when he had gone into the house, his disciples were asking him privately, “Why could we not drive it out?”

• Mark 9:32

  But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask him.

• Mark 9:33

  And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house, he was asking them, “What were you discussing on the way?”

• Mark 10:2

  And they were asking him whether it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife, testing him.

• Mark 10:10

  And in the house the disciples were asking him again about this.

• Mark 10:17

  And as he was going out on the way, a man ran up and knelt before him and was asking him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

• Mark 11:29

  But Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

• Mark 12:18

  And Sadducees come to him, who say there is no resurrection, and they were questioning him, saying,

• Mark 12:28

  And one of the scribes came up, having heard them debating, and seeing that he had answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is first of all?”

• Mark 12:34

  And Jesus, seeing that he had answered wisely, said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared any longer to question him.

• Mark 13:3

  And as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were asking him privately,

• Mark 14:60

  And the high priest stood up in the middle and questioned Jesus, saying, “Do you not answer anything? What is it that these men are testifying against you?”

• Mark 14:61

  But he was silent and did not answer anything. Again the high priest was questioning him and says to him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

• Mark 15:2

  And Pilate questioned him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answers him, saying, “You say so.”

• Mark 15:4

  And Pilate again was questioning him, saying, “Do you not answer anything? See how many things they are accusing you of.”

• Mark 15:44

  But Pilate was amazed that he was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead long.

• Luke 2:46

  And it happened after three days that they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and questioning them.

• Luke 3:10

  And the crowds were asking him, saying, “What then should we do?”

• Luke 3:14

  And soldiers also were asking him, saying, “And we, what should we do?” And he said to them, “Extort money from no one and do not accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

• Luke 6:9

  And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to destroy it?”

• Luke 8:9

  And his disciples were asking him what this parable might mean.

• Luke 8:30

  And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered into him.

• Luke 9:18

  And it happened while he was praying alone, that the disciples were with him, and he asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”

And 16 more times.