thelō · want, wish

What it means

thelō (θέλω) is a Greek word of the Bible that means “want, wish”.

Be willing.

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 the desire or the resolve for something.
2. To be ready, or to delight in: "mercy is what I want".

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

Word study

Want, wish, be willing. From the same family as θέλημα, “will”.

• “What do you want me to do for you?” Mark 10:51Luke 18:41
• “If anyone wants to come after me” Luke 9:23
• “Not as I want” Matthew 26:39Mark 14:36
• What God wants: “I desire mercy” Matthew 9:13

How we translate it

“Want” 93 times, “wants” 25, “wanted” 23, “willing” 22, “wanting” 12. It is wanting in the sense of wishing or deciding; it is translated “want”, “be willing” or “desire” (“I desire mercy, and not sacrifice”, Matthew 9:13), never with “love” or “hold dear”, which belong to other Greek words.

How it is translated

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

• want ×93
• wants ×25
• wanted ×23
• willing ×22
• wanting ×12
• I wish ×4
• like ×3
• wills ×3
• I desire ×2
• he wishes ×2
• others ×19

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Matthew×42
• Mark×25
• Luke×28
• John×23
• Acts×14
• Romans×15
• 1 Corinthians×17
• 2 Corinthians×8
• Galatians×9
• Philippians×1
• Colossians×3
• 1 Thessalonians×2
• 2 Thessalonians×1
• 1 Timothy×3
• 2 Timothy×1
• Philemon×1
• Hebrews×4
• James×2
• 1 Peter×2
• 2 Peter×1
• 3 John×1
• Revelation×5

• Matthew 1:19

  And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to expose her publicly, decided to send her away secretly.

• Matthew 2:18

  “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning: Rachel weeping for her children; and she would not be comforted, because they are no more.”

• Matthew 5:40

  And to the one who wants to go to court with you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak too.

• Matthew 5:42

  Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

• Matthew 7:12

  So everything that you want people to do to you, so also you do to them; for this is the law and the prophets.

• Matthew 8:2

  And look, a leper came and was bowing down before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

• Matthew 8:3

  And stretching out his hand, he touched him, saying, “I am willing; be made clean.” And at once his leprosy was cleansed.

• Matthew 9:13

  So go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

• Matthew 11:14

  and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.

• Matthew 12:7

  And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

• Matthew 12:38

  Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

• Matthew 13:28

  And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ And the slaves say to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’

• Matthew 14:5

  And though he wanted to kill him, he feared the crowd, because they held him to be a prophet.

• 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 15:32

  And Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been staying with me three days already and they do not have anything to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”

• Matthew 16:24

  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

• Matthew 16:25

  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for the sake of me will find it.

• Matthew 17:4

  And Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

• Matthew 17:12

  But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer by them.”

• Matthew 18:23

  For this reason the kingdom of heaven has become like to a man, a king, who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.

• Matthew 18:30

  But he was not willing, but went and threw him into prison until he should repay what was owed.

• Matthew 19:17

  And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is one who is good. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

• Matthew 19:21

  Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give them to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

• Matthew 20:14

  Take what is yours and go. But I want to give to this last one as I gave also to you.

• Matthew 20:15

  Is it not lawful for me to do what I want with what is mine? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’

• Matthew 20:21

  And he said to her, “What do you want?” She says to him, “Say that these two sons of mine may sit, one at your right and one at your left, in your kingdom.”

• Matthew 20:26

  It will not be so among you; but whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant,

• Matthew 20:27

  and whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave;

• Matthew 20:32

  And Jesus stopped, called them, and said, “What do you want me to do for you?”

• Matthew 21:29

  And he answered and said, ‘I do not want to.’ But later he regretted it and went.

• Matthew 22:3

  And he sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were not willing to come.

• Matthew 23:4

  And they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

• Matthew 23:37

  Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing!

• Matthew 26:15

  and said, “What are you willing to give me and I will hand him over to you?” And they weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver.

• Matthew 26:17

  Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?”

• Matthew 26:39

  And going forward a little, he fell on his face praying and saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not as I want, but as you want.”

• Matthew 27:15

  Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release to the crowd one prisoner whom they wanted.

• Matthew 27:17

  So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Messiah?”

• Matthew 27:21

  And the governor answered them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.”

• Matthew 27:34

  they gave him wine mixed with gall to drink; and after tasting it, he was not willing to drink it.

And 168 more times.