agapaō · love

What it means

agapaō (ἀγαπάω) is a Greek word of the Bible that means “love”.

To seek the good of the other, even of someone who does not deserve it.

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 want and seek the other's good.

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

Word study

To love. It is the verb of ἀγάπη, “love” (G26); of the same family is ἀγαπητός, “beloved” (G27).

• “God loved the world” John 3:16
• “You shall love the Lord your God” Mark 12:30
• “Love your enemies” Matthew 5:44
• “That you love one another” John 13:34
• “We love, because he first loved us” 1 John 4:19
• The question to Peter: “do you love me?” John 21:15John 21:16

How we translate it

“Love” 76 times, “loved” 44, “loves” 20, “beloved” 3. This edition's glossary sets ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω = “love / love” and φιλέω = “hold dear”, also in the Gospel of John. So in John 21:15-17 the reader can see the two verbs alternate: Jesus asks “do you love me?” twice and “do you hold me dear?” the third time, and Peter always answers “I hold you dear”; a note explains it.

How it is translated

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

• love ×76
• loved ×44
• loves ×20
• beloved ×3

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Matthew×8
• Mark×5
• Luke×13
• John×37
• Romans×8
• 1 Corinthians×2
• 2 Corinthians×4
• Galatians×2
• Ephesians×10
• Colossians×2
• 1 Thessalonians×2
• 2 Thessalonians×2
• 2 Timothy×2
• Hebrews×2
• James×3
• 1 Peter×4
• 2 Peter×1
• 1 John×28
• 2 John×2
• 3 John×1
• Jude×1
• Revelation×4

• Matthew 5:43

  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

• Matthew 5:44

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

• Matthew 5:46

  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

• Matthew 6:24

  “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold on to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

• Matthew 19:19

  honor your father and your mother;’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

• Matthew 22:37

  And he said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

• Matthew 22:39

  And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

• Mark 10:21

  And Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

• Mark 12:30

  and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

• Mark 12:31

  The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

• Mark 12:33

  and to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love the neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

• Luke 6:27

  But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

• Luke 6:32

  And if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

• Luke 6:35

  Rather, love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and evil.

• Luke 7:5

  for he loves our nation, and he himself built the synagogue for us.”

• Luke 7:42

  When they did not have the means to pay back, he forgave them both. Which of them, then, will love him more?”

• Luke 7:47

  Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, because she loved much; but the one to whom little is forgiven loves little.”

• Luke 10:27

  And he answered and said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

• Luke 11:43

  Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the first seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces.

• Luke 16:13

  No household servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold on to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

• John 3:16

  For God loved the world in this way: that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.

• John 3:19

  And this is the judgment: that the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil.

• John 3:35

  The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.

• John 8:42

  Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came forth from God and am here; for I have not come on my own, but he sent me.

• John 10:17

  For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.

• John 11:5

  Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

• John 12:43

  for they loved the glory that comes from people more than the glory that comes from God.

• John 13:1

  Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come to pass out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end.

• John 13:23

  One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining in Jesus’ bosom.

• John 13:34

  A new commandment I give you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

• John 14:15

  If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

• John 14:21

  Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

• John 14:23

  Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.

• John 14:24

  Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

• John 14:28

  You heard that I said to you, ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.

• John 14:31

  but so that the world may know that I love the Father, and that just as the Father commanded me, so I do. Get up, let us go from here.”

• John 15:9

  As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; remain in my love.

• John 15:12

  This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

• John 15:17

  I command you these things so that you love one another.

• John 17:23

  I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to completion as one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them just as you loved me.

And 103 more times.