mellō · be about to

What it means

mellō (μέλλω) is a Greek word of the Bible that means “be about to”.

Be going to do something.

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. Something on the point of happening.
2. To have something in mind to do.
3. What has not yet arrived: the new world.

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

Word study

To be about to, to be going to do something: it shows that something is going to happen or that someone intends to do it. As a participle, “what is coming, the age to come”. Thayer: to be about to do or suffer something; to intend; what is to come.

• Something that is about to happen Matthew 17:22Luke 7:2
• Someone's intention: “Herod is about to search for the child” Matthew 2:13John 6:71
• What is to come: “the {age} to come”, “the coming wrath” Matthew 12:32Matthew 3:7Hebrews 2:5
• What is going to happen, according to a plan Romans 8:18

How we translate it

It is an auxiliary verb, and it is translated with the phrase English calls for: “going” 37 times, “about” 24, “was about” 17, “intending” 3, “will” 3, “would” 3. As an adjective, “to come” or “coming” (“in the {age} to come”, Matthew 12:32; “the world to come”, Hebrews 2:5).

How it is translated

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

• going ×37
• about ×24
• was about ×17
• come ×12
• coming ×4
• intending ×3
• will ×3
• would ×3
• future ×2
• are you waiting ×1
• others ×3

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Matthew×9
• Mark×2
• Luke×12
• John×12
• Acts×34
• Romans×5
• 1 Corinthians×1
• Galatians×1
• Ephesians×1
• Colossians×1
• 1 Thessalonians×1
• 1 Timothy×3
• 2 Timothy×1
• Hebrews×9
• James×1
• 1 Peter×1
• 2 Peter×2
• Revelation×13

• Matthew 2:13

  And when they had withdrawn, look, an angel of the Lord appears in a dream to Joseph, saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him.”

• Matthew 3:7

  But seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his immersion, he said to them, “Offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

• Matthew 11:14

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

• Matthew 12:32

  And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

• Matthew 16:27

  For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will repay each one according to his conduct.

• 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 17:22

  And as they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the hands of men,

• Matthew 20:22

  But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” They say to him, “We can.”

• Matthew 24:6

  And you will hear of wars and reports of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for it must happen, but the end is not yet.

• Mark 10:32

  And they were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them the things that were going to happen to him:

• Mark 13:4

  “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”

• Luke 3:7

  So he was saying to the crowds that were coming out to be immersed by him, “Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

• Luke 7:2

  Now a certain centurion’s slave, who was highly valued by him, was sick and was about to die.

• Luke 9:31

  who, appearing in glory, were speaking of his departure, which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem.

• Luke 9:44

  “You, put these words into your ears: for the Son of Man is about to be handed over into the hands of people.”

• Luke 10:1

  Now after these things the Lord appointed seventy-two others also, and sent them two by two ahead of him into every city and place where he himself was about to come.

• Luke 13:9

  and if it bears fruit in the future, well and good; but if not, you will cut it down.’”

• Luke 19:4

  And running ahead he climbed up into a sycamore-fig tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way.

• Luke 19:11

  And as they were listening to these things, he went on and told a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.

• Luke 21:7

  And they asked him, saying, “Teacher, when, then, will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to happen?”

• Luke 21:36

  But stay awake at every time, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to happen, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

• Luke 22:23

  And they began to discuss among themselves which of them then it might be who was going to do this.

• Luke 24:21

  But we were hoping that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, along with all these things, this is the third day since these things happened.

• John 4:47

  When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was about to die.

• John 6:6

  But he was saying this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.

• John 6:15

  So Jesus, knowing that they were about to come and seize him to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone.

• John 6:71

  He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot; for he, one of the Twelve, was going to hand him over.

• John 7:35

  So the Jews said to one another, “Where is this man about to go that we will not find him? Is he about to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?

• John 7:39

  But he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive; for the Spirit was not yet there, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

• John 11:51

  He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,

• John 12:4

  But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who was going to hand him over, says,

• John 12:33

  He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

• John 14:22

  Judas (not Iscariot) says to him, “Lord, what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”

• John 18:32

  This was so that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled that he had spoken, showing by what kind of death he was going to die.

• Acts 3:3

  He, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, was asking to receive alms.

• Acts 5:35

  And he said to them, “Men of Israel, be careful about what you are about to do with these men.

• Acts 11:28

  And one of them named Agabus stood up and indicated through the Spirit that a great famine was going to come over all the inhabited world; and this took place in the time of Claudius.

• Acts 12:6

  And when Herod was about to bring him out, on that night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards before the door were keeping watch over the prison.

• Acts 13:34

  And that he raised him from the dead, no longer destined to return to decay, he has spoken in this way: ‘I will give you the holy things of David, the sure ones.’

• Acts 16:27

  And the jailer, waking up and seeing the doors of the prison opened, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.

And 69 more times.