εὔχομαι G2172
pray (petition God or express spiritual desire); wish (express a strong personal desire, even hypothetical)
1. pray (petition God or express spiritual desire) — The primary NT sense of εὔχομαι meaning to pray, make a petition to God, or express a spiritual desire or wish directed toward the divine. This covers the majority of NT occurrences: Paul and Timothy praying for the Corinthians' restoration and improvement (2 Cor 13:7, 9), Paul before Agrippa expressing his prayer-wish that all might become as he is (Acts 26:29, optative εὐξαίμην), the sailors on Paul's ship praying/wishing for daylight during the storm (Acts 27:29), James's exhortation to pray for one another for healing (Jas 5:16, imperative εὔχεσθε), and the elder John praying for Gaius's physical prosperity to match his spiritual health (3 John 1:2). The boundary between 'pray' and 'wish' is fluid in this verb (as in classical Greek), but the NT contexts consistently frame the speech act as directed toward God or expressing spiritual concern. Multilingual glosses confirm: Arabic نَطْلُبُ/صَلّوا (we ask/pray), Hebrew מִתְפַּלְּלִים/הִתְפַּלְלוּ (praying, Hitpael of פלל), Korean 기도한다/기도하라 (pray/pray!), Spanish oramos/orad (we pray/pray!), French souhaiter (to wish/desire), German wünschen (to wish), Hindi प्रार्थना करते हैं/प्रार्थना करो (we pray/pray!). 6×
AR["أَتَمَنَّى","أَطلُبُ","تَمَنَّوْا","صَلّوا","نَطْلُبُ"]·ben["আমি-প্রার্থনা-করি","প্রার্থনা-করি","প্রার্থনা-করিতেছিল","প্রার্থনা-করিব","প্রার্থনা-করো"]·DE["wuenschen","wünscht"]·EN["I-pray","I-would-pray","pray","they-were-praying","we-pray","we-pray-for"]·FR["souhaiter"]·heb["הִתְפַּלְּלוּ","הִתְפַּלְלוּ","הָיִיתִי־מִתְפַּלֵּל","מִתְפַּלְּלִים","מִתְפַּלֵּל"]·HI["प्रार्थना-करो","प्रार्थनाकरतेथे","प्रार्थनाकरूँगा","मैं-प्रार्थना-करता-हूँ","हम-प्रार्थना-करते-हैं"]·ID["Berdoa","Kami-berdoa","aku-berdoa","berdoalah","berharap","kami-berdoa"]·IT["euchesthe","euchomai","pregare"]·jav["Kula-donga","kawula-nyuwunaken","kita-sedaya-ndonga","ndedongaa","ndonga"]·KO["기도하겠다","기도하라","기도하였다","기도한다","내-가-기도한다"]·PT["Oraría","desejavam","oramos","oro"]·RU["Молил-бы","молились","молимся","молитесь","молюсь"]·ES["Oramos","Oraría","oraban","orad","oramos","oro"]·SW["Ningependa","ninaomba","ombeeni","tunaomba","tunaomba,","waliomba"]·TR["dua-ederdim","dua-ederiz","dua-edin","dua-ediyorlardı","dua-ediyorum"]·urd["دعا-کرتا-ہوں","دعا-کرتے-تھے","دعا-کرتے-ہیں","دعا-کرو","چاہتا-ہوں"]
▼ 1 more sense below
Senses
2. wish (express a strong personal desire, even hypothetical) — A secondary sense of εὔχομαι meaning to wish or desire strongly, expressing a personal longing that may be hypothetical or even contrary to fact. Used in Romans 9:3 where Paul declares ηὐχόμην ('I was wishing' / 'I could wish') that he himself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of his kinsmen Israel -- an imperfect tense expressing an unrealized, emotionally intense wish. The Arabic تَمَنَّيْتُ (I wished/desired, from تمنّى which denotes longing rather than prayer), Spanish deseaba (I was desiring), Korean 원하였다 (I wished/desired), and Hindi चाहता था (I was wanting) all shift from prayer vocabulary to desire/wish vocabulary, confirming a distinct semantic frame. While εὔχομαι in its prayer sense addresses God with a petition, here Paul expresses an internal state of willing self-sacrifice -- a hypothetical desire rather than an actual petition. The imperfect tense reinforces the counterfactual or attenuated character of this wish. 1×
AR["تَمَنَّيْتُ"]·ben["আমি-কামনা-করতাম"]·DE["wuenschen"]·EN["I-was-wishing"]·FR["souhaiter"]·heb["הִתְפַּלַּלְתִּי"]·HI["चाहता-था"]·ID["aku-menginginkan"]·IT["pregare"]·jav["kula-nyuwun"]·KO["원하였다"]·PT["desejava"]·RU["желал-бы"]·ES["deseaba"]·SW["ningetamani"]·TR["dilerdim"]·urd["چاہتا-تھا"]
BDB / Lexicon Reference
εὔχομαι, imperfect εὐχόμην (Attic dialect ηὐ-) Refs 8th c.BC+: future εὔξομαι Refs 5th c.BC+aorist 1 εὐξάμην (Attic dialect ηὐ-) Refs 8th c.BC+: 2nd pers. singular subjunctive εὔξεαι Refs 8th c.BC+- only Attic dialectaccusative to Hdn.Refs 2nd c.AD+: —pray, θεοῖς Refs 8th c.BC+; εὐχὰς ὑπέρ τινος πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς εὔ. Refs 4th c.BC+; εὔ. ἔπος to utter it in prayer, Refs 5th c.BC+; μεγάλα, μέγα εὔ.,…