γρηγορέω

Matthew 24:42 Γρηγορεῖτε do keep watch

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come.

Here: A command to all of you, in a form that means keep on doing it: stay awake, don't drift off. It describes a state of alert readiness, not looking at something.

Matthew 24:43 ἐγρηγόρησεν he had watched

But understand this: If the homeowner had known in which watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.

Here: 'He would have stayed awake': literally not gone to sleep, kept alert through the night. This picks up the command of v.42, 'Stay awake!'

Matthew 25:13 Γρηγορεῖτε do watch

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Here: A present command addressed to the whole group: 'keep on being awake and alert'. Coming right after a story in which all ten bridesmaids fell asleep, it plainly means 'stay ready', not 'never close your eyes'.

Matthew 26:38 γρηγορεῖτε do watch

Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.”

Here: Literally "don't fall asleep". It is late at night after the Passover meal. The form means a continuing action: "keep on staying awake". In Matthew the word also carries the alertness Jesus asked for while waiting for the end (24:42; 25:13).

Matthew 26:40 γρηγορῆσαι to watch

Then Jesus returned to the disciples and found them sleeping. “Were you not able to keep watch with Me for one hour?” He asked Peter.

Here: First and literally, 'to stay awake.' It also means 'to be alert or on guard,' and in Matthew it is the word for staying ready for the Son of Man (24:42; 25:13). It is the very thing Jesus asked of them in v.38.

Matthew 26:41 γρηγορεῖτε do watch

“Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

Here: Present-tense command: 'keep on staying awake.' The disciples have just been found asleep (v. 40), so it is literal wakefulness, but in Matthew the word also carries the sense of being alert for the decisive hour (24:42; 25:13).

Mark 13:34 γρηγορῇ. he may keep watch.

It is like a man going on a journey who left his house, put each servant in charge of his own task, and instructed the doorkeeper to keep watch.

Here: 'That he keep awake'. The present-tense form means an ongoing state, staying awake through the whole night. Its opposite is sleeping (13:36). The command does not mean looking at something.

Mark 13:35 γρηγορεῖτε do watch

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know when the master of the house will return—whether in the evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or in the morning.

Here: A present-tense command to all of you: keep on staying awake. The picture is a servant who has not gone to sleep, set against 'find you sleeping' in the next verse. It picks up the doorkeeper's job from v. 34 and gives it to everyone.

Mark 13:37 γρηγορεῖτε.¶ do watch.

And what I say to you, I say to everyone: Keep watch!”

Here: Present-tense command, plural: 'keep on staying awake', 'don't drop off'. The picture is a servant who refuses to sleep through the night, not a person staring at something. It is the last word of the whole speech.

Mark 14:34 γρηγορεῖτε. do watch.

Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch.”

Here: Stay awake and alert, and go on doing so. The form of this command suggests something continuing, unlike the simple 'stay' before it. It is the same command Jesus closed his teaching with in 13:37, and the failure to do it drives the next verses.

Mark 14:37 γρηγορῆσαι; to watch?

Then Jesus returned and found them sleeping. “Simon, are you asleep?” He asked. “Were you not able to keep watch for one hour?

Here: 'To stay awake': the direct opposite of the sleeping just described. In Mark it is also the key word of Jesus' warning to be alert and ready (13:34–37), now tested in the garden.

Mark 14:38 γρηγορεῖτε do watch

Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

Here: A plural command in the present tense: 'keep on staying awake'. It picks up Jesus' rebuke to Peter in v. 37 ('could you not stay awake one hour?') and also means staying spiritually alert, as in the 'stay awake' parable of Mark 13:33–37.

Luke 12:37 γρηγοροῦντας· watching;

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds on watch when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve and will have them recline at the table, and he himself will come and wait on them.

Here: Present participle: 'still staying awake'. They have not dozed off during a long, unpredictable night; they are alert and ready to open the door.

Acts 20:31 γρηγορεῖτε do watch

Therefore be alert and remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

Here: A present command to all the elders together: keep staying awake, the way a shepherd stays up through the night against wolves (vv. 28–29). It means being alert to danger. It does not mean looking at something.

1 Corinthians 16:13 Γρηγορεῖτε, do watch,

Be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. Be men of courage. Be strong.

Here: A present-tense plural command: 'keep on staying awake.' The picture is a sentry or a household servant who must not doze off. In early Christian speech it carried the sense of staying alert for the Lord's return (compare 16:22, 'Marana tha', 'Our Lord, come!') and on guard against anything that would pull the church off course.

Colossians 4:2 γρηγοροῦντες watching

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful,

Here: A participle ('staying awake') describing how they are to persist. Its basic picture is not falling asleep, like a guard on night watch. In Christian use it also carries alertness for the Lord's coming and against temptation, as in Jesus' words 'watch and pray'.

1 Thessalonians 5:6 γρηγορῶμεν we may watch

So then, let us not sleep as the others do, but let us remain awake and sober.

Here: 'Let us keep awake.' The present tense means staying alert all the time, like a sentry through the night. It echoes Jesus' sayings about the master or thief arriving at an unknown hour.

1 Thessalonians 5:10 γρηγορῶμεν we shall watch

He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.

Here: "We are awake." Here it almost certainly means "we are still alive" when the Lord comes, as opposed to having died. It picks up the same word from v. 6, where it meant being spiritually alert.

1 Peter 5:8 γρηγορήσατε do watch

Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Here: Literally 'stay awake', like a guard on night watch. It is the word Jesus used to the sleeping disciples in Gethsemane, and the word early Christians used for readiness for the Lord's coming.

Revelation 3:2 γρηγορῶν watching

Wake up and strengthen what remains, which is about to die; for I have found your deeds incomplete in the sight of My God.

Here: "Being awake, on watch." It is the word for a sentry who does not doze. Together with γίνου it means "wake up and stay awake." The same verb comes back in 3:3 ("if you do not watch"), so the command and the warning are linked.

Revelation 3:3 γρηγορήσῃς, you shall watch,

Remember, then, what you have received and heard. Keep it and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know the hour when I will come upon you.

Here: Aorist subjunctive. In this kind of condition the force is 'if you do not wake up' (become alert), not the future 'shall watch' of the supplied gloss. It picks up the command of verse 2, 'become watchful'.

Revelation 16:15 γρηγορῶν watching

“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who remains awake and clothed, so that he will not go naked and let his shame be exposed.”

Here: Present participle: the one who keeps on staying awake. It means being alert and not asleep. It does not mean looking at something.