Greek word · G1145

δακρύω

dakryō

to weep

To shed tears or be in tears. The verb comes from the noun dakry/dakryon, "tear". Its focus is on the tears themselves. It does not describe the noise or the public ritual of mourning. It can be used for grief, pity, or deep feeling of any kind.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

δακρύω

[in LXX for בָּכָה, etc. ;]

to weep, shed tears: John 11:35.†

SYN.: κλαίω, of audible weeping, to cry; ὀδύρομαι, of grief expressed verbally, to lament; θρηνέω, of formal lamentation, to sing a dirge; ἀλαλάζω, to wail in Oriental fashion; στενάζω, of grief expressed by inarticulate sounds, to groan. (AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of John 11:35

Range of meaning

To shed tears or be in tears. The verb comes from the noun dakry/dakryon, "tear". Its focus is on the tears themselves. It does not describe the noise or the public ritual of mourning. It can be used for grief, pity, or deep feeling of any kind. It contrasts with klaiō (G2799), the ordinary word for weeping, which often means crying out loud, wailing or ritual lament.

Against the English

English "wept" covers both quiet tears and loud sobbing, so it cannot show the contrast John draws. In 11:31 and 11:33 Mary and the mourners are klaiō-ing: wailing in the public, audible way expected at a Jewish funeral. Then John switches verbs, and Jesus dakryō-s: he sheds tears. Every major English version uses "weep" for both verbs, so the reader cannot see the switch.

Used elsewhere in the period

This verb appears only here in the New Testament. The noun dakryon ("tear") is more common. It is used for the tears with which the woman wets Jesus' feet (Luke 7:38, 44), Paul's tears (Acts 20:19, 31), Jesus' "loud cry and tears" in Hebrews 5:7, and the promise that God will "wipe away every tear" (Rev 7:17; 21:4). In the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) the verb is rare. It appears in Sirach 12:16, where an enemy "sheds tears with his eyes" while plotting harm. That passage shows the word means visible tears, not loud lament. The word is common in Greek literature from Homer onward.

Where it appears

John · 1

  1. John 11:35 ἐδάκρυσεν Wept

    Jesus wept.

    Here: From dakry, "tear": tears running down, not the loud wailing the crowd is doing around him. The past tense used here (aorist) states the event as a single whole. It can also mean the action starts at that moment ("he broke into tears"). The verb comes first in Greek, so the tears are the main point.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.