Greek word · G2044

ἐρεύγομαι

ereugomai

to utter/proclaim

Basic sense “to belch” (in Homer and medical writers). By extension it means to gush or spew out, to roar (of a lion or the sea), and in poetic and biblical Greek to pour forth words or speech that overflow from within.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 22, 2026

What it means

ἐρεύγομαι

[in LXX chiefly for שָׁאַג, Hosea 11:10, Amos 3:4, 8 al.; also for נָבַע, Psalms 19:2, etc. ;]

1. to spit or spue out.

2. Prop., of oxen (Hom.), to bellow, roar; whence, as in LXX, to speak aloud, utter: Matthew 13:35 (LXX). (For other examples of softened force of words in late Gk., cf. σκύλλω, τρώγω, χορτάζω.) †

(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 Matthew 13:35

Range of meaning: Basic sense “to belch” (in Homer and medical writers). By extension it means to gush or spew out, to roar (of a lion or the sea), and in poetic and biblical Greek to pour forth words or speech that overflow from within.
Against the English: “Utter” or “proclaim” in English versions gives the right general sense but loses the image of something welling up and spilling over.
How it drifted: Translators rightly avoid “belch” because of its modern crude associations. The cost is that the physical, overflowing picture disappears from English.
Used elsewhere in the period: Septuagint Psalm 18:3 (Hebrew 19:2): “day to day pours forth (ereugetai) speech,” translating the same Hebrew verb, nabaʿ (“bubble up, gush”), that stands in Psalm 78:2. Septuagint Psalm 44:2 (45:1), “my heart has poured out a good word”; Hosea 11:10, the Lord will “roar” like a lion. The Latin Vulgate keeps the image in Matthew 13:35 with eructabo.

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

Matthew 13:35 ἐρεύξομαι I will utter [things]

So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”

Here: A vivid verb: literally “belch,” and from there “gush out” or “pour forth” speech that cannot be held in. It renders the Hebrew “bubble up like a spring.” The picture is of an overflowing outpouring. “Utter” is too flat for it.

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