Greek word · G242

ἅλλομαι

hallomai

to spring

To leap, jump or spring up, usually of living things: animals, people, a lame man healed. Applied to water it suggests gushing or spurting up with force.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

ἅλλομαι

[in LXX for צָלַח, דָּלַג pi., etc. ;]

to leap: Acts 3:8 14:10; of water, to spring up, John 4:14 (MM, VGT, see word).†

(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 4:14

Range of meaning

To leap, jump or spring up, usually of living things: animals, people, a lame man healed. Applied to water it suggests gushing or spurting up with force.

Against the English

'Springing up' (KJV, BSB, WEB) and 'welling up' (NIV, ESV) are fair, but 'welling' sounds gentle and slow. 'Bubbling' (NLT) is softer still. The Greek has energy: the water leaps.

Used elsewhere in the period

NT: the lame man 'leaping up' (Acts 3:8; 14:10). LXX: 'the lame shall leap (ἁλεῖται) like a deer', in the context of 'waters break forth in the wilderness' (Isa 35:6). In several Greek manuscripts of Judges, 'the Spirit of the LORD rushed (ἥλατο) upon' Samson (Judg 14:6, 19; 15:14). The related ἐφάλλομαι is used for the Spirit coming on Saul and David (1 Sam 10:6, 10; 16:13). Latin Vulgate: aquae salientis, 'leaping water'. John uses ἅλλομαι for water only here.

Where it appears

John · 1

  1. John 4:14 ἁλλομένου welling up

    But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”

    Here: 'Leaping'. It is the word for a lame man jumping up (Acts 3:8) and, in the Greek Old Testament, for the Spirit of the LORD rushing on someone. The present tense means it keeps leaping. This is vigorous, gushing water, not a still pool.

Acts · 2

  1. Acts 3:8 ἁλλόμενος leaping

    He sprang to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and leaping and praising God.

  2. Acts 14:10 ἥλατο he sprang up

    In a loud voice Paul called out, “Stand up on your feet!” And the man jumped up and began to walk.

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