Greek word · G3324

μεστός

mestos

full

Mestos: full, stuffed, filled to capacity. Plēroō: to fill, make full, complete. Here it is a perfect passive participle, 'having been filled and staying full.'

Appears 9 times in 8 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

μεστός, -ή, -όν

[in LXX: Nahum 1:10, Ezekiel 37:1 (מָלֵא), Esther 5:2, Proverbs 6:34 * ;]

full: with genitive of thing(s), John 19:29 21:11, James 3:8; metaphorically, of thoughts and feelings, Matthew 23:28, Romans 1:29 15:14, 2 Peter 2:14, James 3:17 (cf. Pr, l.with).†

(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 Romans 15:14

Range of meaning

Mestos: full, stuffed, filled to capacity. Plēroō: to fill, make full, complete. Here it is a perfect passive participle, 'having been filled and staying full.'

Against the English

BSB 'brimming with knowledge' captures the vividness. Most versions use 'full… filled', which is accurate. The passive 'filled' implies someone did the filling, a point English readers easily miss.

Used elsewhere in the period

Rom 1:29 uses the same pair: humanity 'filled (peplērōmenous) with all unrighteousness… full (mestous) of envy.' In 15:13, just before this verse, Paul prays 'may the God of hope fill (plērōsai) you with all joy and peace.'

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

  1. Matthew 23:28 μεστοὶ full

    In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

    Here: Full to capacity. It matches 'full (γέμουσιν) of dead men's bones' in v. 27: the inside is not a little stained but packed.

John · 3

  1. John 19:29 μεστόν. μεστὸν full., full

    A jar of sour wine was sitting there. So they soaked a sponge in the wine, put it on a stalk of hyssop, and lifted it to His mouth.

    Here: The jar was full. There was plenty of drink there. The word comes back straight away for the sponge.

  2. John 21:11 μεστὸν full

    So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many, the net was not torn.

    Here: Agrees grammatically with 'net': the net was full, packed. John uses the same word for the jar 'full' of sour wine at the cross (19:29). Here it stresses abundance.

Romans · 2

  1. Romans 1:29 μεστοὺς full

    They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,

    Here: An everyday word for a container that is full, like a jar of sour wine (John 19:29) or a net of fish (John 21:11). It opens a second group of nouns in the genitive ('full of…') and varies the 'filled' image.

  2. Romans 15:14 μεστοί full

    I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, brimming with knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

    Here: 'Stuffed full', a vivid word used of a jar or net filled to capacity. Paul used it in 1:29 of humanity 'full of envy'; here the same word describes people full of goodness.

James · 2

  1. James 3:8 μεστὴ full

    but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

    Here: Feminine, so it agrees with 'tongue': the tongue is filled to the brim. The same word describes the 'wisdom from above' in 3:17 as 'full of mercy and good fruits', a deliberate contrast.

  2. James 3:17 μεστὴ full

    But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.

    Here: Filled to the brim. It answers the tongue 'full of deadly poison' in 3:8.

2 Peter · 1

  1. 2 Peter 2:14 μεστοὺς full

    Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.

    Here: Filled up, crammed with something. Their eyes are packed with one image.

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