Greek word · G3373
μηκύνω
mēkynō
to grow
From μῆκος, 'length'. Active: to lengthen, prolong, extend. Classical Greek often uses it for talking at length ('to lengthen one's speech'). Middle/passive: to grow long, grow tall.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
μηκύνω
(μῆκος), [in LXX: Isaiah 44:14 (גָּדַל pi.), Ezekiel 12:25 (מָשַׁךְ ni.) * ;]
to lengthen, extend: of causing plants to grow, Isa, l.with; pass. (mid., Swete, in l), to grow: Mark 4:27.†
(AS)
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
From μῆκος, 'length'. Active: to lengthen, prolong, extend. Classical Greek often uses it for talking at length ('to lengthen one's speech'). Middle/passive: to grow long, grow tall.
- Against the English
'Grows' (BSB, ESV, NIV, WEB) or 'grow up' (KJV) is fine. It just loses the picture of a stalk visibly getting taller day by day.
- Used elsewhere in the period
It appears only here in the New Testament. In the Greek Old Testament, Isaiah 44:14 uses it of a tree that the Lord planted and the rain 'made grow tall'. There the growth is credited to God and the rain, not to the person who will later cut the tree down. Classical authors use it mostly for prolonging speech or time (LSJ).
Where it appears
Mark · 1
-
Mark 4:27 μηκύνηται it may grow
Night and day he sleeps and wakes, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he knows not how.
Here: 'Stretches up' or 'gets taller.' The basic idea is length. The shoot lengthens day by day. The word appears only here in the New Testament.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.