Greek word · G3401

μιμέομαι

mimeomai

to imitate

To imitate, copy, follow someone's example. In education and ethics it means shaping yourself on a model person.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 23, 2026

What it means

μιμέομαι, -οῦμαι

(μῖμος, a mimic, an actor), [in LXX: Psalms 31:6, Wisdom of Solomon 4:2 15:9, 4Ma.9:23 4Mac 9:13 : * ;]

to imitate: 2 Thessalonians 3:7 3:9 Hebrews 13:7, 3 John 11.†

(AS)

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

Range of meaning: To imitate, copy, follow someone's example. In education and ethics it means shaping yourself on a model person.
Against the English: 'Imitate' (BSB, ESV, NIV, NASB, WEB) is exact. KJV 'whose faith follow' is a little softer. 'Follow' can mean obeying directions, while the Greek means copying the way someone else lived.
Used elsewhere in the period: Heb 6:12: 'imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises'. 2 Thess 3:7, 9; 3 John 11. 4 Maccabees 9:23: a martyred brother calls out, 'Imitate me, brothers.' Greek and Roman teachers (Seneca, Quintilian, for example) held that virtue is learned by keeping a worthy model in view.

Range of meaning: To imitate, copy, follow someone's example; to take a person as a living model. In Greek education it was a standard term for a pupil copying a teacher's conduct, not just learning the teacher's words.
Against the English: BSB, ESV, WEB and YLT say 'imitate'. KJV says 'follow', and NIV and NASB 'follow our example'. Modern ears may hear KJV's 'follow' as 'be a disciple of / obey', which loses the specific idea of copying a visible pattern of behaviour.
Used elsewhere in the period: Xenophon (Memorabilia 1.2.3) describes Socrates' companions hoping to become like him by imitating him. Seneca (Ep. 6.5) says people learn more from living example than from precepts. In Jewish Greek writings, 4 Maccabees 9:23 has a martyr say 'imitate me, brothers', and Wisdom 4:2 speaks of imitating virtue. Paul uses the word group often: 1 Thess 1:6 and 2:14, 1 Cor 4:16 and 11:1, Phil 3:17.

Range of meaning: To imitate, emulate, follow the example of. It covers artistic imitation (mimēsis, the root of 'mimic'), and in moral and educational settings it is the student's reproduction of a teacher's character and conduct.
Against the English: KJV's 'to follow us' sounds to modern ears like discipleship in general or simply going along behind someone. Greek has a different word for 'follow' (akoloutheō). Mimeomai specifically means copying a pattern. 'Imitate' (BSB, WEB, YLT) is accurate.
How it drifted: KJV 'follow' is not wrong, but it blurs the specific idea of copying.
Used elsewhere in the period: The verb appears in the NT only at 2 Thessalonians 3:7, 9; Hebrews 13:7; 3 John 11. The noun 'imitator' (mimētēs) appears in 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 2:14; 1 Corinthians 4:16; 11:1; Ephesians 5:1. In Greek and Roman education, imitating the teacher's life was central: Xenophon presents Socrates' conduct as the lesson, and Seneca (Epistles 6.5–6) says pupils learn more from 'living voice and shared life' than from words. Jewish writings in Greek use it for imitating the virtuous (4 Maccabees 9:23; Wisdom 4:2).

2 Thessalonians · 2

2 Thessalonians 3:7 μιμεῖσθαι to imitate

For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not undisciplined among you,

Here: To copy someone's way of living as a model. The present tense suggests an ongoing pattern of life, not one act. Here the thing to copy is concrete: self-supporting manual work.
2 Thessalonians 3:9 μιμεῖσθαι you to imitate

Not that we lack this right, but we wanted to offer ourselves as an example for you to imitate.

Here: Present tense: an ongoing, habitual copying of a way of life, the way a student was expected to reproduce a teacher's conduct. It repeats verse 7's 'you know how you ought to imitate us' and so closes the unit.

Hebrews · 1

Hebrews 13:7 μιμεῖσθε do imitate

Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

Here: Present command, 'keep imitating'. In the ancient world people learned by copying a living model, and this verb belongs to that world.

3 John · 1

3 John 1:11 μιμοῦ do imitate

Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.

Here: Present imperative: take as your model, copy the pattern of. It points to the two living examples on either side of this verse: Diotrephes (vv. 9–10) and Demetrius (v. 12).

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