Greek word · G3899

παραπορεύομαι

paraporeuomai

to pass by/through

To go past, pass by along a road; also to pass through.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

παρα-πορεύομαι

[in LXX chiefly for עָבַר ;]

1. to go beside, accom­pany.

2. to go past, pass by: Matthew 27:39, Mark 11:20 15:29; before διά, with genitive, Mark 2:23 9:30 (WH, mg.).†

(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 Mark 15:29

Range of meaning

To go past, pass by along a road; also to pass through.

Against the English

'Those who passed by' in all versions. This is accurate.

Used elsewhere in the period

Greek Lamentations 2:15: 'all those passing by (hoi paraporeuomenoi) the way… shook their head'. Mark 2:23; 9:30; 11:20 use it for ordinary travel.

From the study of Matthew 27:39

Range of meaning

To go past, travel alongside, pass by on a road. Mostly literal, describing movement past a place or person.

Against the English

All major English versions render it "passed by" or "passing by" accurately. What English cannot show is the biblical echo the word carries in Greek.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Septuagint, "those who pass by on the road" is a stock phrase for onlookers who gape at or mock someone ruined. Lamentations 2:15 (LXX): all who pass along the road (hoi paraporeuomenoi hodon) clap their hands, hiss and move their heads (ekinēsan tēn kephalēn) at the daughter of Jerusalem. Compare Psalm 89:41 (LXX 88:42), where all who travel the road plunder God's humbled anointed king, and Jeremiah 18:16 and 19:8, where passers-by hiss and shake the head at a desolate land. Mark 15:29, Matthew's source, uses the same participle.

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

  1. Matthew 27:39 παραπορευόμενοι passing by

    And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads

    Here: Present participle: people who were walking past, in the middle of their journey. They are not an organized party but ordinary traffic going by the execution site. The word also echoes the "passers-by" who mock fallen Jerusalem in the Greek of Lamentations 2:15.

Mark · 4

  1. Mark 2:23 παραπορεύεσθαι passing through

    One Sabbath Jesus was passing through the grainfields, and His disciples began to pick the heads of grain as they walked along.

  2. Mark 9:30 παρεπορεύοντο they were passing through

    Going on from there, they passed through Galilee. But Jesus did not want anyone to know,

  3. Mark 11:20 παραπορευόμενοι passing by

    As they were walking back in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from its roots.

  4. Mark 15:29 παραπορευόμενοι passing by

    And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,

    Here: People going along the road past the execution site. Crucifixions were deliberately held where traffic was heavy. The phrase also echoes 'all who pass by' who mock ruined Jerusalem in Lamentations 2:15 (Greek version).

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