Greek word · G3909
παρατυγχάνω
paratynchanō
be there
To happen to be beside or present; to chance upon; to turn up. It is built from para (beside) and tynchanō (to happen, to hit upon), and it stresses chance presence.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
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
To happen to be beside or present; to chance upon; to turn up. It is built from para (beside) and tynchanō (to happen, to hit upon), and it stresses chance presence.
- Against the English
BSB "those he met", KJV "them that met with him" and WEB "those who met him" can sound like arranged meetings, especially KJV "met with". ESV and NIV "those who happened to be there" get the chance element right.
- How it drifted
Modern English "met with" usually implies an appointment. In older English it could simply mean "encountered".
- Used elsewhere in the period
Common in classical and Hellenistic Greek for being present by chance (e.g. Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon). This is its only New Testament use.
Where it appears
Acts · 1
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Acts 17:17 παρατυγχάνοντας· meeting [him];
So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace with those he met each day.
Here: "Those who happened to be there": whoever was passing by or standing around. It was not an invited or gathered audience. The word appears only here in the New Testament.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.