Greek word · G4925

συνοικοδομέω

synoikodomeō

to built up with

To build together. It can mean (a) several builders working together, or (b) building several parts into one structure. Passive: 'to be built in together with', meaning to become part of a shared structure.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 23, 2026

What it means

συν-οίκοδομέω, -ῶ

[in LXX: I Est.5:68 * ;]

1. to build together or with (with dative of person(s), 1Esdras, l.with).

2. Of various materials, to build up together (Thuc., al.): metaphorically, of Christians, Ephesians 2:22.†

(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 Ephesians 2:22

Range of meaning: To build together. It can mean (a) several builders working together, or (b) building several parts into one structure. Passive: 'to be built in together with', meaning to become part of a shared structure.
Against the English: KJV 'are builded together', BSB/ESV/NIV 'are being built together', WEB 'are built together'. The 'being built' versions keep the sense of ongoing work. 'Are built' can sound finished. None of the English fully captures the 'with' of the prefix: the readers are built in alongside others, not just built.
How it drifted: English 'built together' is accurate. The main loss is the plural: read as 'you' singular, it sounds like personal spiritual growth instead of separate groups being joined into one structure.
Used elsewhere in the period: Rare. It appears in classical Greek (for example, building walls or houses jointly) and in Philo. In the Greek version of 1 Esdras (5:65–68 in many editions), the 'adversaries of Judah' offer to build the Second Temple with the returned exiles and are turned away (compare Ezra 4:1–3). If that is the word's main biblical background, Ephesians reverses the scene: outsiders are now built into God's house. This echo is suggestive, not certain. The verb belongs to a run of 'together' (syn-) words in Ephesians: fellow citizens (2:19), joined together (2:21), fellow heirs, fellow members of one body, fellow sharers (3:6).

Similar words

συνοικέω synoikeō · to live with

Where it appears

Ephesians · 1

Ephesians 2:22 συνοικοδομεῖσθε are being built together

And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.

Here: Present passive: 'you are being built in together'. The work is still going on, and someone else does the building (God). The prefix syn- ('together with') means the readers are set into one structure alongside Jewish believers. This is the only place the verb occurs in the New Testament.

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