Greek word · G4940
συντυγχάνω
syntynchanō
to meet with
To meet with, encounter, come together with someone. In ordinary Greek it can also mean to get access to someone or obtain a meeting with them, especially a person of standing.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
συν-τυγχάνω
[in LXX: 2Ma.8:14 * ;]
to meet with, fall in with: with dative of person(s), Luke 8:19.†
(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
To meet with, encounter, come together with someone. In ordinary Greek it can also mean to get access to someone or obtain a meeting with them, especially a person of standing.
- Against the English
'Reach' (BSB, ESV), 'get to' (YLT, NASB, NLT), 'come near' (WEB), 'come at' (KJV, in old English meaning 'get at'). All are fair. 'Reach' and 'get to' best capture the sense of getting through to him.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Found only here in the New Testament. It is common in classical and later Greek for meeting someone. Papyrus letters show it used for getting an interview or meeting with someone (see Moulton–Milligan). The related noun enteuxis/entynchanō family is the usual language for petitioning an official.
Where it appears
Luke · 1
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Luke 8:19 συντυχεῖν to get
Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see Him, but they were unable to reach Him because of the crowd.
Here: 'To meet with / get to' him. This verb appears only here in the New Testament. It means coming face to face with someone, and in ordinary Greek of the time it can mean getting a meeting with a person who is hard to reach.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.