Greek word · G5166

τρυγάω

trygaō

to harvest

To gather ripe fruit, especially grapes: to hold the vintage. Related nouns are trygētos ('vintage season') and tryx ('new wine, lees').

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 30, 2026

What it means

τρυγάω, -ῶ

[in LXX for קָצַר, בָּצַר, etc. ;]

to gather in: with accusative,

(b) of that from which it is gathered, Revelation 14:19.†

(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 gather ripe fruit, especially grapes: to hold the vintage. Related nouns are trygētos ('vintage season') and tryx ('new wine, lees').
Against the English: English 'gather' or 'harvest' is broad. The Greek is specifically a grape word, distinct from therizō ('reap grain') in 14:15–16. BSB's 'gather the clusters of grapes' captures it well.
Used elsewhere in the period: Luke 6:44 ('nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush'). In the Greek Old Testament it is used for vintaging (e.g., Deut 24:21; Lev 25:5). Joel 3:13 (Greek 4:13): 'Send out sickles, for the vintage (trygētos) has come; go in, tread, for the winepress is full… for their evils have multiplied.'

Range of meaning: To gather ripe fruit, especially grapes; to bring in the vintage. The related noun trugētos means 'vintage' or 'grape-harvest season'. The word belongs to the vineyard. It is distinct from therizō, 'to reap' grain with a sickle.
Against the English: KJV and YLT have 'gathered', which is accurate but generic. ESV ('grape harvest') and WEB ('vintage') bring out the vineyard sense. BSB/NIV 'grapes' make the fruit the object, though the Greek object is 'the vine'.
Used elsewhere in the period: Elsewhere in the New Testament only at Luke 6:44 ('nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush') and Revelation 14:18–19. In the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint, abbreviated LXX) the verb and noun are used for grape-gathering (e.g. Lev 25:5, Deut 24:21). The LXX of Joel 4:13 (3:13 in English Bibles) says 'Send out the sickles, for the vintage (trugētos) has come; go in, tread, for the winepress is full.' Revelation 14:14–20 is built on this verse.

Luke · 1

Luke 6:44 τρυγῶσιν.¶ gather they.

For each tree is known by its own fruit. Indeed, figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor grapes from brambles.

Revelation · 2

Revelation 14:18 τρύγησον do gather

Still another angel, with authority over the fire, came from the altar and called out in a loud voice to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Swing your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the vine of the earth, because its grapes are ripe.”

Here: Specifically the grape harvest: cutting and collecting ripe clusters for the press. This differs from the grain 'reaping' (therizō) of 14:15–16, and it points ahead to the winepress in 14:19–20.
Revelation 14:19 ἐτρύγησεν gathered

So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes of the earth, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.

Here: A specific vineyard word: 'he picked the grapes' or 'he brought in the vintage'. It is not the grain-harvest verb of vv.15–16 (therizō, 'reap'). That shift tells the reader this is a second, different harvest.

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