ἀσθενέω

Matthew 10:8 ἀσθενοῦντας [Those] ailing

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

Here: "Those who are weak or ailing." The root idea is a lack of strength (a-sthenos, "without strength"), and it covers any illness that leaves a person weak. It comes first in the Greek for emphasis: the people come before the action.

Matthew 25:36 ἠσθένησα I was sick

I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’

Here: From a root meaning 'without strength.' It covers illness and the helplessness that comes with it: someone who cannot work or fend for themselves. The past tense looks at the illness as one episode: 'I fell ill.'

Matthew 25:39 ἀσθενοῦντα ailing

When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’

Here: 'Being sick', an ongoing state of illness or physical weakness. In the ancient world this often meant being unable to work, provide for oneself or take part in community life.

Mark 6:56 ἀσθενοῦντας ailing

And wherever He went—villages and towns and countrysides—they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him just to let them touch the fringe of His cloak. And all who touched Him were healed.

Here: Literally 'those being weak', a general word for anyone ill or disabled. The present participle presents them as people in an ongoing state of weakness.

Luke 4:40 ἀσθενοῦντας ailing

At sunset, all who were ill with various diseases were brought to Jesus, and laying His hands on each one, He healed them.

Here: "People who were weak or ailing." The word pictures sickness as a loss of strength, and these people needed others to bring them.

John 4:46 ἠσθένει was sick

So once again He came to Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.

Here: Literally 'was being weak', in a tense that describes an ongoing state. The boy had been lying ill for some time, and verse 47 adds that he 'was about to die'.

John 5:3 ἀσθενούντων, ailing,

On these walkways lay a great number of the sick, the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed.

John 5:7 ἀσθενῶν· ailing;

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am on my way, someone else goes in before me.”

Here: 'The one who is ill.' John never gives his name. He is identified only by his condition, which he has had for thirty-eight years (v.5). The word covers weakness and sickness of every kind. It does not name a specific disease.

John 6:2 ἀσθενούντων. being sick.

A large crowd followed Him because they saw the signs He was performing on the sick.

Here: "Those being weak/sick." It is a general word for illness or weakness of any kind, literally "lacking strength." It does not name a specific disease.

John 11:1 ἀσθενῶν, ailing,

At this time a man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

Here: 'Being ill'. The verb form describes an ongoing state, so the story opens while the illness is already under way. Elsewhere in John this verb describes life-threatening illness (4:46–47), and it introduces the 'sickness' theme of verses 2–6.

John 11:2 ἠσθένει. was sick.

(Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was to anoint the Lord with perfume and wipe His feet with her hair.)

Here: An imperfect, describing an ongoing state: he 'was lying sick'. The root idea is weakness, here serious bodily illness. The word repeats from verse 1 and comes back in verse 3.

John 11:3 ἀσθενεῖ.¶ was being sick.

So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.”

Here: Literally 'is weak', the standard word for being ill. The present tense is the sisters' report at the time they spoke: 'he is sick (right now)'. The word says nothing about how bad it was, but the fact that they sent for Jesus at all suggests it was serious.

John 11:6 ἀσθενεῖ, he is sick,

So on hearing that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two days,

Here: 'He is sick', in the present tense. Greek keeps the tense of the original message, so we hear the sisters' words as they were sent: 'he is sick'. The subject, Lazarus, is understood from verse 3.

Acts 9:37 ἀσθενήσασαν [that] having become sick

At that time, however, she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upper room.

Here: "Having fallen sick." The verb form points to the onset of the illness. Luke gives no cause and no length of time, so this may have been a short, sudden illness.

Acts 19:12 ἀσθενοῦντας ailing

so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them.

Here: Literally 'those being weak', the ordinary Greek way to say 'the sick'. The present tense describes people in an ongoing state of illness.

Acts 20:35 ἀσθενούντων, being weak,

In everything, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Here: People without strength: the sick, and by extension those who cannot support themselves. In a sentence about earning money by hand, the needy who cannot work are most likely in view.

Romans 4:19 ἀσθενήσας having become weak

Without weakening in his faith, he acknowledged the decrepitness of his body (since he was about a hundred years old) and the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb.

Here: The tense pictures one event: he did not give way or sag in his trust. It sets up a deliberate contrast with his body, which really was weak and 'dead.' His body failed but his trust did not.

Romans 8:3 ἠσθένει it was weak

For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,

Here: Imperfect tense: the law 'kept being weak', an ongoing condition rather than one failure. The word is used of illness and frailty. The weakness is not built into the law; it comes from what the law has to work with.

Romans 14:1 ἀσθενοῦντα being weak

Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on his opinions.

Here: "The one who is being weak": a present participle describing an ongoing condition, not a single lapse. Verse 2 defines the weakness: this person does not feel free to eat everything and keeps to vegetables.

Romans 14:2 ἀσθενῶν being weak

For one person has faith to eat all things, while another, who is weak, eats only vegetables.

Here: Present participle, 'the one who is weak'. It picks up 14:1, 'weak in faith'. This person's confidence does not yet reach far enough for him to eat everything without a troubled conscience. It describes a limit on his confidence. It is not a verdict on his worth or his standing with God (14:3, 'God has accepted him').

1 Corinthians 8:11 ἀσθενῶν is being weak

So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.

1 Corinthians 8:12 ἀσθενοῦσαν, being weak,

By sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.

2 Corinthians 11:21 ἠσθενήκαμεν· have been weak!

To my shame I concede that we were too weak for that! Speaking as a fool, however, I can match what anyone else dares to boast about.

2 Corinthians 11:29 ἀσθενεῖ, ἀσθενῶ; is weak,, I am weak?

Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?

Here: Present tense: someone who is, right now, without strength. In Paul this covers being vulnerable, sick, low in status, or unsure in conscience and faith. It is not mainly about moral failure.

2 Corinthians 12:10 ἀσθενῶ I may be weak

That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Here: "I am weak" — the verb form of the noun that opened the list, so the sentence ends where it began. Covers every kind of incapacity just listed.

2 Corinthians 13:3 ἀσθενεῖ is weak

since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you but is powerful among you.

Here: The word the Corinthians use against Paul. Paul turns it: whatever they think of him, the Christ who speaks through him is not weak toward them.

2 Corinthians 13:4 ἀσθενοῦμεν are weak

For He was indeed crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power. For we are also weak in Him, yet by God’s power we will live with Him concerning you.

Here: Present tense, 'we are being weak'. Paul freely accepts the charge of weakness that his critics made (10:10) and treats it as sharing in Christ's own condition.

2 Corinthians 13:9 ἀσθενῶμεν, may be weak,

In fact, we rejoice when we are weak but you are strong, and our prayer is for your perfection.

Here: The verb is subjunctive, a mood used for what may or may not happen: 'whenever we are (or appear) weak'. In context the main point is that Paul has no occasion to show his disciplinary power because the Corinthians are already in good order. That would leave him looking 'weak' to critics who wanted a show of force.

Philippians 2:26 ἠσθένησεν. he was ill.

For he has been longing for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill.

Here: Literally 'he was weak', the ordinary Greek way of saying someone was sick. The past tense can mean 'he fell ill'. Verse 27 shows how serious it was: 'nearly unto death'.

Philippians 2:27 ἠσθένησεν he was sick

He was sick indeed, nearly unto death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.

Here: The past tense here can mean 'he fell ill'. The word literally means 'to be without strength', and it is a normal word for bodily illness. The mention of death right after it makes clear this was physical sickness.

2 Timothy 4:20 ἀσθενοῦντα.¶ ailing.

Erastus has remained at Corinth, and Trophimus I left sick in Miletus.

James 5:14 ἀσθενεῖ Is sick

Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.

Here: Literally 'is without strength'. Here it means physical illness that has worn someone down. Verse 15 calls the person 'the one who is ill/exhausted' and says the Lord will 'raise him up'. The present tense describes an ongoing condition, not a passing complaint.