ἄρχομαι
archomai
to rule/begin
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Greek word ἄρχομαι (archomai) is found 86 times in the Bible. Its primary definition is to rule or begin. This versatile word can convey a sense of taking control or leadership, but it can also imply starting or initiating a process. In its various occurrences, archomai is used to describe the actions of both divine and human agents. For instance, it can refer to the beginning of a king's reign or the onset of a natural phenomenon. Additionally, it is used to describe God's actions, such as the creation of the world or the fulfillment of a prophecy. This breadth of usage underscores the word's multiple facets, from governance to initiation. The significance of archomai in the Bible is largely due to its connection to the divine plan and the role of human leaders within it. The word highlights the complex interplay between human responsibility and divine sovereignty. By examining the 86 occurrences of archomai, readers can gain a deeper understanding of how the Bible portrays the relationships between human agency, divine action, and the unfolding of events.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
86 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 11:7As these went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
Matthew 11:20Then he began to denounce the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they didn’t repent.
Matthew 12:1At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the grain fields. His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
Matthew 14:30But when he saw that the wind was strong, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
Matthew 16:21From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
Matthew 16:22Peter took him aside, and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.”
Matthew 18:24When he had begun to reconcile, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
Matthew 20:8When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’
Matthew 24:49and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards,
Mark 8:32He spoke to them openly. Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.
Matthew 26:22They were exceedingly sorrowful, and each began to ask him, “It isn’t me, is it, Lord?”
Matthew 26:37He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and severely troubled.
Matthew 26:74Then he began to curse and to swear, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately the rooster crowed.
Mark 1:45But he went out, and began to proclaim it much, and to spread about the matter, so that Jesus could no more openly enter into a city, but was outside in desert places. People came to him from everywhere.
Mark 2:23He was going on the Sabbath day through the grain fields, and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of grain.
Mark 4:1Again he began to teach by the seaside. A great multitude was gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat in the sea, and sat down. All the multitude were on the land by the sea.
Mark 5:17They began to beg him to depart from their region.
Mark 5:20He went his way, and began to proclaim in Decapolis how Jesus had done great things for him, and everyone marveled.
Mark 6:2When the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many hearing him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things?” and, “What is the wisdom that is given to this man, that such mighty works come about by his hands?
Mark 6:7He called to himself the twelve, and began to send them out two by two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits.
Mark 6:34Jesus came out, saw a great multitude, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.
Mark 6:55and ran around that whole region, and began to bring those who were sick, on their mats, to where they heard he was.
Mark 8:11The Pharisees came out and began to question him, seeking from him a sign from heaven, and testing him.
Mark 8:31He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Mark 10:28Peter began to tell him, “Behold, we have left all, and have followed you.”
Mark 10:32They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus was going in front of them, and they were amazed; and those who followed were afraid. He again took the twelve, and began to tell them the things that were going to happen to him.
Mark 10:41When the ten heard it, they began to be indignant toward James and John.
Mark 10:42Jesus summoned them, and said to them, “You know that they who are recognized as rulers over the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
Mark 10:47When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!”
Mark 11:15They came to Jerusalem, and Jesus entered into the temple, and began to throw out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers’ tables, and the seats of those who sold the doves.
Mark 12:1He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the wine press, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went into another country.
Mark 13:5Jesus, answering, began to tell them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray.
Mark 14:19They began to be sorrowful, and to ask him one by one, “Surely not I?” And another said, “Surely not I?”
Mark 14:33He took with him Peter, James, and John, and began to be greatly troubled and distressed.
Mark 14:65Some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to beat him with fists, and to tell him, “Prophesy!” The officers struck him with the palms of their hands.
Mark 14:69The maid saw him, and began again to tell those who stood by, “This is one of them.”
Mark 14:71But he began to curse, and to swear, “I don’t know this man of whom you speak!”
Mark 15:8The multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do as he always did for them.
Mark 15:18They began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
Luke 3:8Therefore produce fruits worthy of repentance, and don’t begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father;’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones!
Luke 3:23Jesus himself, when he began to teach, was about thirty years old, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,
Luke 4:21He began to tell them, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 5:21The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”
Luke 7:15He who was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.
Luke 7:24When John’s messengers had departed, he began to tell the multitudes about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
Luke 7:38Standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Luke 7:49Those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
Luke 9:12The day began to wear away; and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and farms, and lodge, and get food, for we are here in a deserted place.”
Luke 11:29When the multitudes were gathering together to him, he began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks after a sign. No sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah, the prophet.