ἀκούω

ἀκούω — akoúō

ἀκούω (on the use of the present in a perfect sense cf. Winers Grammar, 274f (258); Buttmann, 203 (176)); imperfect ἤκουον; future (in best Greek usage) ἀκούσομαι, Joh 5:25 R G L, 28 R G L; Act 3:22; Act 7:37 R G;;;; (Rom 10:14 Tdf.), and (a later form) ἀκούσω, Mat 12:19; Mat 13:14 (both from the Sept.); (Joh 10:16; Joh 16:13 Tr WH marginal reading; Act 28:26); Rom 10:14 (R G); and T Tr WH in Joh 5:25; Joh 5:28 (cf. Winers Grammar, 82 (79); Buttmann, 53 (46) (Veitch, under the word)); (1 aorist ἤκουσα, Joh 3:32, etc.); perfect ἀκήκοα; passive (present ἀκούομαι; 1 future ἀκουσθήσομαι; 1 aorist ἠκούσθην; (from Homer down); to hear.

I. absolutely

1. to be endowed with the faculty of hearing (not deaf): Mar 7:37; Luk 7:22; Mat 11:5.

2. to attend to (use the faculty of hearing), consider what is or has been said. So in exhortations: ἀκούετε, Mar 4:3; ἀκούσατε, Jas 2:5; ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκουέτω, Mat 11:15; Mat 13:9 (in both T WH omit; Tr brackets ἀκούειν); Mar 4:23; Luk 14:35 (34); ὁ ἔχων οὖς ἀκουσάτω, Rev 2:7; Rev 2:11; Rev 2:17; Rev 2:29; Rev 3:6; Rev 3:13; Rev 3:22, etc.

3. tropically, to understand, perceive the sense of what is said: Mat 13:15; Mar 8:18; 1Co 14:2.

II. with an object (Buttmann, § 132, 17; Winer's Grammar, 199 (187f));

1. ἀκούω τί, to hear something;

a. to perceive by the ear what is announced in one's presence (to hear immediately): τήν φωνήν, Mat 12:19; Joh 3:8; Rev 4:1; Rev 5:11; Rev 18:4; Act 22:9, etc.; τόν ἀσπασμόν, Luk 1:41 (cf. Luk 1:44); Γαλιλαίαν, the name 'Galilee,' Luk 23:6 (T WH omits; Tr mrg; brackets Γαλιλαίαν; cf. Buttmann, 166 (145)); ἀνάστασιν νεκρῶν, the phrase 'ἀνάστασιν νεκρῶν,' Act 17:32; τόν λόγον, Mar 5:36 (R G L) (on this passage see παρακούω, 2); Mat 19:22; Joh 5:24, etc.; τούς λόγους, Act 2:22; Act 5:24; Mat 7:24; ῤήματα, 2Co 12:4; τί λέγουσιν, Mat 21:16; passive, Mat 2:18; Rev 18:22 f; τί ἐκ τίνος, 2Co 12:6 (R G); followed by ὅτι (Buttmann, 300 (257f)), Act 22:2; Mar 16:11; Joh 4:42; Joh 14:28.

b. to get by hearinq, learn (from the mouth of the teacher or narrator): Act 15:17; Mat 10:27 (ὁ εἰς τό οὖς ἀκούετε, what is taught you secret); Rom 15:21; Eph 1:13; Col 1:6; Joh 14:24; 1Jn 2:7; 1Jn 2:24; 1Jn 3:11; Χριστόν i. e. to become acquainted with Christ from apostolic teaching, Eph 4:21 (cf. μαθεῖν τόν Χριστόν, Eph 4:20 (Buttmann, 166 (144) note; Winer's Grammar, 199 (187) note)); passive, Luk 12:3; Heb 2:1; τί with the genitive of person from whom one hears, Act 1:4; τί παρά τίνος, Joh 8:26; Joh 8:40; Joh 15:15; Act 10:22; Act 28:22; 2Ti 2:2 (Thucydides 6, 93; Xenophon, an. 1, 2, 5 (here Dindorf omits παρά); Plato, rep. 6, p. 506 d., others; (Buttmann, 186 (145); Winer's Grammar, 199 (188))); (παρά τίνος, without an object expressed, Joh 1:40 (41)); ἐκ τίνος, Joh 12:34 (ἐκ τοῦ νόμου, from attendance on its public reading); ἀπό with the genitive of person, 1Jn 1:5; with περί τίνος added, Act 9:13; followed by ὅτι, Mat 5:21; Mat 5:27; Mat 5:33; Mat 5:38; Mat 5:43.

c. ἀκούω τί, a thing comes to one's ears, to find out (by hearsay), learn, (hear ((of)) mediately): with the accusative of thing, τά ἔργα, Mat 11:2; ὅσα ἐποίει, Mar 3:8 (Treg. text ποιεῖ); πολέμους, Luk 21:9; Mat 24:6; Mar 13:7; to learn, absol, viz. what has just been mentioned: Mat 2:3; Mat 22:7 (R L); Mar 2:17; Mar 3:21; Gal 1:13; Eph 1:15; Col 1:4; Phm 1:5, etc. followed by ὅτι, Mat 2:22; Mat 4:12; Mat 20:30; Mar 6:55; Mar 10:47; Joh 4:47; Joh 9:35; Joh 11:6; Joh 12:12; Gal 1:23; περί τίνος, Mar 7:25; τί περί τίνος, Luk 9:9; Luk 16:2; Luk 23:8 (R G L); followed by an accusative with participle (Buttmann, 303 (260)): Luk 4:23; Act 7:12; 2Th 3:11; 3Jn 1:4; followed by an accusative with an infinitive in two instances (cf. Buttmann, the passage cited): Joh 12:18; 1Co 11:18. passive: Act 11:22 (ἠκούσθη ὁ λόγος εἰς τά ὦτα τῆς ἐκκλησίας was brought to the ears); 1Co 5:1 (ἀκούεται πορνεία ἐν ὑμῖν); Mat 28:14 (ἐάν ἀκουσθῇ τοῦτο ἐπί (L Tr WH marginal reading ὑπό) τοῦ ἡγεμόνος); Mar 2:1; Joh 9:32 ἠκούσθη ὅτι.

d. to give ear to teaching or teacher: τούς λόγους, Mat 10:14; to follow with attentive hearing, τόν λόγον, Joh 8:43; τά ῤήματα τοῦ Θεοῦ, Joh 8:47.

e. to comprehend, understand, (like Latin audio): Mar 4:33; Gal 4:21 ((Lachmann marginal reading ἀναγινώσκετε) yet cf. Meyer at the passage); (Gen 11:7).

2. ἀκούειν is not joined with the genitive of the object unless one hear the person or thing with his own ears (Buttmann, 166 (114));

a. with the genitive of a person; simply; α. to perceive anyone's voice: οὗ, i. e., of Christ, whose voice is heard in the instruction of his messengers (Luk 10:16), Rom 10:14 (Winer's Grammar, 199 (187) note{2}), β. to give ear to one, listen, hearken, (German ihm zuhoren, ihn anhoren): Mat 2:9; Mar 7:14; Mar 12:37; Luk 2:46; Luk 10:16; Luk 15:1; Luk 19:48; Luk 21:38; Act 17:32; Act 24:24 (in both these passages τίνος περί τίνος);; Joh 6:60. γ. to yield to, hear and obey, hear to one, (German auf einen horen): Mat 17:5 (Mar 9:7; Luk 9:35); Joh 3:29; Joh 10:8; Act 3:22; Act 4:19; Act 7:37 (R G); 1Jn 4:5 f. Hence, δ. its use by John in the sense to listen to, have regard to, of God answering the prayers of men: Joh 9:31; Joh 11:41; 1Jn 5:14 f (the Sept. render שָׁמַע by εἰσακούω). ε. with the genitive of person and participle (Buttmann, 301 (259)): Mar 14:58; Luk 18:36; Joh 1:37; Joh 7:32; Act 2:6; Act 2:11; Rev 16:5; ἤκουσα τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου λέγοντος, Rev 16:7 G L T (Tr WH the Sinaiticus manuscript), a poetic personification; cf. DeWette at the passage, Winers Grammar, § 30, 11.

b. with the genitive of a thing: τῆς βλασφημίας, Mar 14:64 (Lachmann τήν βλασφημίαν, as in Mat 26:65; the accusative merely denotes the object; τῆς βλασφημίας is equiv, in sense to αὐτοῦ βλασφημοῦντος (cf. Buttmann, 166 (145))); τῶν λόγων, Luk 6:47 (Mat 7:24 τούς λόγους); Joh 7:40 (L T Tr WH the Sinaiticus manuscript, but R G τόν λόγον (cf. Buttmann, as above)); συμφωνίας καί χορῶν, Luk 15:25; τοῦ στεναγμοῦ, Act 7:34; τῆς ἀπολογίας, Act 22:1. The frequent phrase ἀκούειν τῆς φωνῆς (equivalent to שָׁמַע, Exo 18:19) means α. to perceive the distinct words of a voice: Joh 5:25; Joh 5:28; Act 9:7; Act 11:7; Act 22:7; Heb 3:7; Heb 3:15; Heb 4:7; Rev 14:13; Rev 21:3. β. to yield obedience to the voice: Joh 5:25 (οἱ ἀκούσαντες namely, τῆς φωνῆς); Joh 10:16; Joh 10:27; Joh 18:37; Rev 3:20. In Joh 12:47; Joh 18:37; Luk 6:47; Act 22:1, it is better to consider the pronoun μου which precedes as a possessive genitive rather than, with Buttmann, 167 (145f), to assume a double genitive of the object, one of the person and one of the thing. The Johannean phrase ἀκούειν παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ, or τί παρά Θεοῦ, signifies a. to perceive in the soul the inward communication of God: Joh 6:45.

b. to be taught by God's inward communication: Joh 8:26; Joh 8:40 (so, too, the simple ἀκούειν in Joh 8:30); to be taught by the devil, according to the reading of L T Tr WH, ἠκούσατε παρά τοῦ πατρός, in Joh 8:38. For the rest cf. Buttmann, 165 (144ff); 301 (258ff) (Compare: διακούω, εἰσακούω, ἐπακούω, παρακούω, προακούω, ὑπακούω.)