ἰδού
idoú
G2400
SILEX Entry
Definition
An interjection primarily serving to call attention, to signal that the speaker is pointing out something significant or noteworthy ('look!,' 'see!,' 'behold!'). Functions as a demonstrative exclamation to emphasize immediacy, importance, or surprise. Can introduce a new scene, event, or important statement in narrative or quoted speech.
Semantic Range
look!, see!, behold!, lo! (attention-getting particle), marks significance or surprise, signals narrative or rhetorical emphasis
Root / Etymology
Formed from the second person singular imperative of εἴδον ('to see, to perceive'), middle voice, functioning idiomatically as an interjection. Related to the verb εἴδω, but in Hellenistic Greek and the Koine period, shifted from a true imperative ('see!') to a fixed particle or discourse marker. Cognate to the classical form ἴδε (also ἴδού).
Historical & Contextual Notes
First attested in pre-Koine Greek, but particularly common in the Septuagint and New Testament, where it frequently translates the Hebrew הִנֵּה (hinneh, 'behold') and is used to draw immediate attention to an event, statement, or figure. The function is largely rhetorical—to focus the listener or reader's attention rather than issuing a true imperative command. In narrative discourse, ἰδού acts as a marker for narrative breaks, the introduction of new actions, or highlighting divine or prophetic speech. Standard English translations render ἰδού as 'behold,' 'look,' or 'see,' but in contemporary usage these may sound archaic or less emphatic than the original Greek. In everyday Greek of the Koine period, may be used more broadly than its modern archaic-sounding English equivalents. The Septuagint and New Testament sometimes use ἴδε as a stylistic variant, but ἰδού predominates in later Koine texts. It bridges direct address and exclamation, rather than functioning as a command or propositional statement.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
second person singular imperative middle voice of εἴδω; used as imperative lo!; --behold, lo, see.
Root Family
ἰδ- (íde) — to see, to notice, to look at
Word Forms
0 distinct forms
No word forms found for this Strong's number.
Occurrences in Scripture
0 occurrences
No occurrences found.