G1754 — ἐνεργέω (energeō)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G1754
Original: ἐνεργέω
Transliteration: energeō
Pronunciation: en-erg-eh'-o
Part of Speech: Verb
Root: ἐνεργής (energēs, G1756) — "active, effective, operative" — compound of ἐν (in) + ἔργον (work, G2041)
Occurrences: 22 tokens / 19 unique verses / 12 books (21 occurrences per Greek parser, 22 per translations DB — count varies with Phil 2:13 doublet and text-critical variants)
First Occurrence: Mat 14:2 — "mighty works do shew forth themselves (ἐνεργοῦσιν) in him"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From ἐνεργής (energēs, G1756): "to be active, efficient; to put forth power, be operative, work, effect." Strong's: "to be active, efficient — do, (be) effectual (fervent), be mighty in, shew forth self, work (effectually in)." The compound ἐν + ἔργον carries the nuance of working in or working through something — activity that is internal, effective, and producing a result.

Morphological / Voice Distribution¶

The voice distribution is theologically significant for this verb. Tallied from greek_parser.py across all 21 parsed occurrences:

Voice	Count	References
Active	11	Mat 14:2; Mar 6:14; 1Co 12:6, 12:11; Gal 2:8 (x2); Gal 3:5; Eph 1:11, 1:20, 2:2; Phi 2:13 (x2)
Middle	9	Rom 7:5 (impf); 2Co 1:6, 4:12; Gal 5:6; Eph 3:20; Col 1:29; 1Th 2:13; 2Th 2:7; Jas 5:16

Tense	Count	Notes
Present	17	Dominant — "is at work / works"
Aorist	2	Gal 2:8 (x2) — punctiliar "wrought"
Perfect	1	Eph 1:20 — "has wrought" (resurrection result)
Imperfect	1	Rom 7:5 — "was working"

Voice note: Traditional grammar debates whether middle-voice forms (ἐνεργεῖται, ἐνεργουμένη, ἐνεργουμένην) are middle ("works itself, is at work") or passive ("is made to work, is being energized"). Many modern grammarians (e.g., J. Armitage Robinson, Ephesians) argue these are consistently middle — an intransitive "to be at work" — since Paul reserves active forms for personal agents (God, Spirit, the evil one in Eph 2:2) and middle forms for impersonal forces, processes, or abstractions (faith, death, word of God, affliction, mystery of lawlessness).

Louw-Nida Semantic Domain¶

Domain 42.3 — Function / Perform, Do
Domain 13 — Be, Become, Exist, Happen (sub-domain: State)
Other words in Domain 42.001 (Function): ἄγω (G71), ἀναζάω (G326), ἀργέω (G691), ἐνέργεια (G1753 — cognate noun), πρᾶξις (G4234)

UBS Semantic Domains¶

042 — Perform, Do
013 — Be, Become, Exist, Happen

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
worketh (+ "that/which/who worketh")	10	45%
do shew forth themselves	2	9%
wrought / he wrought / did work	3	14%
effectually worketh / wrought effectually	2	9%
is effectual / The effectual fervent	2	9%
was mighty	1	5%
doth (already work)	1	5%
to do / work	2	9%

The KJV uses the root "work" for ~77% of renderings but also "effectual / effectually / effectual fervent" to capture the intensive producing-a-result sense. "Mighty works do shew forth themselves" (Mat/Mar) is an idiomatic rendering of the Greek middle.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Ephesians	4	2.6
2 Thessalonians	1	2.1
Galatians	3	2.0
Colossians	1	1.1
1 Thessalonians	1	1.1
Philippians	2	~2.0
James	1	0.9
2 Corinthians	2	0.8
1 Corinthians	2	0.5
Romans	1	0.2
Matthew	1	0.1
Mark	1	0.1

Pattern: Overwhelmingly Pauline — 18 of 19 unique verses are in Paul's letters (plus 1 in James). The two non-Pauline/non-James uses (Mat 14:2, Mar 6:14) are parallel accounts of Herod's statement about John the Baptist. The word clusters heavily in Ephesians and Galatians — letters concerned with divine power working in/through believers and the opposing power working in the disobedient.

Semantic Categories¶

1. God / Christ / the Spirit actively working (always active voice)¶

1Co 12:6 — "the same God which worketh (ἐνεργῶν) all in all"
1Co 12:11 — "all these worketh (ἐνεργεῖ) that one and the selfsame Spirit"
Eph 1:11 — "him who worketh (ἐνεργοῦντος) all things after the counsel of his own will"
Eph 1:20 — "which he wrought (ἐνήργηκεν, perfect) in Christ, when he raised him from the dead" — resurrection power
Phi 2:13 — "it is God which worketh (ὁ ἐνεργῶν) in you both to will and to do (ἐνεργεῖν) of his good pleasure"
Gal 2:8 (aorist active) — "he that wrought effectually (ἐνεργήσας) in Peter... the same was mighty (ἐνήργησεν) in me"
Gal 3:5 — God "worketh (ἐνεργῶν) miracles among you"

2. Miraculous power manifesting itself (middle, of δυνάμεις)¶

Mat 14:2 — "mighty works (δυνάμεις) do shew forth themselves (ἐνεργοῦσιν) in him"
Mar 6:14 — parallel to Mat 14:2 (These are active forms in the parser but with δυνάμεις as subject — the "mighty works" are the actor, producing results "in him.")

3. Divine power working through the apostle / believer (middle voice)¶

Col 1:29 — "striving according to his working, which worketh (ἐνεργουμένην) in me mightily"
Eph 3:20 — "according to the power that worketh (ἐνεργουμένην) in us"
1Th 2:13 — the word of God "effectually worketh (ἐνεργεῖται) also in you that believe"
2Co 1:6 — consolation "which is effectual (ἐνεργουμένης) in the enduring of the same sufferings"

4. Faith / love / prayer producing effect (middle voice)¶

Gal 5:6 — "faith which worketh (ἐνεργουμένη) by love"
Jas 5:16 — "The effectual fervent (ἐνεργουμένη) prayer of a righteous man availeth much"

5. Sin, death, and evil power at work (mixed voice — active for personal evil agent; middle for impersonal processes)¶

Eph 2:2 — "the spirit that now worketh (ἐνεργοῦντος, active) in the children of disobedience" (personal agent: τὸ πνεῦμα)
Rom 7:5 — "the motions of sins... did work (ἐνηργεῖτο, imperfect middle) in our members"
2Co 4:12 — "death worketh (ἐνεργεῖται, middle) in us, but life in you"
2Th 2:7 — "the mystery of iniquity doth already work (ἤδη ἐνεργεῖται, present middle)" — the lawlessness-mystery is already operative at the time of Paul's writing

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
δύναμις (dynamis)	G1411	5x (26%)	"power that worketh" / "mighty power" (Eph 1:19-20, 3:20, Col 1:29, Gal 3:5, Mat 14:2)
πᾶς (pas)	G3956	4x (21%)	"worketh ALL things" — totality of divine action (Eph 1:11, 1Co 12:6, 12:11)
θεός (theos)	G2316	3x (16%)	God as the one "who worketh" (1Co 12:6, Phi 2:13, Gal 2:8)
ἐγείρω (egeirō)	G1453	3x (16%)	Resurrection context (Eph 1:20, Mat 14:2, Mar 6:14)
νεκρός (nekros)	G3498	3x (16%)	"from the dead" — linked with resurrection power
πνεῦμα (pneuma)	G4151	3x (16%)	Spirit as agent (1Co 12:11, Gal 3:5, Eph 2:2 — both Spirit and opposing spirit)
πάθημα (pathēma)	G3804	2x (11%)	Sufferings that "work" patience/consolation (Rom 7:5, 2Co 1:6)
πίστις (pistis)	G4102	2x (11%)	Faith that "works" (Gal 5:6, 1Th 2:13 by context)
νόμος (nomos)	G3551	2x (11%)	Law and the working of sin/Spirit (Rom 7:5, Gal 3:5)
θάνατος (thanatos)	G2288	2x (11%)	"Death worketh" (Rom 7:5, 2Co 4:12)

Word Family / Cognates¶

G1753 ἐνέργεια (energeia) — feminine noun, "operation, working, energy." 8 NT occurrences (Eph 1:19; 3:7; 4:16; Phi 3:21; Col 1:29; 2:12; 2Th 2:9, 2:11). Notably 2Th 2:9 — "after the working of Satan" — and 2Th 2:11 — "God shall send them strong delusion (ἐνέργειαν πλάνης)."
G1755 ἐνέργημα (energēma) — "effect, operation produced." 2 occurrences (1Co 12:6, 12:10) — the concrete effect of the energeō action.
G1756 ἐνεργής (energēs) — adjective, "active, effective, powerful." 3 occurrences (1Co 16:9; Phm 1:6; Heb 4:12 — "the word of God is quick and powerful").
G2041 ἔργον (ergon) — "work, deed." Base noun (169 NT).

Synonyms¶

search_relationships.py surfaced no separate synonym list for G1754 beyond its cognate family and closely related working vocabulary.

Antonyms¶

G691 ἀργέω (argéō) — "to be idle, linger" (2 Pet 2:3); antonymic by contrast with effective activity or operative working.

Easily Confused Words (same KJV translation "worketh / work")¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
κατεργάζομαι (katergazomai)	G2716	"worketh" (6v)	"to work out, bring about fully, produce as a result." More resultative/telic — completed action producing a specific outcome (Rom 5:3 "tribulation worketh patience").
ἐργάζομαι (ergazomai)	G2038	"worketh" (3v)	"to labor, toil, do work" — the generic verb of working as activity. Lacks the intensive ἐν- prefix of operative efficacy.
ποιέω (poieō)	G4160	"work / do" (1v)	"to make, do, perform." Generic verb of action without the sense of an internal operative force.
ἐνδυναμόω (endynamoō)	G1743	—	"to empower, strengthen" — closely related conceptually but emphasizes impartation of δύναμις rather than operative effect.

Hebrew Source (via LXX)¶

The LXX uses ἐνεργέω sparingly (Num 8:24; Prov 21:6; 31:12; Isa 41:4; Wis 15:11; 16:17; and esp. Wis/1–4 Macc). No single dominant Hebrew bridge: it renders various Hebrew verbs meaning "do/work/make" including: - H6213 עָשָׂה (asah) — do, make (general) — also renderable by G2716, G4160 - H6466 פָּעַל (paʻal) — do, make, accomplish (systematically)

No strong cross-testament bridge exists; the verb is effectively a NT/intertestamental Greek development crystallized as a Pauline theological term. No TR- trace file warranted.