G3982 — πείθω (peitho)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G3982
Original: πείθω
Transliteration: peitho
Pronunciation: pi'-tho
Part of Speech: Verb (primary)
Occurrences: 55 unique verses (62 tokens) across 14 books
First Occurrence: Mat 27:20 — "But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primary verb; to convince (by argument, true or false); by analogy, to pacify or conciliate (by other fair means); reflexively or passively, to assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward certainty): — agree, assure, believe, have confidence, be (wax) confident, make friend, obey, persuade, trust, yield.

Louw-Nida Semantic Domains¶

This verb spans an unusually wide range of domains, reflecting its semantic breadth:

031.006 — Believe To Be True
031.009 — Trust, Rely
033.028 — Urge, Persuade
036.003 — Obey, Disobey
036.004 — Follow, Be a Disciple
025.014 — Courage, Boldness

Domain Neighbors (031.006 — Believe To Be True)¶

Strong's	Lemma	Total vv	Primary KJV Translation(s)
G472	ἀντέχω	4	hold
G569	ἀπιστέω	4	believed not
G571	ἄπιστος	11	faithless, unbelieving
G803	ἀσφάλεια	3	safety, certainty
G1252	διακρίνω	5	doubt
G1261	διαλογισμός	8	thoughts, reasoning
G1365	διστάζω	2	doubt
G1374	δίψυχος	2	double minded
G2722	κατέχω	4	keep, hold fast

Verb Tense-Voice Distribution¶

Tense-Voice	Count	Typical Semantic Force
Perfect Active (πέποιθα)	16	Settled state of confidence/trust — "I am confident," "trusting"
Present Passive/Middle (πείθομαι)	7	Ongoing obedience or being persuaded — "obey," "am persuaded"
Perfect Passive (πέπεισμαι)	6	Settled conviction from persuasion — "I am persuaded"
Present Active (πείθω)	5	Active persuading — "we persuade men"
Aorist Passive (ἐπείσθην)	4	Point-in-time being persuaded — "they believed," "they agreed"
Imperfect Passive (ἐπειθόμην)	4	Ongoing/attempted response — "were obeying," "believed"
Aorist Active (ἔπεισα)	4	Completed act of persuasion — "persuaded the people"
Future Active (πείσω)	2	Future persuasion — "we will persuade him"
Imperfect Active (ἔπειθον)	2	Ongoing persuasion — "persuading the Jews"
Future Passive (πεισθήσομαι)	1	Future being persuaded — "will they be persuaded"
Pluperfect Active (ἐπεποίθειν)	1	Prior state of trust — "he trusted" (Luke 11:22)

Key morphological pattern: The perfect active (πέποιθα) dominates with 16 of 52 parsed occurrences (31%). This form functions almost as a separate word in the KJV, consistently translated "trust," "confidence," or "confident" — never "persuade." The shift from active present ("I persuade") to perfect active ("I have come to trust") captures the core semantic bridge: persuasion that has produced settled trust.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation Group	Verses	%
persuade / persuaded / persuading	16	29%
trust / trusted	7	13%
confidence / confident	9	16%
obey / obeyed	6	11%
believed	3	5%
assure	1	2%
agreed	1	2%
yield	1	2%
Other (friend, do, have, would)	11	20%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Philemon	1	4.0
Galatians	4	2.7
2 Timothy	2	2.4
2 Thessalonians	1	2.1
Acts	17	1.7
Hebrews	5	1.7
2 Corinthians	4	1.6
Philippians	6	1.5
Romans	5	1.2
1 John	1	1.0
James	1	0.9
Matthew	3	0.3
Luke	4	0.3
Mark	1	0.1

Concentrated in Pauline epistles and Acts (44 of 55 verses = 80%). Acts carries the highest raw count (17), reflecting the narrative of missionary persuasion. Paul's letters favor the perfect forms expressing settled confidence. Absent from the Johannine corpus (except 1 John 3:19), Petrine epistles, and Revelation.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Active Persuasion (convincing others)¶

Mat 27:20 — "the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas"
Acts 18:4 — "he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks"
Acts 19:26 — "this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people"
2 Cor 5:11 — "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men"

2. Settled Trust / Confidence (perfect active πέποιθα)¶

Phil 1:6 — "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it"
Phil 3:3-4 — "have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh"
2 Cor 1:9 — "that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead"
Heb 2:13 — "I will put my trust in him" (quoting Isa 12:2)

3. Being Persuaded / Reaching Conviction (passive/middle)¶

Rom 8:38 — "I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life... shall be able to separate us"
2 Tim 1:12 — "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed"
Heb 11:13 — "were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers"
Luke 20:6 — "they be persuaded that John was a prophet"

4. Obedience / Submission (present middle/passive)¶

Heb 13:17 — "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves"
Gal 5:7 — "who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?"
Rom 2:8 — "them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth"
James 3:3 — "we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us"

5. Accepting / Agreeing (being won over)¶

Acts 5:40 — "to him they agreed"
Acts 17:4 — "some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas"
Acts 27:11 — "the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship"
Acts 28:24 — "some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not"

6. Self-Reliance / Misplaced Trust¶

Luke 18:9 — "certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous"
Luke 11:22 — "he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted"
Rom 2:19 — "art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
θεός (theos)	G2316	11x	Object of trust — "trust in God," "persuaded by God"
πᾶς (pas)	G3956	10x	Scope markers — "all things," "none of these things"
Ἰησοῦς (Iesous)	G2424	8x	Persuasion about/through Jesus
κύριος (kyrios)	G2962	7x	Confidence "in the Lord"
λέγω (lego)	G3004	6x	Persuasion speech contexts
Παῦλος (Paulos)	G3972	6x	Paul as agent of persuasion in Acts
Χριστός (Christos)	G5547	5x	Confidence "in Christ"
ἀλήθεια (aletheia)	G225	4x	"obey the truth" (Gal 3:1; 5:7; Rom 2:8)

Word Family / Cognates¶

G4102 πίστις (pistis) — noun: faith, trust, belief — G4102-pistis.md
G4100 πιστεύω (pisteuo) — verb: to believe, trust, have faith — G4100-pisteuo.md
G4103 πιστός (pistos) — adjective: faithful, trustworthy, believing
G4006 πεποίθησις (pepoithesis) — noun: confidence, trust (from perfect stem of peitho)
G3988 πεισμονή (peismone) — noun: persuasion (Gal 5:8 only)
G3981 πειθός (peithos) — adjective: persuasive (1 Cor 2:4 only)
G543 ἀπείθεια (apeitheia) — noun: disobedience, unbelief (alpha-privative negation)
G544 ἀπειθέω (apeitheo) — verb: to disobey, be unbelieving (alpha-privative negation)
G545 ἀπειθής (apeithes) — adjective: disobedient

Synonyms¶

G4100 πιστεύω (pisteuo) — to believe, have faith; overlaps in "believed" translations but pisteuo emphasizes cognitive assent/faith commitment, peitho emphasizes the process of being convinced
G5219 ὑπακούω (hupakouo) — to obey (lit. "hear under"); emphasizes subordinate compliance, while peitho implies willing obedience from inner conviction
G1680 ἐλπίς (elpis) — hope, expectation; future-oriented confidence vs. peitho's settled present confidence

Antonyms¶

G5401 φόβος (phobos) — fear; opposite of the confidence aspect of peitho
G543 ἀπείθεια (apeitheia) — disobedience/unbelief; direct negation (alpha-privative of peitho root)
G544 ἀπειθέω (apeitheo) — to disobey/disbelieve; verbal negation of peitho

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
πιστεύω (pisteuo)	G4100	"believed"	pisteuo = believe/have faith (cognitive); peitho = be persuaded/won over (process)
ὑπακούω (hupakouo)	G5219	"obey"	hupakouo = obey authority (hear under); peitho = obey from persuasion/conviction
ἐλπίζω (elpizo)	G1679	"trust"	elpizo = hope/expect (future); peitho = trust (settled confidence, present)
παῤῥησία (parrhesia)	G3954	"confidence"	parrhesia = boldness of speech; peitho = inner confidence/reliance

Hebrew Source (via LXX)¶

Hebrew Source	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
בָּטַח (batach)	H982	61	6.60	Primary: to trust, rely on — dominant Hebrew equivalent
בֶּטַח (betach)	H983	14	6.06	Cognate noun: security, confidence
שָׁעַן (sha'an)	H8172	8	6.22	To lean on, support oneself
חָסָה (chasah)	H2620	10	5.69	To flee for refuge, take shelter
מִבְטָח (mibtach)	H4009	5	5.95	A place of refuge, object of trust

The LXX translators overwhelmingly chose peitho to render batach (61 co-occurrences), the Hebrew verb for trusting/relying. This confirms peitho's semantic center in the trust/confidence domain, not merely rhetoric.