G4100 — πιστεύω (pisteúō)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G4100
Original: πιστεύω
Transliteration: pisteúō
Pronunciation: pist-yoo'-o
Part of Speech: Verb
Root: From πίστις (pistis, G4102) — faith, belief
Occurrences: 220 unique verses (264 tokens) across 21 books
First Occurrence: Mat 8:13 — "And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From G4102 (pistis); to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by implication, to entrust (especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ): — believe(-r), commit (to trust), put in trust with.

Louw-Nida Semantic Domain¶

Domain 31: Hold a View, Believe, Trust
31.006: Believe To Be True
31.009: Trust, Rely
31.010: Be a Believer, Christian Faith
Domain 35.005: Entrust To the Care Of
Other words in 31.010: ἀπείθεια (G0543), ἀπειθέω (G0544), ἀπιστέω (G0569), ἀπιστία (G0570), ἄπιστος (G0571), πίστις (G4102), πιστός (G4103)

UBS Semantic Domains¶

Code	Domain Label	Notes
031	Hold a View, Believe, Trust	`search_relationships.py` places pisteuō in the primary belief/trust field: believing, relying, and accepting as true.
035	Help, Care For	Covers the secondary entrust/commit sense found in passive and stewardship contexts.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
believe (various forms)	175	79.5%
believed (various forms)	37	16.8%
trust / put in trust	3	1.4%
commit / committed / is committed	5	2.3%

Consolidated from 60+ KJV renderings. Nearly all are forms of "believe" (including believeth, believing, believers). The secondary sense "commit/entrust" appears in ~5 verses (Lk 16:11; Rom 3:2; 1Co 9:17; Gal 2:7; 1Ti 1:11; Tit 1:3).

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
John	86	9.8
1 John	7	6.7
2 Thessalonians	3	6.4
1 Thessalonians	5	5.6
Romans	20	4.6
Titus	2	4.3
1 Peter	4	3.8
Acts	36	3.6
1 Timothy	3	2.7
Galatians	4	2.7
Mark	14	2.1
James	2	1.9
1 Corinthians	8	1.8
Ephesians	2	1.3
2 Timothy	1	1.2
Matthew	9	0.8
Luke	9	0.8
Hebrews	2	0.7
2 Corinthians	1	0.4
Jude	1	—
Philippians	1	—

John dominates with 86 of 220 verses (39%), nearly 10 per 100 verses — more than double the next densest book. The Johannine writings (John + 1 John) account for 42% of all uses. Paul's letters collectively hold about 50 uses. Absent from: Colossians, 2 Peter, Revelation, Philemon (besides Phil 1:29), 2 John, 3 John.

Tense-Voice-Mood Distribution¶

Category	Count	%	Notes
Present Active Participle	53	22%	"the one believing" — ongoing faith
Aorist Active Indicative	48	20%	"they believed" — past act of belief
Present Active Indicative	35	14%	"you believe" — present state
Aorist Active Subjunctive	19	8%	"that you might believe" — purpose/possibility
Aorist Active Participle	16	7%	"having believed" — completed act
Present Active Imperative	12	5%	"believe!" — command for ongoing trust
Perfect Active (Ind+Ptcp)	16	7%	"have believed" — settled, permanent state
Imperfect Active Indicative	7	3%	"were believing / did not believe" — ongoing past
Future Active Indicative	5	2%	"will believe / will you believe"
Aorist Passive Indicative	5	2%	"was entrusted" — passive: entrust sense
Present Active Infinitive	5	2%	"to believe"
Aorist Active Infinitive	6	2%	"to believe" (punctiliar)
Other (aorist impv, pres pass, plupf, etc.)	14	6%

The present tense forms (participle + indicative + imperative + subjunctive) dominate at ~50%, emphasizing ongoing, habitual belief. The aorist forms (~37%) mark decisive acts of belief or past events. The perfect tense (~7%) denotes settled conviction (e.g., Jn 6:69 "we have believed and know"; Jn 11:27 "I have believed"). Passive forms are rare (~3%) and carry the "entrust" sense (Rom 3:2; 1Co 9:17; Gal 2:7; 1Th 2:4; 1Ti 1:11; 1Ti 3:16; Tit 1:3).

Semantic Categories¶

1. Saving Faith — Belief in Christ for Eternal Life¶

Jn 3:16 — "whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life"
Jn 3:36 — "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life"
Acts 16:31 — "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved"
Rom 10:9 — "if thou shalt... believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved"

2. Belief in God's Word, Promises, or Testimony¶

Jn 2:22 — "they... believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said"
Jn 4:50 — "the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him"
Acts 27:25 — "I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me"
Rom 4:3 — "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness"

3. Belief as Intellectual Acknowledgment (That Something Is True)¶

Jas 2:19 — "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble"
Jn 11:27 — "I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God"
1Jn 5:1 — "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God"
1Jn 5:5 — "he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God"

4. Ongoing Trust and Reliance on Christ¶

Jn 6:35 — "he that believeth on me shall never thirst"
Jn 7:38 — "He that believeth on me... out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water"
Jn 14:12 — "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also"
1Pe 1:8 — "in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable"

5. Refusal to Believe / Unbelief¶

Jn 6:64 — "there are some of you that believe not"
Jn 10:26 — "ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep"
Jn 12:37 — "though he had done so many miracles... yet they believed not on him"
Mk 16:14 — "upbraided them with their unbelief... because they believed not them which had seen him"

6. Entrusting / Being Entrusted With¶

Lk 16:11 — "who will commit to your trust the true riches?"
Rom 3:2 — "unto them were committed the oracles of God"
Gal 2:7 — "the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me"
1Ti 1:11 — "the glorious gospel... which was committed to my trust"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
θεός (theós)	G2316	50x (23%)	"believe God" / "believe in God" — object of faith
Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs)	G2424	45x (20%)	"believe in/on Jesus" — christological object
λέγω/ἔπω (légō/épō)	G3004/G2036	78x (35%)	Speech context: "he said... they believed"
πᾶς (pâs)	G3956	39x (18%)	"whosoever believeth" / "all that believe" — universalizing
κύριος (kýrios)	G2962	25x (11%)	"believe on the Lord" — confessional formula
Χριστός (Christós)	G5547	25x (11%)	"believe in Christ" — title-focused faith
λόγος (lógos)	G3056	21x (10%)	"believed the word" — faith via hearing
ἀκούω (akoúō)	G0191	18x (8%)	"heard... and believed" — hearing precedes believing
υἱός (huiŏs)	G5207	16x (7%)	"believeth on the Son" — Johannine formula
ζωή (zōḗ)	G2222	12x (5%)	"believeth... hath everlasting life" — result of faith

Word Family / Cognates¶

G4102 πίστις (pistis) — faith, faithfulness, belief (noun; root of pisteúō)
G4103 πιστός (pistós) — faithful, trustworthy, believing (adjective)
G0569 ἀπιστέω (apistéō) — to disbelieve, be unfaithful (negated form)
G0570 ἀπιστία (apistía) — unbelief, unfaithfulness
G0571 ἄπιστος (ápistos) — unbelieving, faithless

Synonyms¶

search_relationships.py returned a mixed trust/truth field. The clearest lexical overlap is: - G3982 πείθω (peithō) — persuade, be convinced, trust; the nearest NT partner at the conviction/trust boundary

Antonyms¶

G544 ἀπειθέω (apeitheō) — disobey/refuse to believe; the clearest opposite returned in the belief-response field
G5579 ψεῦδος (pseudos) — lie, falsehood; returned by search_relationships.py as truth-opposed content incompatible with believing the truth

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
אָמַן (ʼâman)	H539	"believe" (OT)	Hebrew counterpart; covers trust, firmness, faithfulness — broader semantic range including "be firm, sure"
πείθω (peíthō)	G3982	"believed" (3x)	peíthō = persuade/be convinced; pisteúō = exercise faith/trust
ἐλπίζω (elpízō)	G1679	"trust" (4x)	elpízō = hope, expectation of future; pisteúō = active trust/reliance
πεποίθησις (pepoíthēsis)	G4006	"trust" (1x)	pepoíthēsis = confidence (noun); pisteúō = active verb of believing

Domain Neighbors (Louw-Nida 35.005 — Entrust To the Care Of)¶

Strong's	Lemma	Total Vv	Primary KJV	Key Difference
G2819	κλῆρος	9	lots, inheritance	Portion assigned, not personal trust
G3866	παραθήκη	1	have committed unto him	Deposit entrusted; technical term for safekeeping
G3908	παρατίθημι	6	I commend, before	To place alongside/entrust; broader usage includes serving food

Hebrew Source¶

Hebrew Source	Strong's	Co-occurrences	PMI Score
אָמַן (ʼâman)	H539	43	29.07
שְׁמוּעָה (shᵉmûwʻâh)	H8052	3	8.28
לֹא (lôʼ)	H3808	29	6.30
אוֹת (ʼôwth)	H226	3	5.89
קוֹל (qôwl)	H6963	6	5.42

H539 אָמַן (ʼâman) is the dominant Hebrew equivalent with 43 co-occurrences and the highest PMI score by far. The LXX consistently renders ʼâman with πιστεύω, establishing the primary OT-to-NT bridge for the concept of belief/faith.