G5235 — ὑπερβάλλω (huperballo)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G5235
Original: ὑπερβάλλω
Transliteration: huperballo
Pronunciation: hoop-er-bal'-lo
Part of Speech: Verb
Root: ὑπέρ (huper, G5228) "beyond" + βάλλω (ballo, G906) "to throw" — literally "to throw beyond the mark"
Occurrences: 5 unique verses (5 tokens) across 2 books
First Occurrence: 2 Cor 3:10 — "For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From ὑπέρ (G5228) and βάλλω (G906); to throw beyond the usual mark, i.e. (figuratively) to surpass (only active participle ὑπερβάλλων).

Morphological Note¶

All 5 NT occurrences are present active participles — the word never appears as a finite verb in the NT. The participial form functions adjectivally ("the surpassing [X]") or adverbially ("surpassingly"), describing a quality that continuously exceeds all measure.

Reference	Form	Parsing
2 Cor 3:10	ὑπερβαλλούσης	Pres Act Ptcp Gen Sg F
2 Cor 9:14	ὑπερβάλλουσαν	Pres Act Ptcp Acc Sg F
Eph 1:19	ὑπερβάλλον	Pres Act Ptcp Nom Sg N
Eph 2:7	ὑπερβάλλον	Pres Act Ptcp Acc Sg N
Eph 3:19	ὑπερβάλλουσαν	Pres Act Ptcp Acc Sg F

Louw-Nida Semantic Domain¶

Domain: 78.002 — More Than, Less Than [Comparative Degree]
Parent Domain: 78 — Degree
Other words in subdomain: ἐκπερισσῶς (G4053b), ἐπάνω (G1883), μᾶλλον (G3123), μέγας (G3173), περισσεία (G4050), περισσεύω (G4052), περισσός (G4053), περισσοτέρως (G4056), περισσῶς (G4057), πλεονάζω (G4121)

Domain Neighbors (078.002)¶

Strong's	Lemma	Total vv	Primary KJV Translation(s)
G1883	ἐπάνω	13	over, on
G3123	μᾶλλον	69	rather, more
G3173	μέγας	143	great, a great
G4050	περισσεία	4	abundance, abundantly
G4052	περισσεύω	10	abound, abundance
G4053	περισσός	6	more, more abundant
G4056	περισσοτέρως	6	more abundant, more abundantly
G4057	περισσῶς	4	exceedingly, abundantly
G4121	πλεονάζω	3	abound, abounded

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
exceeding	3	60%
excelleth	1	20%
passeth	1	20%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Ephesians	3	1.9
2 Corinthians	2	0.8

Exclusively Pauline. Concentrated in Ephesians (60%), the epistle most focused on the magnitude of God's activity toward believers. The 2 Corinthians occurrences appear in contexts contrasting old and new covenants and describing divine generosity.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Surpassing Divine Glory (New Covenant Superiority)¶

2 Cor 3:10 — "For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth [huperballousa]." The glory of the new covenant so far surpasses the old that the old has "no glory" by comparison.

2. Surpassing Divine Grace¶

2 Cor 9:14 — "And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding [huperballousan] grace of God in you." God's grace in the Corinthians provokes intense longing and prayer from other believers.
Eph 2:7 — "That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding [huperballon] riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." The purpose of salvation is an eternal display of grace that surpasses comprehension.

3. Surpassing Divine Power¶

Eph 1:19 — "And what is the exceeding [huperballon] greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power." The power available to believers surpasses normal categories — Paul piles four power-words (dunamis, energeia, kratos, ischus) to approximate its magnitude.

4. Surpassing Divine Love (Beyond Knowledge)¶

Eph 3:19 — "And to know the love of Christ, which passeth [huperballousan] knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." Christ's love is paradoxical: knowable yet exceeding the capacity of knowledge. The participle marks a love that continuously overflows cognitive limits.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
θεός (theos)	G2316	2x (40%)	God as source: "grace of God," "power of God"
χάρις (charis)	G5485	2x (40%)	"the surpassing grace" — grace is the primary object surpassed
Χριστός (Christos)	G5547	2x (40%)	"through Christ Jesus," "love of Christ" — Christ as mediator of the surpassing reality
δύναμις (dunamis)	G1411	1x (20%)	"the surpassing greatness of his power"
δόξα (doxa)	G1391	1x (20%)	"the glory that excelleth" — surpassing glory of new covenant
ἀγάπη (agape)	G26	1x (20%)	"the love of Christ which passeth knowledge"
γνῶσις (gnosis)	G1108	1x (20%)	"passeth knowledge" — knowledge as the boundary being surpassed
μέγεθος (megethos)	G3174	1x (20%)	"the surpassing greatness" — double-intensifier with huperballo

Word Family / Cognates¶

G5228 ὑπέρ (huper) — preposition: over, above, beyond, on behalf of (root component)
G906 βάλλω (ballo) — verb: to throw, cast (root component)
G5236 ὑπερβολή (huperbole) — feminine noun: "a throwing beyond"; excess, surpassing; 8 occurrences; used adverbially in kath' huperbolen "beyond measure" (2 Cor 4:17, Gal 1:13)
G5248 ὑπερπερισσεύω (huperperisseuo) — verb: to super-abound; 2 occurrences; compound of huper + perisseuo (Rom 5:20, 2 Cor 7:4)
G5250 ὑπερπλεονάζω (huperpleonazo) — verb: to superabound; hapax (1 Tim 1:14); compound of huper + pleonazo

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
מְאֹד (me'od)	H3966	"exceeding" (19v)	Hebrew intensifier meaning "very, much" — quantitative degree; huperballo implies surpassing a standard or boundary
λίαν (lian)	G3029	"exceeding" (2v)	Simple adverb "greatly, exceedingly" — degree without the metaphor of throwing beyond a mark

Semantic Domain¶

[078] Degree — Words expressing comparative and superlative degree
Other words: ἄμετρος (G280), αὐξάνω (G837), βάθος (G899), βαθύς (G901), βάρος (G922)

Hebrew Source¶

No Hebrew source words found via LXX mapping — ὑπερβάλλω is not a standard LXX translation term for any Hebrew word.