ἀναβοάω (anaboaō)
anaboaō
to cry out
Quick Reference
- Language
- Koine Greek
- Testament
- New Testament
- Occurrences
- 1 verses
- Root
- —
Word Overview
The verb anaboaoō means to cry out or shout with intensity. It combines a prefix indicating upward motion with a root for shouting, suggesting a loud call that rises above normal speech. In the New Testament, it appears only once, in Matthew 27:46, where Jesus cries out from the cross.
This single usage carries significant weight. The cry is not a quiet prayer but a loud, desperate outcry of abandonment. By using this word, the Gospel writer emphasizes the depth of Jesus’ suffering and the visceral nature of his experience on the cross. It mirrors the Hebrew words for crying out in distress found in the Old Testament, connecting Jesus’ moment to the long tradition of psalms of lament.
Translators typically render it as "cried out" or "shouted," capturing the volume and urgency of the sound. The word highlights that Jesus’ anguish was not internal or silent but expressed loudly, making his human experience fully visible and audible to those present.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
When Jesus cried out on the cross, He did not whisper His pain. The Greek word anaboaō describes a loud, desperate shout that rises above the noise of the crowd. This was no quiet acceptance of fate. It was a raw expression of human agony and spiritual weight. By using such intense language, the Gospel writer shows us that Jesus truly entered into our deepest suffering.
His cry reminds us that God is not distant from our pain. He hears the loudest shouts of despair just as well as silent prayers. You do not need to hide your anguish when you come to Him. His presence meets us in the noise and the tears, offering comfort that words alone cannot provide.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 1 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- cried out1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- ἀνεβόησεν1×
Key Verses
-
Matthew 27:46
About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani?” That is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
The word anaboaō emphasizes the volume and desperation of Jesus' cry, showing His intense human suffering rather than a silent resignation.