Tools and resources you need to do a word study on the Greek word for blessed: makarios.
blessed makarios
- Strong’s number: G3107
- Studylight.org Greek Lexical Dictionary: μακάριος
- Greek word: μακάριος
- Part of speech: adjective
- Transliteration: makarios
- Phonetic Spelling: ma-kar’-ee-os
- Quick Definition: blessed, happy
- Usage: blessed (1), blessed (46), fortunate (1), happier (1), happy (1).
- Etymology: A prolonged form of the poetical μάκαρ (meaning the same); supremely blessed; by extension fortunate, well off: – blessed, happy.
New Testament usage
μακάριος is used 50 times in the New Testament:
Mat 5:3; Mat 5:4; Mat 5:5; Mat 5:6; Mat 5:7; Mat 5:8; Mat 5:9; Mat 5:10; Mat 5:11; Mat 11:6; Mat 13:16; Mat 16:17; Mat 24:46; Luke 1:45; Luke 6:20; Luke 6:21 (2x); Luke 6:22; Luke 7:23; Luke 10:23; Luke 11:27; Luke 11:28; Luke 12:37; Luke 12:38; Luke 12:43; Luke 14:14; Luke 14:15; Luke 23:29; John 13:17; John 20:29; Acts 20:35; Acts 26:2; Rom 4:7; Rom 4:8; Rom 14:22; 1Cor 7:40; 1Tim 1:11; 1Tim 6:15; Titus 2:13; James 1:12; James 1:25; 1Pet 3:14; 1Pet 4:14; Rev 1:3; Rev 14:13; Rev 16:15; Rev 19:9; Rev 20:6; Rev 22:7; Rev 22:14.
42 times in 40 verses in the Septuagint (LXX):
Gen 30:13; Dt 33:29; 1Kgs 10:8; 2Chr 9:7; Job 5:17; Psa 1:1; Psa 2:12; Psa 32:1, Psa 32:2; Psa 33:12; Psa 34:8; Psa 40:4; Psa 41:1; Psa 65:4; Psa 84:4, Psa 84:5; Psa 84:12; Psa 89:15; Psa 94:12; Psa 106:3; Psa 112:1; Psa 119:1; Psa 119:2; Psa 127:5; Psa 128:1; Psa128:2; Psa 137:8; Psa 137:9; Psa 144:15; Psa 146:5; Prv 3:13; Prv 8:32; Prv 20:7; Prv 28:14; Ecc 10:17; Isa 30:18; Isa 31:9; Isa 32:20; Isa 56:2; Dan 12:12.
Englishman’s Concordance: makarios
Lexicons
- Thayer’s 3107: blessed, happy
- Strong’s 3107: blessed, happy
- Mounce 3107: blessed (receiving God’s favor), fortunate, good (in a position of favor), happy (feelings associated with receiving God’s favor); happy, blessed, as a noun it can depict someone who receives divine favor
- Related words: Strongs 3106 μακαρίζω (verb to bless) ; Strongs3108 μακαρισμός (noun, blessedness)
- Hebrew equivalent words: Strong #: 837 (אֹשֶׁר o’‑sher)
- PreceptsAustin: makarios (blessed); makarismos (blessing)
Summary
The easiest way to understand what it means to be blessed is to look at its opposite: cursed.
We can use these words to talk about the attitude one person has for someone else. If I bless you, I think well of you, approve of you and wish you well. If I curse you, I think badly of you, I don’t approve of you and I wish bad things for you. If I say bad things about you and wish bad things for you, then I am cursing you. If I say good things about you and wish good things for you, then I am blessing you.
The words bless and curse can be used for what I say and wish for someone. It doesn’t necessarily mean I have done anything at all. It is all attitude and maybe speech.
This Greek word can be used in the same way: – what I say and wish about someone, regardless of how I have acted.
However, these words can also be used in connection with what we do and how we treat someone else.
If I approve you, I do good things for you. I bless you by doing right by you, treating you well and doing good things for your benefit. Likewise, if I curse you, I don’t approve of you, and I treat you badly or bring some sort of suffering into your life. I withhold good things from you.
Blessings and cursing can either be talking about my wishes or my actions toward someone else.
When God is the one blessing or cursing, these words always refer to action (the second idea). There is an unbreakable connection between what God thinks of me and what He does for me. If I am in God’s favor, then He will do good by me and work for my welfare. Likewise, if I am not in His favor, then I come under His wrath and expect the consequences of that.
To be blessed is to be in a position where I am in God’s favor. Because I am in His favor, good things are coming my way and things are turning out well for me.
Reference Works
- 15 Matthew 5:1-12 What is a Beatitude?
- 16 Matthew 5:1-3 Poor in Spirit
- 10 1Corinthians 3:10-17 Rewards in heaven 1
- Are there rewards in heaven Part 2?
- Psalm 1: The way of the Righteous and the Wicked
- RC Sproul Crucial Questions series: How Can I Be Blessed? (Kindle) (iBooks)
- RC Sproul Crucial Questions series: How Can I Be Right with God? (Kindle) (iBooks)
- GotQuestions: What does it mean to be blessed?
- What is the Sermon on the Mount?
- What are the beatitudes?
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