Bible word study

Zeteo (Strong’s G2212): Meaning in the Bible

Zeteo (ζητέω) is the Greek word numbered G2212 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as to seek (literally or figuratively); specially, (by Hebraism) to worship (God), or (in a bad sense) to plot (against life). In the King James Bible it is translated be (go) about, desire, endeavour, enquire (for), require.

• Original wordζητέω
• Transliterationzētéō
• Pronunciationdzay-teh'-o
• Strong’s numberG2212
• LanguageGreek

The full Strong’s definition

Derivation. of uncertain affinity;

How the King James Bible translates it

Where Zeteo appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Zeteo (G2212) stands behind 124 English renderings in 116 verses across 16 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in John (36), Luke (28), Matthew (14).

How the King James Bible renders Zeteo, by count

• seek29 of 124 (23 percent)
• sought29 of 124 (23 percent)
• seeking11 of 124 (9 percent)
• for5 of 124 (4 percent)
• seek ye5 of 124 (4 percent)
• about4 of 124 (3 percent)

Three places to read Zeteo

• Matthew 2:13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
• Luke 13:6 He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.
• John 16:19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?

Counts are made at build time from the King James text tagged with Strong’s numbers (eBible.org, public domain). Verses are read from the stored King James text, never typed.

Why the word matters

Every word the biblical writers chose carries weight. Studying Zeteo in the original Greek lets you read the passages where it appears more carefully, closer to what the first hearers understood, so the meaning is drawn from the text itself rather than from the English alone.

The lexical data on this page comes from the public-domain Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890), a Hebrew and Greek dictionary keyed to the King James Bible. It is a reference tool, not a settled verdict: no single word decides a doctrine, and meaning is finally shaped by how a word is used in its sentences. Read the passages themselves, prayerfully, and in full.

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