Exploring the Meaning of Epakouo in Greek

ἐπακούω means “to listen to” and is used once in the New Testament, in Paul’s citation in 2 Corinthians 6:2. In that setting, it expresses God’s attentive reception of a plea at a decisive moment.

Root and Related Words

ἐπακούω is formed from epi (ἐπί), “upon/to/against” (Strong’s G1909), and akouo (ἀκούω), “to hear” (Strong’s G191). The compound brings the hearing idea into a focused act of listening directed toward someone.

Occurrences

“for he says, “At an acceptable time I listened to you. In a day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2)

In this verse Paul quotes a divine statement and then presses its timing onto the present: “Behold, now… Behold, now….” The verb “I listened to you” portrays God as giving direct attention to an addressed “you” at “an acceptable time.” The line is paired with a second divine action—“I helped you”—so listening is not presented as a detached awareness but as the relational stance that accompanies aid. The surrounding phrases anchor the listening in a particular window: it occurs “at an acceptable time,” and it belongs to “a day of salvation,” language that frames the listening as fitted to God’s appointed moment rather than left indefinite. Paul’s concluding repetitions (“Behold, now…”) take that portrayed listening and make it urgent: what God is depicted as doing in the cited saying is held out as immediately relevant.

Sense and Usage

Because ἐπακούω appears here as a first-person divine action (“I listened to you”), its sense is shaped by the interpersonal direction of the statement: a speaker receives the appeal of another and responds within a set time. The verse links listening and helping tightly (“I listened… I helped”), so the act of listening functions as a concrete engagement with the one addressed, not merely the physical capacity to hear sound. The temporal markers clarify the character of this listening: it is timely (“At an acceptable time”) and salvation-framed (“In a day of salvation”), so the verb participates in a scene where attention is given at the moment when rescue is being enacted.

The immediate rhetorical use also highlights what “to listen to” accomplishes in discourse. Paul does not leave the statement as a past report; he turns it into a present summons (“Behold, now is the acceptable time… now is the day of salvation”). In that move, the listening described in the quotation becomes part of an appeal: the same kind of attentive reception is set before the audience as something pressing upon the present. The verb thus carries the weight of access—being heard by God—within the declared “acceptable time,” and it supports the force of Paul’s insistence that the present moment is the moment to respond.

Imagery

The verse paints a simple but vivid relational picture: a voice addresses God and is met with divine attention—“I listened to you”—followed by active assistance—“I helped you.” The language of “acceptable time” and “day of salvation” places that listening within a day marked out for rescue, and Paul’s “Behold” draws the picture into the immediacy of “now.”

Sources: Lexical data from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Translators Brief Lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (STEPBible, CC BY). Occurrence data from the Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).