Exploring the Meaning of Eisakouo in Greek

εἰσακούω means “to listen to.” In the New Testament it appears in contexts of prayer being heard, warnings about speech that seeks to be heard, and a citation where the Lord speaks yet is not heard.

Root and Related Words

εἰσακούω (Eisakouo) is related to εἰς (eis), “toward” (Strong’s G1519), and ἀκούω (akouo), “to hear” (Strong’s G191).

Occurrences

Matthew 6:7: “In praying, don’t use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.”

Here the word stands in the expectation of being “heard” as a result of “much speaking.” The setting is instruction “in praying,” and the concern is a mistaken confidence that multiplying words compels a response. Within the sentence, being heard is the imagined payoff of “vain repetitions,” so εἰσακούω is bound to the motive that can distort prayer: speech aimed at securing a hearing rather than speech shaped by reverence.

Luke 1:13: “But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”

In this announcement, “your request has been heard” functions as the bridge between Zacharias’s petition and the concrete promise that follows: “Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son.” εἰσακούω marks a completed divine response that grounds the angel’s reassurance (“Don’t be afraid”) and authorizes the specific outcome, including the naming (“you shall call his name John”). The hearing is not presented as abstract awareness but as the premise for action within the narrative.

Acts 10:31: “and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer is heard, and your gifts to the needy are remembered in the sight of God.”

Here εἰσακούω occurs alongside a second divine acknowledgment: “your gifts to the needy are remembered in the sight of God.” The pairing places “your prayer is heard” in a moral and relational frame: prayer and almsgiving are both brought into God’s attention. The wording makes the hearing personal (“Cornelius, your prayer…”) and situates it before God (“in the sight of God”), portraying listening as part of a larger divine regard for the petitioner’s life and acts of mercy.

1 Corinthians 14:21: “In the law it is written, “By men of strange languages and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people. They won’t even hear me that way, says the Lord.””

In this quotation, εἰσακούω is negated: “They won’t even hear me that way.” The Lord declares, “I will speak to this people,” yet the outcome is a refusal or failure to hear, even when speech comes through “men of strange languages” and “the lips of strangers.” The word thus highlights a breakdown in reception: speech is present, but listening does not occur. In the immediate rhetoric of the verse, the emphasis falls on the stubbornness implied by “won’t even,” intensifying the irony that speaking—however striking its form—does not guarantee a hearing.

Hebrews 5:7: “He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear,”

This use places εἰσακούω within a scene of intense supplication: “prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears.” The one addressed is described as “him who was able to save him from death,” so the hearing is set against the gravest stakes. The clause “having been heard for his godly fear” connects the hearing to the posture characterized as “godly fear,” presenting listening as aligned with reverent submission. The verse’s structure portrays hearing as the divine response that accompanies earnest petition offered in humility and deep distress.

Sense and Usage

Across these passages, εἰσακούω consistently operates in the relational space between a speaker and a hearer, especially where prayer is directed toward God. In Luke 1:13 and Acts 10:31, the word is used declaratively—“has been heard,” “is heard”—to certify that a request has reached its intended audience and is taken up by God in a way that carries consequences within the story. The hearing is not merely acoustic; it is recognition that stands behind what happens next: a promised birth in Luke and God’s attentive remembrance in Acts.

Matthew 6:7 presents a corrective by exposing a misguided strategy for obtaining that hearing. The thought that “they will be heard for their much speaking” treats hearing as something achieved by verbal quantity. By warning against “vain repetitions,” the verse places the idea of being heard under scrutiny: the desire to secure divine listening can be real, but it can be pursued in an empty way that turns prayer into performance or technique. In that setting, εἰσακούω helps define the temptation—aiming for a hearing—while the instruction challenges the method.

1 Corinthians 14:21 shows the opposite of prayer being heard: God speaks, yet “They won’t even hear me that way.” This use reveals that listening can be resisted; communication alone does not ensure reception. The verse frames the failure as persistent even under unusual conditions (“strange languages,” “lips of strangers”), so εἰσακούω contributes the concept of listening as an act that can be refused. Taken together with the prayer texts, the word’s usage sketches a moral landscape: divine listening to petitions is affirmed, while human listening to divine speech is not automatic.

Hebrews 5:7 intensifies the theme by placing hearing amid “strong crying and tears” and by linking it to “godly fear.” The hearing is pictured within a life-and-death horizon (“save him from death”), and the description underscores that what is offered is not casual speech but urgent petition. Within the verse, εἰσακούω functions as a hinge between the offering of prayer and the reverent character of the one praying, presenting listening as corresponding to a posture of fear before God rather than self-assertion.

Imagery

The passages give εἰσακούω vivid settings: a person praying with many words (Matthew 6:7), an angel announcing that a request has been heard (Luke 1:13), a prayer heard and gifts remembered “in the sight of God” (Acts 10:31), a divine voice speaking through foreign lips yet not being heard (1 Corinthians 14:21), and prayers offered with “strong crying and tears” (Hebrews 5:7). Together these scenes portray listening as the decisive moment when speech—whether petition or proclamation—meets reception, either welcomed and answered or rejected and unheard.

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).