Exploring the Meaning of Perisseuma in Greek

περίσσευμα speaks of “overflow,” a surplus that goes beyond what is merely present. In the New Testament it appears in sayings about speech arising from the heart and in scenes of material plenty, including food left over after eating and resources that can supply another’s lack.

Root and Related Words

περίσσευμα is connected with the verb perisseuō (περισσεύω), meaning “to exceed” (Strong’s G4052). The noun presents the idea of what results when something exceeds its ordinary measure.

Occurrences

“You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34)

Here περίσσευμα characterizes what fills the heart so fully that it spills into speech. The image is not of a small reserve that might or might not be drawn upon, but of an inner store that has reached the point of overflow: the mouth’s words are portrayed as the direct outflow of what the heart has in excess. In the immediate context of sharp address (“offspring of vipers”) and the contrast between “evil” and “good things,” the term underlines the inevitability of that outflow—speech emerges as the overflow of what dominates within.

“They ate, and were filled. They took up seven baskets of broken pieces that were left over.” (Mark 8:8)

In this feeding scene, περίσσευμα is located in what remains after hunger has been satisfied: “They ate, and were filled,” and yet there is still an overflow substantial enough to be gathered—“seven baskets of broken pieces.” The noun places emphasis on more than adequacy; the crowd does not merely receive enough to reach fullness, but the provision exceeds consumption and becomes a tangible remainder that can be collected. The “broken pieces” highlight that the overflow is not theoretical but concrete and countable, measured by what can be taken up.

“The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)

Luke’s wording sets περίσσευμα within a carefully balanced parallel: “good treasure” producing good, and “evil treasure” producing evil. The final clause explains the mechanism—speech is the overflow of the heart. By pairing “treasure” with “abundance,” the saying presents the heart as a repository whose contents accumulate and then issue outward. What is “brought out” corresponds to what has built up within; the mouth functions as the outlet through which the heart’s overflow becomes audible and public. The term thus binds inner moral condition to outward expression without shifting the focus from the heart as the source.

“but for equality. Your abundance at this present time supplies their lack, that their abundance also may become a supply for your lack; that there may be equality.” (2 Corinthians 8:14)

In Paul’s appeal regarding giving, περίσσευμα describes a present surplus that can address someone else’s deficiency: “Your abundance at this present time supplies their lack.” The overflow is framed as transferable, able to become “a supply” across a relationship of need and provision. The verse also projects reciprocity—“that their abundance also may become a supply for your lack”—so the noun functions within a dynamic of mutual support. The repeated contrast between “abundance” and “lack” places περίσσευμα on the side of more-than-enough resources, and the stated aim (“that there may be equality”) shows the overflow being directed toward balance rather than hoarded as private excess.

Sense and Usage

Across these passages, περίσσευμα consistently marks what goes beyond a point of sufficiency and therefore issues outward. In the sayings of Jesus (Matthew 12:34; Luke 6:45), the overflow is inward before it is outward: the heart is pictured as holding a quantity or quality so full that speech becomes its natural spillover. The focus is not on occasional words but on the settled interior “abundance” that makes certain kinds of speech the predictable outcome. In this usage, overflow is explanatory: it accounts for why the mouth speaks as it does, locating the cause in what has accumulated within.

In Mark 8:8, the overflow is physical and visible: the crowd’s filling does not end the matter, because provision remains in “broken pieces that were left over.” Here overflow is measurable; it can be gathered, carried, and counted in “seven baskets.” The noun therefore accommodates both intangible and tangible domains—interior abundance of the heart and concrete surplus of food—without changing the central idea of “more than enough” that extends beyond the immediate need.

In 2 Corinthians 8:14, the overflow is social and economic in effect: it becomes a means by which one group’s sufficiency can meet another group’s lack. The verse shows overflow functioning as capacity, not merely as excess; it is precisely because there is more-than-enough “at this present time” that it can “supply” what is missing elsewhere. The reciprocal phrasing (“that their abundance also may become a supply for your lack”) presents overflow as potentially shifting—today one party has a surplus, another day the situation may reverse—so περίσσευμα can describe a condition that enables mutual care toward the expressed goal of “equality.”

Taken together, these occurrences illustrate overflow as a concept that crosses boundaries: from inner character to speech, from provision to leftover fragments, and from personal or communal resources to the meeting of needs. In each setting, the term highlights that what is present is not merely adequate; it has exceeded a threshold so that something proceeds from it—words from a heart, baskets from a meal, or supply from a surplus.

Imagery

The passages give περίσσευμα a consistent “spilling over” feel, even when the context shifts. In Matthew 12:34 and Luke 6:45, the heart is the brimming source and the mouth the outlet: speech is pictured as what cannot help but come out when the interior is full. Mark 8:8 offers the corresponding picture in material terms, where fullness still leaves a remainder gathered into baskets. And in 2 Corinthians 8:14 the same imagery becomes relational: overflow is portrayed as something that can move outward to “supply” a “lack,” pressing abundance into the service of equality.

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).