Exploring the Meaning of Strepho in Greek

στρέφω describes the act of turning, whether as a bodily movement in a scene or as a decisive change of direction within a moral exhortation. In the Gospels it regularly marks a pivot: someone turns toward another person, or a listener is told to turn in response to a demand of the kingdom.

Occurrences

Matthew 5:39 — “But I tell you, don’t resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

Here the command to “turn” belongs to Jesus’ instruction on non-retaliation. The turning is concrete and bodily: instead of meeting injury with resistance, the struck person reorients and presents “the other also.” The movement of turning enacts the refusal to answer violence in kind, making a physical gesture carry the force of the ethical instruction.

Matthew 7:6 — “Don’t give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

στρέφω marks a sudden reversal by the animals. After trampling what was given, they “turn and tear you to pieces,” shifting from mere disregard to direct attack. The verb highlights the change in orientation from the offered object to the giver, sharpening the warning by picturing a rapid, dangerous pivot.

Matthew 9:22 — “But Jesus, turning around and seeing her, said, “Daughter, cheer up! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.”

Jesus’ “turning around” frames his attention to the woman within the crowd. The turn is the visible transition from moving on to directly seeing her, and it sets up his spoken address. In this scene, the verb serves as the hinge between her approach and his personal recognition of her.

Matthew 16:23 — “But he turned, and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.””

The turn precedes a direct, confrontational word to Peter. The physical reorientation (“he turned”) matches the rhetorical shift from conversation to rebuke. The movement signals that Peter’s statement requires an immediate response, and it introduces the contrast Jesus names between “the things of God” and “the things of men.”

Matthew 18:3 — “and said, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Here στρέφω is not a momentary bodily action but a demanded change of direction expressed as a condition: “unless you turn.” The turning is paired with “become as little children,” so the verb functions as the decisive reorientation that makes such becoming possible. In the sentence, it stands as the threshold movement tied to entrance into “the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Matthew 27:3 — “Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, felt remorse, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,”

Within this report of Judas’ remorse, στρέφω contributes to the action of reversal implied by “brought back.” The narrative stresses that, upon seeing condemnation, Judas changes course with respect to “the thirty pieces of silver,” returning what he had received. The turn is expressed through the concrete act of bringing the money back to those who had paid it.

Luke 7:9 — “When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude who followed him, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel.””

Jesus “turned” to address “the multitude who followed him,” redirecting his speech from the immediate situation to the larger crowd. The turn functions as an outward gesture that gathers the followers into the moment, making his evaluation of faith a public declaration. It is a narrative cue that his words are intentionally aimed at those behind or around him.

Luke 7:44 — “Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head.”

στρέφω sets up a striking split between bodily orientation and spoken addressee: Jesus turns “to the woman” while speaking “to Simon.” The turn places the woman in the foreground as the embodied reference point for what he says. By turning toward her, Jesus’ question—“Do you see this woman?”—is enacted as well as spoken, confronting Simon with the person he has overlooked.

Luke 9:55 — “But he turned and rebuked them, “You don’t know of what kind of spirit you are.”

The verb introduces a rebuke directed at “them,” and the turning signals a decisive break with whatever prompted their words or actions. The narrative is brief: the turn itself functions as the transition into correction. In this scene, στρέφω underlines that Jesus’ response is not incidental; it is a purposeful reorientation toward the disciples that carries admonition.

Luke 10:22 — “Turning to the disciples, he said, “All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is, except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son desires to reveal him.””

Jesus’ turning specifies his intended audience: “the disciples.” The movement marks a shift from a broader setting to a focused disclosure about the Father and the Son. στρέφω thus helps distinguish levels of address, indicating that what follows is given in a directed way to those closest to him.

Luke 10:23 — “Turning to the disciples, he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see,”

The same turning is repeated with the added note “privately,” emphasizing the intimacy of the moment. στρέφω here is part of the staging: Jesus turns so that the blessing is delivered in a more secluded orientation, not simply spoken into the air. The verb contributes to the sense that this is a deliberate, personal word.

Luke 14:25 — “Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them,”

In a traveling scene with “great multitudes,” the turn indicates a reversal of direction toward the followers, preparing for instruction. The crowd is already “going with him,” but στρέφω marks the moment Jesus actively engages them rather than merely being accompanied by them. It functions as a narrative pivot: movement becomes address.

Sense and Usage

Across these passages, στρέφω consistently serves as a hinge word, linking one orientation to another. In several scenes it is plainly physical: a person turns to present “the other also” (Matthew 5:39), animals “turn and tear” after trampling (Matthew 7:6), Jesus turns around to see and speak (Matthew 9:22), or he turns toward a group to address it (Luke 7:9; Luke 14:25). The verb’s simplicity is part of its narrative power: it marks a change that can be seen.

Yet the same act of turning also carries interpersonal weight. When Jesus turns, the verb often introduces speech that defines the moment: a rebuke to Peter (Matthew 16:23), a correction to the disciples (Luke 9:55), or weighty teaching reserved for “the disciples” (Luke 10:22–23). The turning functions like a spotlight shift. It does not merely report motion; it specifies the direction of attention and therefore clarifies who is being engaged by the words that follow.

στρέφω can also operate as a demand for reorientation that goes beyond bodily movement. In Matthew 18:3, “unless you turn” is framed as a requirement bound up with becoming “as little children” and entering “the Kingdom of Heaven.” The verb thereby supports a call for a decisive directional change in posture or approach, expressed as a condition with serious consequence. Even when the action is narrated rather than commanded, the idea of reversal remains vivid: Judas, upon seeing condemnation, “brought back the thirty pieces of silver” (Matthew 27:3), an enacted turning that reverses the earlier transaction.

Together these uses show στρέφω working at two levels at once. On the surface it denotes turning as an observable motion, but within discourse it regularly marks the moment a relationship shifts—toward nonresistance, toward warning, toward recognition, toward rebuke, or toward private instruction. The scenes use turning to make inward or relational change legible in outward movement.

Imagery

The imagery of στρέφω in these passages is concrete and kinetic: a cheek turned, an attacker’s sudden pivot, a teacher turning to face a crowd, or a speaker turning toward one person while addressing another. These turns are rarely neutral; they create the moment in which words land. Whether the turn results in mercy (Matthew 5:39), danger (Matthew 7:6), healing recognition (Matthew 9:22), or sharp correction (Luke 9:55), στρέφω frames turning as the visible edge where the direction of an encounter changes.

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).