ἀρέσκω
areskō
to please
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Greek word ἀρέσκω (areskō) means "to please." This verb is used 17 times in the Bible. Its meaning is centered around the idea of giving satisfaction or gratification to someone or something, often implying a positive emotional response. The range of usage for ἀρέσκω is quite broad, encompassing a wide set of relationships and contexts. It can refer to the pleasure derived from pleasing a superior, such as a ruler or parent, as well as the satisfaction that comes from following God's will or being part of a community. This verb may also connote a sense of being in harmony or at peace with others. In terms of significance, ἀρέσκω highlights the importance of approval and acceptance in human relationships and interactions with a higher power. It suggests that pleasing others and fulfilling expectations can evoke strong emotions, ranging from gratitude to joy, and that this can be a significant part of our experiences and connections with others.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
17 total occurrences across the text
But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced among them and pleased Herod.
Mark 6:22When the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and those sitting with him. The king said to the young lady, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.”
Acts 6:5These words pleased the whole multitude. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch;
Romans 8:8Those who are in the flesh can’t please God.
Romans 15:1Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Romans 15:2Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, to be building him up.
Romans 15:3For even Christ didn’t please himself. But, as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”
1 Corinthians 7:32But I desire to have you to be free from cares. He who is unmarried is concerned for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;
1 Corinthians 7:33but he who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife.
1 Corinthians 7:34There is also a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband.
1 Corinthians 10:33even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.
Galatians 1:10For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn’t be a servant of Christ.
Galatians 1:10For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn’t be a servant of Christ.
1 Thessalonians 2:4But even as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News, so we speak: not as pleasing men, but God, who tests our hearts.
1 Thessalonians 2:15who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and don’t please God, and are contrary to all men,
1 Thessalonians 4:1Finally then, brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, that you abound more and more.
2 Timothy 2:4No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.