"earnest desire, Lk. 22:15; irregular or violent desire, Mk. 4:19; spc. impure desire, lust, Rom. 1:24; met. the object of desire, what enkindles desire, 1 Jn. 2:16, 17"
Definition and meaning
earnest desire, Lk. 22:15; irregular or violent desire, Mk. 4:19; spc. impure desire, lust, Rom. 1:24; met. the object of desire, what enkindles desire, 1 Jn. 2:16, 17
In the original Greek the word is written: ἐπιθυμία
Historical context
The Gospel of Mark moves urgently — the word "immediately" appears over 40 times. It was written for a Roman audience familiar with power and action. Jesus is portrayed as a man who acts, heals, and commands authority that the Roman world had never seen from a Jewish teacher.
The people who first heard this word were not reading a book — they were living through empires, oppression, exile, and covenant. Every word carried the weight of that reality. Understanding it changes how you read Scripture.
Scripture references
These are the most notable occurrences of epithumia (G1939) across the King James Bible.
And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
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Common questions
Strong's G1939 (epithumia) is a Greek word that means: earnest desire, Lk. 22:15; irregular or violent desire, Mk. 4:19; spc. impure desire, lust, Rom. 1:24; met. the object of desire, what enkindles desire, 1 Jn. 2:16, 17 It appears 37 times in the King James Bible.
The word epithumia (G1939) appears 37 times in the original Greek text.
Strong's G1939 is epithumia, a Greek word defined as: earnest desire, Lk. 22:15; irregular or violent desire, Mk. 4:19; spc. impure desire, lust, Rom. 1:24; met. the object of desire, what enkindles desir. James Strong catalogued this in his 1890 concordance to help English readers study the original languages of the Bible.
epithumia is a Greek word found in the New Testament.