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Greek verb · G5442

φυλάσσω

phylassofoo-las'-so

to keep/guard: protect

31 uses in the Greek text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key

Concordance spelling: phylássō

Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's G5442is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.

  • 13 of 27
    New Testament books
  • 20
    spellings

The definition in full

Strong's key (1890) · G5442

to watch, i.e. be on guard (literally of figuratively); by implication, to preserve, obey, avoid

The King James renders it: beward, keep (self), observe, save.

James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.

Summary

phylasso is rendered "to keep/guard: protect". It stands 31 times in the Greek text, across thirteen books.

  • Eight of the uses stand in Acts, more than in any other book.
  • Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Matthew 19:20“All these I have kept,” said the young man. “What do I still lack?”
  • The Greek text spells it twenty different ways.

The first use

“All these I have kept,” said the young man. “What do I still lack?”

Matthew 19:20ἐφύλαξα

The first use, in the order of the New Testament's books.

Where the word stands

Eight of the word's thirty-one uses are in Acts.

The other 14 New Testament books never use the word.

What the word means

Each meaning, and the words it is translated by

How the Greek text is glossed, word by word

  • keeping3
  • do keep2
  • I have kept2
  • shall keep2
  • to guard2
  • to keep2
  • being kept1
  • do beware1
  • do guard1
  • do keep yourselves1
  • do yourself beware of1
  • He will keep1

and 12 more, 31 uses in all

The words built on the same word-part

Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.

φυλακήphylakeprison/watch: watchUses47
φύλαξphylaxguardUses3
φυλακίζωphylakizoto imprisonUses1
φυλακτήριονphylakterionphylacteryUses1

The words it stands beside

All 31, in canonical order

Every use, in order

Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.

20 spellings and their grammar

STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.

How it is spelled

  • ἐφύλαξα3
  • φυλάξαι2
  • φυλάξει2
  • φύλαξον2
  • φυλάσσειν2
  • φυλάσσεσθαι2
  • φυλάσσεσθε2
  • φυλάσσῃ2
  • φυλάσσοντες2
  • φυλάσσων2
  • ἐφυλαξάμην1
  • ἐφυλάξατε.¶1

and 8 more spellings in the ledger below.

The grammar of each form

  • verb · aorist active, indicative · 1st person singular3V-AAI-1S
  • verb · aorist active, command · 2nd person singular2V-AAM-2S
  • verb · aorist active, infinitive (“to…”)2V-AAN
  • verb · future active, indicative · 3rd person singular2V-FAI-3S
  • verb · present active, infinitive (“to…”)2V-PAN
  • verb · present active, participle · nominative (subject) · masculine plural2V-PAP-NPM
  • verb · present active, participle · nominative (subject) · masculine singular2V-PAP-NSM
  • verb · present active, subjunctive · 3rd person singular2V-PAS-3S
  • verb · present middle or passive, infinitive (“to…”)2V-PEN
  • verb · present middle, command · 2nd person plural2V-PMM-2P
  • verb · aorist active, indicative · 2nd person plural1V-AAI-2P
  • verb · aorist active, indicative · 3rd person singular1V-AAI-3S

Matthew

one use
  • “All these I have kept,” said the young man. “What do I still lack?”

    Matthew 19:20

    • ἐφύλαξαephulaxaverb · aorist active, indicative · 1st person singulartagged: I have kept

Mark

one use
  • “Teacher,” he replied, “all these I have kept from my youth.”

    Mark 10:20

    • ἐφυλαξάμηνephulaxamenverb · aorist middle, indicative · 1st person singulartagged: I have kept

Luke

six uses
  • And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night.

    Luke 2:8

    • φυλάσσοντεςphulassontesverb · present active, participle · nominative (subject) · masculine pluraltagged: keeping
  • For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was bound with chains and shackles, he had broken the chains and been driven by the demon into solitary places.

    Luke 8:29

    • φυλασσόμενοςphulassomenosverb · present passive, participle · nominative (subject) · masculine singulartagged: being kept
  • When a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are secure.

    Luke 11:21

    • φυλάσσῃphulasseverb · present active, subjunctive · 3rd person singulartagged: may guard
  • But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

    Luke 11:28

    • φυλάσσοντεςphulassontesverb · present active, participle · nominative (subject) · masculine pluraltagged: keeping
  • And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

    Luke 12:15

    • φυλάσσεσθεphulassestheverb · present middle, command · 2nd person pluraltagged: do keep yourselves
  • “All these I have kept from my youth,” he said.

    Luke 18:21

    • ἐφύλαξαephulaxaverb · aorist active, indicative · 1st person singulartagged: I kept

John

three uses
  • Whoever loves his life will lose it, but whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

    John 12:25

    • φυλάξειphulaxeiverb · future active, indicative · 3rd person singulartagged: will keep
  • As for anyone who hears My words and does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

    John 12:47

    • φυλάξῃphulaxeverb · aorist active, subjunctive · 3rd person singulartagged: shall keep
  • While I was with them, I protected and preserved them by Your name, the name You gave Me. Not one of them has been lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

    John 17:12

    • ἐφύλαξαephulaxaverb · aorist active, indicative · 1st person singulartagged: I guarded

Acts

eight uses
  • you who received the law ordained by angels, yet have not kept it.”

    Acts 7:53

    • ἐφυλάξατε.¶ephulaxateverb · aorist active, indicative · 2nd person pluraltagged: kept
  • He arrested him and put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

    Acts 12:4

    • φυλάσσεινphulasseinverb · present active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to guard
  • As they went from town to town, they delivered the decisions handed down by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey.

    Acts 16:4

    • φυλάσσεινphulasseinverb · present active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to keep
  • Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is no truth to these rumors about you, but that you also live in obedience to the law.

    Acts 21:24

    • φυλάσσωνphulassonverb · present active, participle · nominative (subject) · masculine singulartagged: keeping
  • As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”

    Acts 21:25

    • φυλάσσεσθαιphulassesthaiverb · present middle or passive, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to keep from
  • And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’

    Acts 22:20

    • φυλάσσωνphulassonverb · present active, participle · nominative (subject) · masculine singulartagged: watching over
  • he said, “I will hear your case when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod’s Praetorium.

    Acts 23:35

    • φυλάσσεσθαιphulassesthaiverb · present middle or passive, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to be guarded
  • When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to stay by himself, with a soldier to guard him.

    Acts 28:16

    • φυλάσσοντιphulassontiverb · present active, participle · dative (“to / for”) · masculine singulartagged: is guarding

Romans

one use
  • If a man who is not circumcised keeps the requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

    Romans 2:26

    • φυλάσσῃphulasseverb · present active, subjunctive · 3rd person singulartagged: shall keep

Galatians

one use
  • For the circumcised do not even keep the law themselves, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.

    Galatians 6:13

    • φυλάσσουσινphulassousinverb · present active, indicative · 3rd person pluraltagged: keep

2 Thessalonians

one use
  • But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.

    2 Thessalonians 3:3

    • φυλάξειphulaxeiverb · future active, indicative · 3rd person singulartagged: He will keep

1 Timothy

two uses
  • I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels to maintain these principles without bias, and to do nothing out of partiality.

    1 Timothy 5:21

    • φυλάξῃςphulaxesverb · aorist active, subjunctive · 2nd person singulartagged: you may keep
  • O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid irreverent, empty chatter and the opposing arguments of so-called “knowledge,”

    1 Timothy 6:20

    • φύλαξονphulaxonverb · aorist active, command · 2nd person singulartagged: do guard

2 Timothy

three uses
  • For this reason, even though I suffer as I do, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.

    2 Timothy 1:12

    • φυλάξαιphulaxaiverb · aorist active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to guard
  • Guard the treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

    2 Timothy 1:14

    • φύλαξονphulaxonverb · aorist active, command · 2nd person singulartagged: do keep
  • You too should beware of him, for he has vigorously opposed our message.

    2 Timothy 4:15

    • φυλάσσουphulassouverb · present middle, command · 2nd person singulartagged: do yourself beware of

2 Peter

two uses
  • if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight;

    2 Peter 2:5

    • ἐφύλαξενephulaxenverb · aorist active, indicative · 3rd person singulartagged: preserved
  • Therefore, beloved, since you already know these things, be on your guard so that you will not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure standing.

    2 Peter 3:17

    • φυλάσσεσθεphulassestheverb · present middle, command · 2nd person pluraltagged: do beware

1 John

one use
  • Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

    1 John 5:21

    • φυλάξατεphulaxateverb · aorist active, command · 2nd person pluraltagged: do keep

Jude

one use
  • Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—

    Jude 1:24

    • φυλάξαιphulaxaiverb · aorist active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to keep

Where it leads

How the numbers are counted

Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.

Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.

The words it stands beside are the nouns, verbs and adjectives immediately before or after it, counted in every verse where the word stands. The article, the conjunctions and the prepositions are left out, because they stand beside every word.

The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.

Hebrew and Greek text, word tagging and grammar: STEP Bible (www.STEPBible.org), Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0. Their grammar codes are written out in English here and shown as tagged beside each one.

Meaning and senses: STEP Bible TBESG (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0), the Brief lexicon based on Abbott-Smith (1922).

Dictionary key: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890, public domain). English verse text: Berean Standard Bible (public domain, 2023).

Revised 2026-09-05. Every cited work, the sources registry →