λαλεω, λέγω, ρήμα

[Megan Spencer]

I was reading Luke 24:1-12 today, and it stirred up this question again. I notice that the telling of the account uses λαλεω και ρημα, and not λεγω.

I remember my lecturer making a comment suggesting that some see ρημα leaning more towards being a reference to spoken words, and λεγω leaning more towards a reference to written words.

I'd love to settle this question for myself, but I am not quite at the point where I can just comfortably read large blocks of greek text, so I don't yet have an internal sense of the semantic range for λαλεω, λέγω, ρήμα. I wonder if someone a little more down the Greek journey could share their sense of how these words intersect?

[Barry Hofstetter]

In general, λέγω/λόγος refer to content, and have fairly broad range of usage. λαλέω has in view more speech as actually speaking, and ῥῆμα refers to a specific word, even a vocabulary item (and is even the technical term for a verb). However, as is frequent with words that have a lot of overlapping semantic range, they can be practical synonyms, and too much can be made out of the distinctions, so pay careful attention to context.

[Stirling Bartholomew]

I was reading Luke 24:1-12 today, and it stirred up this question again. I notice that the telling of the account uses λαλεω και ρημα, and not λεγω.

Actually Luke 24:1-12 uses λεγω several times.

The STEP Bible https://www.stepbible.org/?q=version=SB ... ions=VGNHU


Luke 24

1τῇ δὲ μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων ὄρθρου βαθέως ▼ ἐπὶ τὸ μνῆμα ἦλθον ⸃ φέρουσαι ἃ ἡτοίμασαν ▼ ἀρώματα. 2εὗρον δὲ τὸν λίθον ἀποκεκυλισμένον ἀπὸ τοῦ μνημείου, 3 ▼ εἰσελθοῦσαι δὲ ⸃ οὐχ εὗρον τὸ ▼ σῶμα. 4καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ▼ ἀπορεῖσθαι αὐτὰς περὶ τούτου καὶ ἰδοὺ ἄνδρες δύο ἐπέστησαν αὐταῖς ἐν ▼ ἐσθῆτι ἀστραπτούσῃ ⸃. 5ἐμφόβων δὲ γενομένων αὐτῶν καὶ κλινουσῶν ▼ τὰ πρόσωπα ⸃ εἰς τὴν γῆν εἶπαν πρὸς αὐτάς· Τί ζητεῖτε τὸν ζῶντα μετὰ τῶν νεκρῶν; 6 ▼ οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε, ἀλλὰ ἠγέρθη. ⸃ μνήσθητε ὡς ἐλάλησεν ὑμῖν ἔτι ὢν ἐν τῇ Γαλιλαίᾳ, 7 λέγων ▼ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὅτι δεῖ ⸃ παραδοθῆναι εἰς χεῖρας ἀνθρώπων ἁμαρτωλῶν καὶ σταυρωθῆναι καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἀναστῆναι. 8καὶ ἐμνήσθησαν τῶν ῥημάτων αὐτοῦ, 9καὶ ὑποστρέψασαι ἀπὸ τοῦ μνημείου ἀπήγγειλαν ταῦτα πάντα τοῖς ἕνδεκα καὶ πᾶσιν τοῖς λοιποῖς. 10ἦσαν δὲ ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ Μαρία καὶ Ἰωάννα καὶ Μαρία ▼ ἡ Ἰακώβου καὶ αἱ λοιπαὶ σὺν αὐταῖς· ▼ ἔλεγον πρὸς τοὺς ἀποστόλους ταῦτα. 11καὶ ἐφάνησαν ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν ὡσεὶ λῆρος τὰ ῥήματα ▼ ταῦτα, καὶ ἠπίστουν αὐταῖς. 12 ▼ Ὁ δὲ Πέτρος ἀναστὰς ἔδραμεν ἐπὶ τὸ μνημεῖον· καὶ παρακύψας βλέπει τὰ ▼ ὀθόνια μόνα· καὶ ἀπῆλθεν πρὸς ▼ αὑτὸν θαυμάζων τὸ γεγ