What is exegesis?
"Exegesis" is the careful work of drawing meaning OUT of a Bible text — what the original author meant for the original audience. It is the opposite of eisegesis, reading our own ideas INTO the text.
Good exegesis attends to the language (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek), historical setting, literary genre, immediate context, and the broader storyline of Scripture.
Without exegesis we end up with proof-texting — pulling verses out of context to fit our pet ideas. With exegesis the Bible speaks on its own terms.
Every Christian does exegesis — even reading a single verse with attention to its paragraph is exegesis. Pastors and scholars do it more rigorously. The goal is to hear what God actually said.
Original BibleDawn answer · reviewed 2026-06. Drafted with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy.