Agapaō (ἀγαπάω) is the Greek verb form of agapē (ἀγάπη). In classical Greek the word was relatively colorless, sometimes meaning to be content with or to prefer. The Septuagint translators elevated it: agapaō became the standard rendering of the Hebrew ahav (אהב), the verb of covenant love in Deuteronomy 6:5 (Shema), Leviticus 19:18 (love your neighbor), and the prophets' description of YHWH's hesed-faithfulness toward Israel. The Hebraic substrate is what gives the New Testament agapē its weight. The verb was filled with the Septuagint's accumulated meaning before Paul ever picked it up.

BDAG records agapaō as: to have a warm regard for and interest in another, to cherish, to take pleasure in, to demonstrate love by action. Louw-Nida 25.43 places it in the domain of love and affection with the specific note that in biblical Greek agapaō regularly carries the sense of love demonstrated in concrete self-giving rather than emotion alone.

In Ephesians 5:25 the verb governs the husband's command: agapate tas gynaikas (ἀγαπᾶτε τὰς γυναῖκας), love your wives, with the explicit qualifier kathōs kai ho Christos ēgapēsen tēn ekklēsian kai heauton paredōken hyper autēs (just as Messiah loved the assembly and gave Himself up for her). Paul defines the verb by the cross. The husband's love is not affection or approval; it is the cruciform self-giving Yeshua demonstrated. The verb is repeated in 5:28 and 5:33, where Paul layers in the Levitical command (love your neighbor as yourself) applied to the marriage: the husband loves his wife as he loves his own body.