The Greek verb ekkrēmamai literally means to hang from something but is used idiomatically to mean to hang on someone's words — to listen with intense, captivated attention. The image is of a person so absorbed in what they hear that they seem suspended from the speaker's words.
Ekkrēmamai appears only once in the New Testament: Luke 19:48, describing how 'all the people hung on his words' as Jesus taught in the temple during Holy Week. The context is remarkable — the religious authorities are plotting to kill Jesus, but the crowds are so captivated they can't get enough. This single word captures the magnetic authority of Jesus's teaching. It stands as a challenge and an invitation: to read Scripture with that same rapt, hanging-on-every-word attention that crowds showed when the Word Himself taught in person.