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1 Corinthians 1:22 — Word Study

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N1904ἐπειδὴ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι σημεῖα αἰτοῦσιν καὶ Ἕλληνες σοφίαν ζητοῦσιν,

BSASeeing thatepeidē bothkai [also, additionally] JewsIoudaios [from the tribe of Judah, people of Jewish descent] signssēmeion [miraculous tokens, supernatural indications] ask foraiteō [ask for, require] andkai GreeksHellēn [non-Jewish people, Gentiles] wisdomsophia [higher understanding, spiritual insight] seek,zēteō [look for, seek after]

Word
Listen & take away1 Corinthians 1
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 22 is in this chapter.
Greek ↓ Download MP3 Nestle 1904 — the very text on this page — read by Andy Martin in Erasmian pronunciation.
Say the word Each Greek word carries its transliteration (zēteō) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
1 Corinthians 1:22quick helps
In a sentenceJews are looking for miraculous signs, while Greeks are in search of wisdom.
Who is speakingThe Apostle Paul, addressing the Corinthian church.
Where we areThis verse is part of Paul's argument about the differing responses to the message of Christ.
The hard wordσημεῖον
Take awayDifferent cultures seek different forms of validation.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause subjectἸουδαῖος verbαἰτέω The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
How rare are these words?in the New Testament

Every word here is used elsewhere in the New Testament.

Bars are logarithmic — , the commonest word in the Greek New Testament, stands 19,867 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.

Deep Study — 1 Corinthians 1:22

Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.

Context — The Message of the Crossgenerated

21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
22Jews demand signs and Greeks search for wisdom,
23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

1 Corinthians 1:22 is situated within Paul's discourse on the wisdom of God versus the wisdom of the world. He contrasts the expectations of Jews and Greeks, highlighting how their cultural backgrounds influence their responses to the gospel. The Jews, rooted in signs and wonders, seek miraculous proof of God's power, while the Greeks, influenced by philosophical thought, pursue wisdom and understanding. This sets the stage for Paul's proclamation of Christ crucified, which challenges both groups' expectations.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
1Matthew 12:38–39Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”
2Matthew 16:1–4Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came and tested Jesus by asking Him to show them a sign from heaven.
3Mark 8:11Then the Pharisees came and began to argue with Jesus, testing Him by demanding from Him a sign from heaven.
4Luke 11:16–20And others tested Him by demanding a sign from heaven.
5John 2:18On account of this, the Jews demanded, “What sign can You show us to prove Your authority to do these things?”

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 7 references, hung on the phrase they belong to

the GreeksActs 17:18–21

The Key Word σημεῖον, sēmeiongenerated

The word σημεῖον is a neuter noun meaning 'sign' or 'token'. It often refers to miraculous signs that indicate divine authority or intervention. In this context, it reflects the Jewish demand for proof of Jesus' divine mission through miracles.

This term appears in various New Testament passages, emphasizing its role in demonstrating God's power. It is not merely a sign but a miraculous indication that points to something greater, aligning with the Jewish expectation of signs as evidence of God's action.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The verse is rendered in the Berean Standard Bible as 'Jews demand signs and Greeks search for wisdom,' which is consistent across most translations. The KJV uses 'require a sign' while others like the ASV use 'ask for signs', both conveying a similar sense of demand.

Where translations differ is in the rendering of σημεῖα — the BSB and several others use 'signs', while the KJV opts for 'sign'. Additionally, the ASV and others use 'ask for' for αἰτοῦσιν, contrasting with 'require' in the KJV.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main clause is introduced by the conjunction καὶ, with two subjects: Ἰουδαῖοι (Jews) and Ἕλληνες (Greeks). Each subject has its own verb: αἰτοῦσιν (demand) and ζητοῦσιν (search). This structure highlights the parallelism between the two groups' actions.

The verse's construction emphasizes the contrasting cultural expectations, with the Jews seeking miraculous signs and the Greeks pursuing wisdom. The use of conjunctions connects these ideas smoothly, illustrating the differences in how each group approaches the message of Christ.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

σημεῖον appears in the Septuagint as a translation of the Hebrew word for 'sign' (אוֹת), often used in contexts indicating divine intervention or miraculous events. This connection reinforces the Jewish expectation of signs as proof of God's action.

Ἰουδαῖος is also found in the Septuagint, referring to those of Jewish descent, linking the cultural and religious identity of the Jews to their demand for signs.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

1 Corinthians 1:22 tells us that Jews are looking for miraculous signs to prove God's power, while Greeks are seeking wisdom and understanding. This highlights the different ways people respond to the message of Christ, showing how cultural backgrounds influence their expectations.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean that Jews demand signs?

Jews expect miraculous proof of God's presence and power, as seen throughout the Old Testament, where signs often accompanied God's messages.

Why do Greeks seek wisdom?

Greeks, influenced by philosophy and intellectual pursuits, look for deeper understanding and insight, valuing reason and knowledge.

How does this verse relate to the message of Christ?

Paul contrasts the expectations of both groups with the message of Christ crucified, which challenges their understanding and reveals a different kind of wisdom.

What significance does this verse have for today?

It reminds us that people from different backgrounds may seek God in different ways, and that the message of Christ transcends cultural expectations.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. How do I see cultural expectations influencing my understanding of faith?
  2. In what ways do I seek signs or wisdom in my own life?
  3. How can I share the message of Christ with others who have different expectations?
  4. What does it mean for me to embrace the wisdom of God over worldly wisdom?

The early church on this verse — how the Fathers read it

Early church Fathers referenced this verse to discuss the differing responses to the gospel message, particularly in relation to signs and wisdom.

Clement of AlexandriaThe Stromata Book 1 c. 150–215
Why, then, you will ask, did you think it fit that such an arrangement should be adopted in your memoranda? Because there is great danger in divulging the secret of the true philosophy to those,
Early Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 1 →
TertullianAgainst Marcion Book V c. 155–220
Since then the man, not the god, of the world in his wisdom knew not God, whom indeed he ought to have known (both the Jew by his knowledge of the Scriptures, and all the human race by their knowledge of God's works), therefore that God,
Early Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 1 →
CyprianTreatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews c. 200–258
"Because the Jews require a sign, and the Creeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles foolishness;
Early Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 1 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on 1 Corinthians 1:22 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For the Jews require a sign,.... The Jews had always been used to miracles, in confirmation of the mission of the prophets sent unto them, and therefore insisted on a sign proving Jesus to be the

Read John Gill on 1 Corinthians 1 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: For - literally, Whereas.

Read Robert Jamieson on 1 Corinthians 1 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible

The Jews were not without some true Divine revelation, and owned the true God, and only desired some miraculous operation from Christ, , to confirm them that Christ was sent from God: without signs and wonders they would not believe; giving no credit at all to the words of Christ. And the Greeks, (by whom the apostle understands the Gentiles), especially the more learned part of them, (for Greece was at this time very famous for human literature), they sought after the demonstration of all things from natural causes and rational arguments, and despised every thing which could not so be made out unto them.

Read Matthew Poole on 1 Corinthians 1 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: Ver. 22. For the Jews require, &c.] The reason of their rejecting the gospel is, they are prepossessed against it; they look for that which it affordeth not. A prejudicate opinion bars up the understanding. Intus existens prohibet alienum, like muddy water in a vessel, that causeth the most precious liquor to run over. And the Greeks seek after wisdom] Which yet they attained not. For Sapiens est cui res sapiunt prout sunt, saith Bernard, he is a wise man who conceiveth of things as they are; and all the wisdom of man is only in this, that he rightly know and worship God, saith Lactantius. But this these Greeks could never…

Read John Trapp on 1 Corinthians 1 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(22) For.—This is a further unfolding of the fact of the simplicity of the preaching of the Cross. It pandered neither to Jewish-minded persons (not in the Greek “the Jews,” “the Gentiles,” but simply “Jews,” “Gentiles”) who desired visible portents to support the teaching, nor to those of Greek taste who desired an actual and clear philosophic proof of it. (See Matthew 12:38; Mark 8:11; Luke 11:16; John 4:48.)

Read Charles John Ellicott on 1 Corinthians 1 →
AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

Verse 22. For the Jews require a sign] Instead of σημειον, a sign, ABCDEFG, several others, both the Syriac, Coptic, Vulgate, and Itala, with many of the fathers, have σημεια, signs; which reading, as undoubtedly genuine, Griesbach has admitted into the text. There never was a people in the universe more difficult to be persuaded of the truth than the Jews: and had not their religion been incontestably proved by the most striking and indubitable miracles, they never would have received it. This slowness of heart to believe, added to their fear of being deceived, induced them to require miracles to attest every thing that professed to come from God. They were a wicked and adulterous…

Read AdamClarke on 1 Corinthians 1 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. the Jews require a sign] The plural, ‘signs’ ‘miracles,’ is the better supported reading here. The Jews (Matthew 12:38; Matthew 16:1; Mark 8:11; Luke 11:16; John 2:18; John 6:30) required external attestations of the power of Christ, and especially that of the subjugation of the world to His kingly authority. The Greeks sought dialectic skill from one who aspired to be their teacher.

Read Cambridge on 1 Corinthians 1 →
Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For the Jews require a sign - A miracle, a prodigy, an evidence of divine interposition. This was the characteristic of the Jewish people.

Read Albert Barnes on 1 Corinthians 1 →

The verse in English, compared — 16 translations, and where they part company

Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.

Modern formal

BSBBerean Standard Bible2020

Jews demand signs and Greeks search for wisdom,

WEBWorld English Bible2000

For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom,

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

Jews demand a sign and Greeks search for wisdom,

NETBNew English Translation2006

For Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks ask for wisdom,

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom:

RVARevised Version, American1894

Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom:

NWBWebster's Bible1833

For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek wisdom:

GNVGeneva Bible1599

Seeing also that the Iewes require a signe, and the Grecians seeke after wisdome.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

Since Jews indeed ask for signs, and Greeks seek wisdom;

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

Since also Jews ask a sign, and Greeks seek wisdom,

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

Since also Jews ask a sign, and Greeks seek wisdom,

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

For Jews ask for miraculous signs and Greeks seek wisdom.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

For both the Jews require signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

The Jews ask for miraculous signs, and Greeks look for wisdom,

BBEBible in Basic English1949

Seeing that the Jews make request for signs, and the Greeks are looking for knowledge:

Word by word, the decisions they made

σημεῖαsēmeion signs G4592 2 different renderings
signsASV BBE BSB DBY DRA FBV NETB RVA ULB WEB
signKJV LSV MSB NWB YLT
αἰτοῦσινaiteō ask for G154 2 different renderings
ask forASV DBY FBV NETB RVA ULB WEB
requireDRA GNV KJV NWB
ζητοῦσιν,zēteō seek, G2212 3 different renderings
seek afterASV DRA KJV RVA WEB
seekDBY LSV NWB ULB YLT
look forFBV

Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.


The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the Nestle 1904 treebank

This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.

clauseγὰρforclauseἐπειδὴSinceclauseprepositional phrase · adverbialἐνinnoun phraseτῇthenoun phraseσοφίᾳwisdomnoun phraseτοῦ-Θεοῦof Godadverbialοὐκnotverbἔγνωknewnoun phrase · subjecttheκόσμοςworldprepositional phrase · adverbialδιὰthroughnoun phraseτῆςtheσοφίαςwisdomnoun phrase · objectτὸν-ΘεόνGodclauseverbεὐδόκησενwas pleasednoun phrase · subject-ΘεὸςGodprepositional phrase · adverbialδιὰthroughnoun phraseτῆςthenoun phraseμωρίαςfoolishnessnoun phraseτοῦof theκηρύγματοςproclamationclause · objectverbσῶσαιto savenoun phrase · objectτοὺςthoseclauseverbπιστεύονταςbelievingclauseἐπειδὴSeeing thatclauseκαὶbothclausesubjectἸουδαῖοιJewsobjectσημεῖαsignsverbαἰτοῦσινask forκαὶandclausesubjectἝλληνεςGreeksobjectσοφίανwisdomverbζητοῦσινseek

Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.


The earliest translations — Latin and Syriac

Every translation is an argument about meaning made by someone who had to commit to one. These two were made while the Greek was still a living language, and they are the oldest opinions we have about what this verse says.

Latin VulgateAD 382–405

Quoniam et Judæi signa petunt, et Græci sapientiam quærunt :

Jerome revised the Old Latin against the Greek from AD 382; the Latin west read this text for a thousand years.

Syriac Peshittaby AD 400

ܡܛܠ ܕܝܗܘܕܝܐ ܐܬܘܬܐ ܫܐܠܝܢ ܘܐܪܡܝܐ ܚܟܡܬܐ ܒܥܝܢ

The Bible of the Syriac-speaking church, in the language nearest to the Aramaic Jesus spoke.

Shown verse by verse rather than word by word: aligning a Greek word to its Latin or Syriac counterpart automatically would be guesswork, and a wrong alignment is worse than none.


The Greek editions compared — what the manuscripts actually say

Eight printed editions of the Greek New Testament, side by side. Where they agree the wording is settled; where a word is missing from an edition it is marked, so you can see the difference rather than take it on trust.

Nestle-Aland 28th edition2012 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

ἐπειδὴ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι σημεῖα αἰτοῦσιν καὶ Ἕλληνες σοφίαν ζητοῦσιν,

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

ἐπειδὴ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι σημεῖα αἰτοῦσιν καὶ Ἕλληνες σοφίαν ζητοῦσιν,

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

ἐπειδὴ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι σημεῖα αἰτοῦσιν καὶ Ἕλληνες σοφίαν ζητοῦσιν,

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

ἐπειδὴ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι σημεῖα αἰτοῦσιν καὶ Ἕλληνες σοφίαν ζητοῦσιν,

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

ἐπειδὴ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι σημεῖα αἰτοῦσιν καὶ Ἕλληνες σοφίαν ζητοῦσιν,

An independent critical text built from the oldest witnesses then known.

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

ἐπειδὴ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι σημεῖα αἰτοῦσιν καὶ Ἕλληνες σοφίαν ζητοῦσιν,

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

ἐπειδὴ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι αἰτοῦσιν καὶ Ἕλληνες σοφίαν ζητοῦσιν,

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

ἐπειδὴ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι αἰτοῦσιν καὶ Ἕλληνες σοφίαν ζητοῦσιν,

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

Every witness on this verse they differ
Critical editions
Nestle-Aland 28th edition2012Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993SBL Greek New Testament2010Westcott–Hort1881Tregelles1857–1879Tyndale House Greek NT2017
Byzantine / Majority
Byzantine majority text2018
Received Text
Textus Receptus1550/1894

A witness that read differently would show its variant word here, marked.

Word by word, across the editions

WordEditions carrying itMissing from
σημεῖα signsNA28, NA27, Tyn, SBL, WH, TregTR, Byz

The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with

This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Greek New Testament — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.

1 Corinthians 1:22ἐπειδήSeeing thatSeeing thatἐπειδήκαίbothbothκαίἸουδαῖοςJewsJewsἸουδαῖοςσημεῖονsignssignsσημεῖοναἰτέωask forask forαἰτέωκαίandandκαίἝλληνGreeksGreeksἝλληνσοφίαwisdomwisdomσοφίαζητέωseek,seek,ζητέωἐπείCj. after,Cj. after, for,ἐπείἸούδαςn.m. Judahn.m. Judah, JudἸούδαςπυνθάνομαιv. I ask, v. I ask, inquiπυνθάνομαιἙλλάςn.f. Hellan.f. Hellas, GrἙλλάςσοφόςAdj wiseAdj wiseσοφόςσημαίνωv. I signiv. I signify, iσημαίνωγάρCj. forCj. forγάρἝλληνn.m. a Heln.m. a Hellene,Ἕλληνσυλλαμβάνωv. I seizev. I seize, appσυλλαμβάνωτέραςn.n. a wonn.n. a wonder, τέραςΠιλᾶτοςn.m. Pilatn.m. PilateΠιλᾶτοςπίνωv. I drinkv. I drink, imbπίνωἔνιv. there iv. there is in,ἔνιτέDisj.prt. Disj.prt. and, τέΣολομώνn.m. Solomn.m. SolomonΣολομώνδικαιόωv. I make v. I make rightδικαιόωἀποκτείνωv. I put tv. I put to deaἀποκτείνωσημεῖονn.n. a sign.n. a sign, miσημεῖον
meets it a little oftener than chancemeets it far oftener than chancebuilt from the same roottwo words of the verse share ita word of this versea related word

Lexicons — every word in 1 Corinthians 1:22

One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Greek lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.

Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. Imported from the CrossWire SWORD modules — Abbott-Smith, the full Liddell-Scott-Jones, Strong's, Dodson, the Intermediate LSJ, Robinson and Packard on the Greek, Webster and Cawdrey on the English the translators were using. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.

Seeing that both Jews signs ask for and Greeks wisdom seek,
ἐπειδὴepeidē Seeing that G1894 Conjunction
10× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Since now refers to a point in time or a cause, as seen in Luke 11:6 and Acts 13:46. This word is used to describe a reason or a time. It appears in various Bible passages to introduce a cause or a time, often indicating a shift in action or thought.
Tyndale gloss
since
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

ἐπειδή is a conjunction meaning 'since' or 'when,' used both for temporal and causal contexts. It appears in various New Testament passages, such as Luke 7:1 and Acts 13:46. The word is built from elements meaning 'after' and 'now,' indicating a relationship between events or reasons. While most entries agree on its meanings, some lexicons highlight different nuances in usage.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐπει-δή

conj.;

of time, when now, after that: Lk 7:1 (WH, txt.).

Of cause, seeing that, forasmuch as: Lk 11:6, Ac 13:46 (WH, txt., RV) Ac 14:12 15:24, I Co 1:21, 22 14:16 15:21, Phl 2:26.†

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

ἐπειδή; Phil. iii. 12, (ἐφ᾽ ᾧ--ὁ σατανᾶς ---οὐκἴσχυσε θανατῶσαι αὐτούς. Theoph. ad Autol. 2, 29 p. 138 ed. Otto ; ἐφ᾽ ᾧ Γεννάδιον ἔγραψεν, for the reason that he had aceused Gennadius, Synes. ep. 73; ef. Hermann ad Vig. p- 710; the better Greeks commonly used ἐφ᾽ ois in the same sense, cf. W. 394 (368) ; [Fritzsche or Mey. on Ro. l. c.; Ellic. on Phil. 1. c.]). Used esp. after verbs signifying a mental affection or emotion, where we also often say over (for exx. fr. Grk. writ. see Passow i. 2, p. 1039; Kriiger § 68, 41, 6; [cf. W.393 (368) c.]): as ἀγαλλιᾶν, Lk. i. 47; χαίρειν. Mt. xviii. 13; Lk. i. 14; xiii. 17; Ro. xvi. 19, ete.; χαρὰ ἔσται, Lk. xv. 7; χαρὰν (Ree. χάριν) ἔχω, Philem. 7; παρακαλεῖν, παρακαλεῖσθαι, 2 Co. i. 4; νὴῖ. 19: 1 Th. iii. 7; κλαίειν, Lk. xix. 41 RG; κοπετὸν ποιεῖν, Acts Vill. 2; κόπτεσθαι. Rev. xviii. 9 [T Tr WH txt. the acc.]; ὀδυνᾶσθαι, Acts xx. 38; ddodvCeww…

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Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

ἐπειδή. For the causal reference of this word, as in Phil 27%, cf. | P Tebt II. 38299 (B.c. 30—a.p. 1) ἐπειδὴ] Κάστωρ .. . παρακεχώρη(κεν) ἀπὸ τῶν λοιπῶν τοῦ κλήρου... . ᾿Ακουσιλάωι γράφομεν ὑμῖν ty’ ἢ ἐπιμε]λὲς KTA., “whereas Castor has ceded the remainder of his holding to Acusilaus, | we write to you in order that you may be careful,” etc., P Oxy VII. 1061? (B.c. 22) ἐπειδὴν καὶ ἄλλοτέ σοι ἐγράWapev. MGr ἐπειδή(ς), “because,” “since.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἐπειδή (epeidē) — since.

ἐπεί,

conjunction, both temporal and causal; also ἐπειδή, ἐπείτε. OF TIME (ἐπειδή is more frequently in this sense in Prose), after that, since, when, from [Refs 8th c.BC+]

I. with Ind.,

I.1. of a definite occurrence in past time, mostly with aorist, ἐπεί π᾽ εὔξαντο after they had prayed, [Refs 8th c.BC+]after [Refs 5th c.BC+]: rarely with imperfect, ἐπειδὴ εἱστιώμεθ᾽ [Refs 5th c.BC+]pluperfect, ἐπειδὴ ἐξηπάτησθε.. after you had been deceived.., [Refs 4th c.BC+]; but generally the aorist is found, the pluperfect being used only for special emphasis: with imperfect to express an action not yet complete, ἐπεὶ ὑπηντίαζεν ἡ φάλαγξ καὶ ἡ σάλπιγξ ἐφθέγξατο after the phalanx began to advance and the trumpet had sounded, [Refs 5th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐπειδή

epeide

from 1893 and 1211; since now, i.e. (of time) when, or (of cause)

whereas:--after that, because, for (that, -asmuch as), seeing, since.

see GREEK for 1893

see GREEK for 1211

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἐπειδή

Cj.

when, since

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐπειδή epeidē 10x

since, because, in as much as, Mt. 21:46; Lk. 11:6; Acts 13:46

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Conj — Conjunction
conjunction — it joins clauses, and never changes form.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
60%since
since60% · 6×but since10% · 1×because10% · 1×inasmuch as10% · 1×seeing that10% · 1×

10 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 5 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 10 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
θεόςGod, a god
Article the
ἙρμῆςHermes
ΠαῦλοςPaul
εὐχαριστίαthankfulness, gratit
σός
ἐπειδήSeeing that10×
what comes after →
γάρfor
ἐνδιά
πληρόωI fill, fulfill, com
πᾶςall, the whole,
φίλος
ἐγώ
ἀπωθέωI push or thrust awa
αὐτός
αὐτός
εἰμίI am, exist

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

Concordanceἐπειδή · 10× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians Acts Luke Philippians
Across the New Testament4 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 16 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus Clement of Rome The Didache The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 2c. AD 40

Μωυσῆς δ’ ἑκάτερον ὑπερβάς, τὸ μὲν ὡς ἄσκεπτον καὶ ἀταλαίπωρον καὶ ἀφιλόσοφον, τὸ δ’ ὡς κατεψευσμένον καὶ μεστὸν γοητείας, παγκάλην καὶ σεμνοτάτην ἀρχὴν ἐποιήσατο τῶν νόμων, μήτ’ εὐθὺς ἃ χρὴ πράττειν ἢ τοὐναντίον ὑπειπὼν μήτ’, ἐπειδὴ προτυπῶσαι τὰς…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.7c. AD 75–95

ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ μείζων ἦν ἡ τοῦδε τοῦ λόγου περιβολή, κατʼ αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον χωρίσας ταῖς ἰδίαις ἀρχαῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ τέλει τὴν γραφὴν συνεμέτρησα·

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 7.5c. AD 100

ἐπειδὴ ἐμὲ ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτιῶν μέλλοντα τοῦ λαοῦ μου τοῦ καινοῦ προσφέρειν τὴν σάρκα μου μέλλετε ποτίζειν χολὴν μετὰ ὄξους, φάγετε ὑμεῖς μόνοι, τοῦ λαοῦ νηστεύοντος καὶ κοπτομένου ἐπὶ σάκκου καὶ σποδοῦ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
4th c. AD 6th c. AD 7th c. AD 3rd c. BC 3rd c. AD
P.Cair. Zen. 3 59377Arsinoites276 BC–227 BC

ὑπόμνημα Ζήνωνι παρὰ Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Ἰσμαήλου. ἀξιοῦμέν σε, ἐπειδὴ πέρυσι ἐργασαμένων ἡμῶν ἀρούρας γ 𐅵 συμβαίνει ἡμῖν ἐκεῖνά τε ἐργάσασθαι ἡμᾶς καὶ ἄλλην

P.Cair. Zen. 4 59620Arsinoites (?)249 BC–240 BC

ἀνθρώπους, ἐὰν δὲ μὴ χειρογραφῶσιν, μηθενὶ ἐπιτρέπειν ἀποβιάζεσθαι τὴν Ἀρσινόην. δέομαι οὖν σου, βασιλεῦ, ἐπειδὴ ὁ μὲν φθαρεὶς ὑπὸ τῆς Ἀρσινόης ἀνακεχώρηκεν ἵνα μὴ ἐνδείξηται ὡς ἔστιν αὑτοῦ ἡ

P.Cair. Zen. 3 59368Memphis (?)242 BC

πλοίου ἐπὶ τὸν ὅρμον καὶ τῶν παρʼ αὐτοῦ κωλυσάντων κενὸν ἀπῆλθεν. ἀξιοῦμεν οὖν σε, ἐπειδὴ οὐθʼ ἡμῖν ἐκποιεῖ ἀποδημεῖν οὔτʼ ἐκείνωι ἐνθάδε παραγενέσθαι, γράψαι αὐτῶι ἀποστεῖλαι τοὺς μελισσουργοὺς καὶ

Seeing that both Jews signs ask for and Greeks wisdom seek,
καὶkai both G2532 Conjunction
8,978× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 Corinthians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
And or also, a connecting word used to join ideas or words, like in Matthew 2:18 and Hebrews 1:1.
Amplified meaning
also, additionally
Tyndale gloss
and
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

καί (kai) is a conjunction meaning 'and,' used to connect words, phrases, and clauses. It serves various functions, including copulative and adjunctive uses, and can express cumulative ideas like 'also' or 'even.' The New Testament frequently employs it to link terms and sentences, as seen in verses like Matthew 2:18 and John 10:3. Abbott-Smith notes its use in both simple and complex structures, while Thayer emphasizes its role as the most common particle in the New Testament.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

καί,

conj.,

and.

Copulative.

Connecting single words;

in general: Mt 2:18 16:1, Mk 2:15, Lk 8:15, He 1:1, al. mult.; repeated before each of the terms in a series, Mt 23:23, Lk 14:21, Ro 7:12 9:4, al.;

connecting numerals (WM, § 37, 4): Jo 2:20, Ac 13:20;

joining terms which are not mutually exclusive, as the part with the whole: Mt 8:33 26:59, Mk 16:17,

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Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

καί, a conj., and; the most freq. by far of all the particles in the N. T. [On its uses see W. § 53, 3sqq.; B. 361 (310) sqq., and ef. Ellicott on Phil. iv. 12; on the difference between it and τέ see 8. v. τέ ad init. ] I. It serves as a copulative i.e. to connect (Lat. et, atque, Germ. und) ; 1. it connects single words or terms: a. univ., as of Φαρισαῖοι καὶ Σαδδουκαῖοι, Mt. xvi. 1; ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατήρ, he who is God and Father (see θεός, 3); ἐν καρδίᾳ καλῇ καὶ ἀγαθῇ, Lk. viii. 15; πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως, ΗΘ}. 1. 1; it is repeated before single terms, to each of which its own force and weight is thus given: ἡ υἱοθεσία καὶ ἡ δόξα καὶ ai διαθῆκαι καὶ ἡ νομοθεσία καὶ ἡ λατρεία καὶ αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι, Ro. ix. 4 ; ἁγία καὶ δικαία καὶ ἀγαθή, Ro. vii. 12; add, Mt. xxiii. 23; Lk. xiv. 21; Jn. xvi. 8; Acts xv. 20, 29; xxi. 25; Heb. ix. 10; Rey. v. 12; xviii. 12 sq.; ef. W. 519 sq. (484). b. it…

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Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

και. In LAE p. 129 ff. Deissmann discusses the thoroughly popular character of the Johannine style with its short paratactic sentences, introduced by kal. . . καί. To illustrate this, he cites amongst other exx. a Dream from the Serapeum, P Par 51 (B.C. 160) (= Selections, p. 18 ff. : see especially the amended readings in Archiv vi. p. 204), which runs—** ὦμ[ην] βατί -- δ)ίζειν pe [ἀπ]ὸ λειβὸς ἕως ἀ[ πηλι]ώτου, καὶ ἀναπίπτομαι ἐπ᾿ ἄχυρον" καὶ [ἄν]θρωπ[ος9] ἀπὸ λιβός μου, ἐχόμενός μου’ ἀναπίπτει καὶ αὐτός, καὶ ὥσπερ κεκλειμμ[évot] μου ἦσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου, καὶ ἐξαί[φνης] ἀνύγω τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς pov, καὶ ὁρῶ kTA., “ I dreamed that I was going from West to East, and I lie down upon chaff. And there | αὐτὸ (deleted in the original) Σεμφθεῖ. | ἐκ καινῆς ἐν Σομολ(ῶ)…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καί (kai) — and.

καί,

conjunction, copulative, joining words and sentences,

__A and; also adverb, even, also, just, frequently expressing emphatic assertion or assent, corresponding as positive to the negative οὐ (μή) or οὐδέ (μηδέ). copulative, and,

__A.I joining words or sentences to those preceding, ἦ, καὶ κυανέῃσιν ἐπ᾽ ὀφρύσινεῦσε Κρονίων [Refs 8th c.BC+]: repeated with two or more Nouns, αἱ δὲ ἔλαφοι κ. δορκάδες κ. οἱ ἄγριοι οἶες κ. οἱ ὄνοι οἱ ἄγριοι [Refs 5th c.BC+]; joining only the last pair, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; ὁ ὄχλος πλείων κ. πλείων ἐπέρρει more and more, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; to add epithets after πολύς, πολλὰ κ. ἐσθλά [Refs 8th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καί

kai

apparently, a primary particle, having a copulative and sometimes also

a cumulative force; and, also, even, so then, too, etc.; often used in

connection (or composition) with other particles or small words:--and,

also, both, but, even, for, if, or, so, that, then, therefore, when,

yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καί

Cj.

and, even, also, namely

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καί kai 9x

(1) and, Mt. 2:2, 3, 11; 4:22; (2) καί ... καί, both ... and; (3) as a cumulative particle, also, too, Mt. 5:39; Jn. 8:19; 1 Cor. 11:6; (4) emphatic, even, also, Mt. 10:30; 1 Cor. 2:10; in NT adversative, but, Mt. 11:19; also introductory of the apodosis of a sentence, Gal. 3:28; Jas. 2:4

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Conj — Conjunction
conjunction — it joins clauses, and never changes form.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
89%and
and89% · 8448×also8% · 714×other renderings2% · 191×other renderings1% · 124×

9,477 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 42 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial16%subject13%object10%predicate3%verb2%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 8,978 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
αὐτός
ἐνἐπίπρός
σύ
χάριςgrace, favor, kiπρόςπατήρfather, Father,
ἐγώ
πατήρfather, Father, πρόςθεόςGod, a god
εἰμίI am, exist
αὐτόςArticle theἐγώ
θεόςGod, a god
Article theθέλημαwill, wish, desiδέbut, on the othe
καίboth8978×
what comes after →
Article the
ἀδελφόςa brotherπατήρfather, Father, μήτηρa mother
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςArticle theπρός
οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, existμήNegδύναμαιI am powerful, a
ὁράωI see, look upon, ex
Article theαὐτόςἀνήρa male human bei
ἐν
Article theπᾶςall, the whole, ὅλοςall, the whole,

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

Concordanceκαί · 8,978× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew Revelation Acts Mark John 1 Corinthians Romans Hebrews 2 Corinthians Ephesians 1 John

3 inflected forms — one of the commonest words in the New Testament. Full distribution →

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 1c. AD 40

Τῶν ἄλλων νομοθετῶν οἱ μὲν ἀκαλλώπιστα καὶ γυμνὰ τὰ νομισθέντα παρ’ αὐτοῖς εἶναι δίκαια διετάξαντο, οἱ δὲ πολὺν ὄγκον τοῖς νοήμασι προσπεριβαλόντες ἐξετύφωσαν τὰ πλήθη μυθικοῖς πλάσμασι τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐπικρύψαντες.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.argc. AD 75–95

ἡ τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.1c. AD 100

Χαίρετε, υἱοὶ καὶ θυγατέρες, ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντος ἡμᾶς, ἐν εἰρήνῃ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 1st c. AD 6th c. AD
P.Stras. 2 89Pathyris100 BC

r βασιλεύοντος Πτολεμαίου τοῦ ἐπικαλουμένου Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Βερενίκης τῆς ἀδελφῆς θεῶν Φιλομητόρων ἔτους ιε, ἐφʼ ἱερέων καὶ ἱερειῶν καὶ κανηφόρου τῶν

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

1 ἔτους ιζ Θῶυθ κη ἀπέδοτο Πετεσοῦχος Φίβιος καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ τὸ ὕπαρχον αὐτοῖς ἥμισυ περιστερῶνος τοῦ ὄντος ἐν τῶι ἀπὸ βορρᾶ μέρει

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

βασιλευόντων Πτολεμαίου τοῦ ἐπικαλουμένου Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Βερενίκης τῆς ἀδελφῆς θεῶν φιλομητόρων ἔτους ιϛ, ἐφʼ ἱερέων καὶ ἱερειῶν καὶ κανηφόρου τῶν

Seeing that both Jews signs ask for and Greeks wisdom seek,
ἸουδαῖοιIoudaios Jews G2453 Adjective · nominative · plural · masculine
194× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 Corinthians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
This word means a person from Judah or a Jew, used in Acts 10:28 and John 4:9 to describe people of Jewish descent. It is also used to describe the land of Judah, as in Matthew 2:6.
Amplified meaning
from the tribe of Judah, people of Jewish descent
Tyndale gloss
Jew
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word Ἰουδαῖος (ioudaios) means 'Jew' and is derived from the name Judah. It refers to a person of Jewish descent or belonging to the Jewish race, covering both men and women. In the New Testament, it is used to describe Jewish individuals, Jewish Christians, and the Jewish people as a whole, often in contexts of conflict with early Christians.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

Ἰουδαῖος, -αία, -αῖον

(< Ἰούδας),

Jewish: ἀνήρ, Ac 10:28 22:3; ἄνθρωπος, Ac 21:39; ψευδοπροφήτης, 13:6; ἀσχιερεύς, 19:14; γυνή, 16:1 24:24; γῆ, Jo 3:22; χώρα, Mk 1:5. Substantively,

Ἰουδαῖος, ὁ, a Jew: Jo 4:9, Ac 18:24, Ro 2:28; pl., Re 2:9 3:9; οἱ Ἰ., Mt 2:2, Mk 7:3, Jo 2:6, al.; Ἰ. τε καὶ Ἕλληνες, Ac 14:1, al.; κ. προσήλυτοι, Ac 2:10; ἔθνη τε κ. Ἰ.,

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Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

᾿Ιουδαῖος, -aia, -atov, (Ἰούδα), [ Aristot. (in Joseph. ce. Ap. 1, 22, 7 where see Miiller), Polyb., Diod., Strab., Plut., al.; Sept.; (cf. Soph. Lex. s. v.)], Jewish ; a. joined to nouns, belonging to the Jewish race: avnp, Acts x. 28; xxii 8, (1 Mace. ii. 23); ἄνθρωπος, Acis xxi. 89; ψευδοπροφήτης, Acts xiii. 6; ἀρχιερεύς, Acts xix. 14 ; γυνή, Acts XVi. 1; xxiv. 24; γῆ, Jn. 111. 22; χώρα, Mk.i.d. b. without a noun, substantively, Jewish as respects birth, race, religion; aJew: Jn. ἵν. 9; Acts xviii. 2, 24; Ro. ii. 28 sq.; plur., Rev. ii. 9; iii. 9; οἱ ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (07377), before the exile citizens of the kingdom of Judah; after the exile all the Israelites [ef. Wright in B.D. 8. v. Jew]), the Jews, the Jewish race: Mt. ii. 2; xxvii. 11, 29; Mk. vii. 3; xv. 2; Jn. ii. 6; iv. 22; ν. 1; xviii. 33, ete.; ᾿Ιουδαῖοί τε καὶ Ἕλληνες, Acts xiv. 1; xviii. 4; xix. 10; 1 Co. i. 24; Ἰουδαῖοί re καὶ…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

Ἰουδαῖος (Ioudaios) — Jew.

Ἰουδαῖος, ὁ,

a Jewish man: Ἰουδαία, a Jewish woman; ἡ Ἰουδαία (i.e. γῆ) “Judaea”: —Ἰουδα-ϊκός, ή, όν, “Jewish”, [LXX] adverb -κῶς [NT+1st c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

Ἰουδαῖος

Ioudaios

from 2448 (in the sense of 2455 as a country); Judaean, i.e. belonging

to Jehudah:--Jew(-ess), of Judaea.

see GREEK for 2448

see GREEK for 2455

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

Ἰουδαῖος, αία, αῖον

Adj

Jewish

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

Ἰουδαῖος Ioudaios 194x

Jewish, Mk. 1:5; Jn. 3:22; Acts 16:1; 24:24; pr. one sprung from the tribe of Judah, or a subject of the kingdom of Judah; in NT a descendant of Jacob, a Jew, Mt. 28:15; Mk. 7:3; Acts 19:34; Rom. 2:28, 29

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

Ἰουδαῖος Ἰουδαῖος, ὁ, a Jew: Ἰουδαία, a Jewess; ἡἸουδαία (sub. γῆ), Judaea.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Adj-NPM — Adjective · nominative · plural · masculine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked plural masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

A-NPM Part of Speech: Adjective Case: Nominative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

juz, jooz.

See JEW.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

The name borne by the Hebrews among foreign nations, especially after the return from Babylon; from Judah their ancestor. See HEBREWS.

Nave's Topical Bible

→ A corrupted form, doubtless, of Judah, and applied to the people of the kingdom of Judah and Benjamin 2Ki 16:6; 25:25; 2Ch 32:18

→ (After the dissolution of the kingdom of Israel the name was applied to all Israelites, as well as to those of the two remaining tribes)

→ See ISRAEL

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
80%jews
jews80% · 156×jew9% · 18×jews?4% · 8×jewish3% · 6×other renderings2% · 4×other renderings2% · 3×

195 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 9 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject45%adverbial21%predicate15%indirect object7%object7%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 194 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
βασιλεύςa king, ruler, eοὖνtherefore, thenαὐτός
καίand, even, also, nam
τέDisjἐπειδήwhen, sinceἀπρόσκοποςnot offending, n
σύ
πῶςδέbut, on the otheεἰCond
οὖνtherefore, then
Article the
ἀνήρa male human being,
εἰμίI am, existαὐτός
ἸουδαῖοςJews194×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
λέγωI say, speakἀναβαίνωI go up, mount, Article the
Article the
δέbut, on the otheεἰμίI am, existθεραπεύωI care for, atte
τέDisj
καίand, even, also,πρῶτοςSup
εἰμίI am, exist
Article theπαράφωνήa sound, noise,
ὅτιthat, since, because
ἐγγύςnearἸησοῦςJesusἐκεῖthere, yonder, t

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

ConcordanceἸουδαῖος · 194× in the New Testament
Acts John Romans 1 Corinthians Mark Luke Matthew Galatians Revelation 1 Thessalonians 2 Corinthians Colossians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament12 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 51 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Life of Moses 1.1c. AD 40

Μωυσέως τοῦ κατὰ μέν τινας νομοθέτου τῶν Ἰουδαίων, κατὰ δέ τινας ἑρμηνέως νόμων ἱερῶν, τὸν βίον ἀναγράψαι διενοήθην, ἀνδρὸς τὰ πάντα μεγίστου καὶ τελειοτάτου, καὶ γνώριμον τοῖς ἀξίοις μὴ ἀγνοεῖν αὐτὸν ἀποφῆναι.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.argc. AD 75–95

ὅπως Ἅβραμος ὁ πρόγονος ἡμῶν ἐξελθὼν ἐκ τῆς Χαλδαίων γῆς κατέσχε τὴν τότε μὲν Χαναναίαν νῦν δὲ Ἰουδαίαν λεγομένην.

Ignatius of AntiochThe Letters of Ignatius 6.1.2c. AD 110

ἀληθῶς ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου καὶ Ἡρώδου τετράρχου καθηλωμένον ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐν σαρκί, ἀφ̓ οὖ καρποῦ ἡμεῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ θεομακαρίστου αὐτοῦ πάθους, ἵνα ἄρῃ σύσσημον εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας διὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους καὶ πιστοὺς αὐτοῦ, εἴτε ἐν Ἰουδαίοις εἴτε ἐν…

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 1st c. AD 2nd c. BC 3rd c. BC 4th c. AD
P.Tebt. 2 476 descr.Tebtynis (ArsinoitesAD 30

ὥρας τῇ α τοῦ Τυβὶ τοῦ ιζ ἔτους Τιβερίου Καίσαρος Σεβαστοῦ καταπεριστάς με Σαμβᾶς Ἰουδαῖος τῶν ἀπὸ Κερκεθουήρεως καταγεινόμενος ἐν … Τεβτύνει vestiges πληγὰς … καὶ ἐτραυμάτισέν με

β ἔτους Νέρωνος Κλαυδίου Καίσαρος Σεβαστοῦ Γερμανικοῦ Αὐτοκράτορος Παχὼν τιμῆς δερμάτων γ διὰ Σακολάου Ἰουδαίου δραχμαὶ ιβ … … ὁμοίως Ἰσάκι Ἰουδαίωι διὰ Πουωρέως Παβῶτος … … δραχμαὶ η

P.Fay. 123Euhemeria (Arsinoites)AD 100

τὸ ἀπόχυμα Ἰσᾶτος καὶ παραλάβωμεν τὸ ἐλάδιον λοιπὸν ἐὰν δόξῃ σοι. ἐλήλυθεν γὰρ Τεύφιλος Ἰουδαῖος λέγων ὅτι ἤχθην εἰς γεωργίαν καὶ βούλομαι πρὸς Σαβεῖνον ἀπελθεῖν. οὔτε γὰρ εἴρηκε ἡμῖν

Seeing that both Jews signs ask for and Greeks wisdom seek,
σημεῖαsēmeion signs G4592 Noun · accusative · singular · neuter
77× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
rarer in 1 Corinthians than elsewhere in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
A sign is an indication or token of something, often supernatural. In the Bible, it's used in Matthew 26:48 and Luke 2:12 to describe miracles or events that point to God.
Amplified meaning
miraculous tokens, supernatural indications
Tyndale gloss
sign
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

σημεῖον (i.e., *semeion*) is a neuter noun meaning a sign, mark, or token. It encompasses various uses, including distinguishing features, omens, and miraculous signs, particularly in the context of divine authority. The New Testament frequently employs it to refer to miracles and wonders (e.g., Mt 12:38, 24:30). Notably, some lexicons suggest differing nuances regarding its use in relation to signs of divine intervention versus ordinary indications.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — τέρας, σημεῖον, δύναμις, μεγαλεῖον, ἔνδοξον, παράδοξον, θαυμάσιον from a scan

παράδοξον, θαυμάσιον. THESE words have this in common, that they are all used to characterize the supernatural works wrought by Christ in the days of his flesh; thus σημεῖον, John ii. 11; Acts ii. 19; τέρας, Acts ii. 22; John iv. 48; δύναμις, Mark vi. 2 ; Acts ii. 22; μεγαλεῖον, Luke i. 49; ἔνδοξον, Luke xiii. 17; παράδοξον, Luke v. 26; θαυμάσιον, Matt. xxi. 15 ; while the first three and the most usual are in like manner employed of the same supernatural works wrought in the power of Christ by his Apostles (2 Cor. xii. 12); and of the lying miracles of Antichrist no less (2 Thess. ii. 9). They will be found, on closer examination, not so much to represent different kinds of miracles, as miracles contemplated under different aspects and from different points of view. Tépas and σημεῖον are often linked together in the N. T. (John iv. 48; Acts ii. 22; iv. 30; 2 Cor. xii. 12); and times…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

σημεῖον, -ου, τό

[in LXX chiefly for אוֹת ;]

a sign, mark, token;

of that which distinguishes a person or thing from others: Mt 26:48, Lk 2:12, II Th 3:17 (cf. Deiss., LAE, 1532); seq. gen. epexeg., Ro 4:11; c. gen. obj., Mt 24:8, 30, II Co 12:12; c. gen. subj., Mt 16:3;

a sign of warning or admonition: Mt 12:39 16:4, Lk 2:34 11:29, 30, I Co…

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Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

σημεῖον, -ov, τό, (σημαίνω [or σῆμα), ir. Aeschyl. and Hdt. down, Hebr. nix, @ sign, mark, token; aM uniy. that by which a pers. or a thing is distinguished from others and known: Mt. xxvi. 48; Lk. ii.12; 2 Th. iii. 17; σημεῖον περιτομῆς (explanatory gen. [ef. B. § 123, 4]), equiv. to σημεῖον, 6 ἐστι περιτομή, circumcision which should be a sign of the covenant formed with God, Ro. iv. 11; τὰ σημεῖα τοῦ ἀποστόλου, the tokens by which one is proved to be an apostle, 2 Co. xii. 12; a sign by which anything future is pre-announced, Mk. xiii. 4; Lk. xxi. 73 TO σημ. τῆς σῆς παρουσίας, gen. of the obj., Mt. xxiv. 35 Tov υἱοῦ Tov ἀνθρώπου, the sign which indicates that the Messiah will shortly, or forthwith, come from heaven in visible manifestation, ibid. 30; with a gen. of the subj. τὰ σημεῖα τῶν καιρῶν, i.e. the indications of future events which of καιροί furnish, what of καιροί portend…

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Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

σημεῖον (ii/B.c.) (= Witkowski®, p. 111) περὶ μὲν [ο]Ἱῦν τῶν ἄλλων [οὔ σοι γέγραφα, Μ΄. . .o]s γάρ σοι σημα[ν]εῖ ἕκαστα, 20. IV. 12069 (B.c. 28) οὔπωι σεσήμαγκε τί ἐκβέβη[κ]ε, and τὸ. 10784 (A.D. 39) (= Chest. L. p. 83) οὐ καλῶς δὲ ἐπόησας ἐκπορευομένων πολλῶν φίλων μὴ σημᾶναί por μηδὲ ἕν. For the two forms σημᾶναι and σημῆναι, see Mayser Gr. i. p- 360, Psaltes Gr. p. 223. The pass. is seen in such passages as P Rein 71" (B.C. 141?) ἐν τῶν σημανθέντι χρόνωι, ‘ within the stipulated time,’ P Amh II. 318 (8.6. 112) σημανθέντος, ‘it having been reported,” P Oxy 11. 2831 (A.D. 45) τὸν σημαινόμένον δοῦλον, ‘the above-mentioned slave,” P Tebt II. 2782 (nursery acrostic—early i/A.D.) onpe(= at)veral μοι, τηρῖ ple] γάρ, “he is indicated to me, for he watches me (Ὁ) ᾿᾿ (Edd.), P Oxy I. 768 (A.D. 179) ὃ σημαινόμενός μου πατήρ, ‘‘my above-mentioned father,’’ 74. 79* (notice of death—A.p. 181-192)…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

σημεῖον (sēmeion) — sign.

σημεῖον, τό,

Ionic dialect σημήϊον, Doric dialect σᾱμήϊον [Refs 4th c.BC+], σᾱμεῖον [Refs 2nd c.BC+], σᾱμᾶον [Refs] —= σῆμα in all senses, and more common in Prose, but never in [Refs 8th c.BC+]: mark by which a thing is known, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; sign of the future, τυραννίδος σ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; trace, track, σημεῖα δ᾽ οὔτε θηρὸς οὔτε του κυνῶν.. ἐξεφαίνετο [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of a cork on a buoy, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

__b Doric dialect, tomb, [Refs 4th c.BC+]

2. sign from the gods, omen, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; wonder, portent, [LXX+2nd c.BC+]; especially of the constellations, regarded as signs, δύεται σημεῖα [Refs 5th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

σημεῖον

semeion

neuter of a presumed derivative of the base of 4591; an indication,

especially ceremonially or supernaturally:--miracle, sign, token,

wonder.

see GREEK for 4591

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

σημεῖον, ου, τό

n.n.

a sign, miracle, indication

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

σημεῖον sēmeion 77x

a sign, a mark, token, by which anything is known or distinguished, Mt. 16:3; 24:3; 2 Thess. 3:17; a token, pledge, assurance, Lk. 2:12; a proof, evidence, convincing token, Mt. 12:38; 16:1; Jn. 2:18; in NT a sign, wonder, remarkable event, wonderful appearance, extraordinary phenomenon, 1 Cor. 14:22; Rev. 12:1, 3; 15:1; a portent, prodigy, Mt. 24:30; Acts 2:19; a wonderful…

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Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

σημεῖον σημεῖον, ου, τό, σῆμα a sign, a mark, token, Hdt., attic

a sign from the gods, an omen, Soph., Plat.: esp. of the constellations, Eur.

a sign or signal to do a thing made by flags, Hdt.; αἴρειν, κατασπᾶν τὸ ς. to make or take down the signal for battle, Thuc.; τὰ σημεῖα ἤρθη the signals agreed upon were made, id. Thuc.

an ensign or flag, on the admiral's ship, Hdt.; on the general's tent, Xen.:—then, generally, a standard, ensign, Eur.: hence, a boundary, limit, Dem.

a device upon a shield, Hdt., Eur.; upon ships, a figure-head, Ar.

a signal, watchword, Thuc.

in reasoning, a sign or proof, Ar., Thuc., etc.:— σημεῖον δέ: or σημεῖον γάρ: (to introduce an argument) this is a proof of it, Dem., etc.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-ASN — Noun · accusative · singular · neuter
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-ASN Part of Speech: Noun Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Neuter

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
49%signs
signs49% · 38×sign48% · 37×other renderings3% · 2×

77 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 4 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
object52%subject33%adverbial10%predicate5%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 77 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
μήNegτίςIrgποιέωI do, make
καίand, even, also, nam
τέραςa wonder, portenἐπιζητέωI seek after, deζητέωI seek, search f
ποιέωI do, make
καίand, even, also,ὅςπολύςmuch, many, ofte
αὐτός
ἐπερωτάωI interrogate, qδίδωμιI offer, giveπαρά
σύ
ἀπόοὗτοςποιέωI do, make
σημεῖονsigns77×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
τέραςa wonder, portenδύναμιςmight, power, ma
ποιέωI do, make
ὅςArticle theκαίand, even, also,
ὅς
ποιέωI do, makeδίδωμιI offer, giveἐκπορεύομαιI journey out, c
Article the
καιρόςfitting season, σόςυἱόςa son, descenden
μέγας
καίand, even, also,εἰμίI am, existἐν

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

Concordanceσημεῖον · 77× in the New Testament
John Acts Matthew Luke Mark Revelation 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians 2 Thessalonians Romans Hebrews
Across the New Testament11 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 72 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Clement of Rome The Didache The Epistle of Barnabas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 49c. AD 40

κατὰ μὲν γὰρ τὸ ἓν τάττεται τὸ λεγόμενον ἐν γεωμετρίᾳ σημεῖον, κατὰ δὲ τὰ δύο γραμμή, διότι ῥύσει μὲν ἑνὸς δυάς, ῥύσει δὲ σημείου συνίσταται γραμμή·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.59c. AD 75–95

καὶ σημεῖον ἐπιβαλών, ᾧ γνώριμος ἂν εἴη, προσέταξεν ἀπιέναι.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 4.14c. AD 100

ἔτι δὲ κἀκεῖνο, ἀδελφοί μου, νοεῖτε: ὅταν βλέπετε μετὰ τηλικαῦτα σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα γεγονότα ἐν τῷ Ἰσραήλ, καὶ οὕτως ἐγκαταλελεῖφθαι αὐτούς: προσέχωμεν, μήποτε, ὡς γέγραπται, πολλοὶ κλητοί, ὀλίγοι δὲ ἐκλεκτοὶ εὑρεθῶμεν.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 6th c. AD 7th c. AD 4th c. AD
O.Did. 361DidymoiAD 77

τῷ κομίζοντί σοι τοῦτο τὸ ὄστρακον, ἄχρι οὗ ἀνακάμψῃ ἀπὸ Βερενίκης καὶ ἀπολάβῃς αὐτόν. σημεῖον ὅτι ἥκεις καλῶν με καὶ τὸν γαμβρὸν καὶ λέγω σοι ὅτι ὀφθαλμιᾷ. μὴ οὖν

C.Clergé 1 31ArsinoitesAD 155–AD 156

Αἰλίου Ἁδριανοῦ Ἀντωνείνου Σεβαστοῦ Εὐσεβοῦς … . μετὰ τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἐπύθετο, εἴ τινα σημεῖα ἔχουσιν οἱ παῖδες … ἱερογραμματέως εἰπόντος … ξα μὲν οὐλὰς τοῦ δ … τὸν

C.Clergé 1 33ArsinoitesAD 155–AD 156

Αἰλίου Ἁδριανοῦ Ἀντωνείνου Σεβαστοῦ Εὐσεβοῦς … . μετὰ τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν Ἀγαθοκλῆς ἐπύθετο, εἴ τινα σημεῖα ἔχουσιν οἱ παῖδες ἐπὶ τοῦ σώματος … δ … Ἀμούνιος ἱερογραμματέως εἰπόντος αὐτοὺς εἶναι

Seeing that both Jews signs ask for and Greeks wisdom seek,
αἰτοῦσινaiteō ask for G154 Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · plural
70× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
rarer in 1 Corinthians than elsewhere in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To ask or request something from someone, like in Matthew 7:7 where Jesus says to ask and it will be given to you.
Amplified meaning
ask for, require
Tyndale gloss
to ask
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

αἰτέω (aiteō) means to ask or request, often with an accusative case for the thing requested or the person being asked. It appears in various contexts in the New Testament, such as in Matthew 7:7 and James 1:6. The word can also imply a demand or a petition, and it is noted that it has similarities with other terms like ἐρωτάω (erōtaō), though they are not entirely synonymous.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — αἰτέω, ἐρωτάω from a scan

TueEse words are often rendered by our Translators as though they covered the same spaces of meaning, the one as the other; nor can we object to their rendering, in numerous instances, αἰτεῖν and ἐρωτᾶν alike by our English ‘to ask.’ Yet sometimes they have a little marred the perspicuity of their translation by not varying their word, where the original has shown them the way. For example, the obliteration at John xvi. 23 of the distinction between αἰτεῖν and ἐρωτᾶν might easily suggest a wrong interpretation of the verse,—as though its two clauses were in near connexion, and direct antithesis,—being indeed in none. In our Version we read: ‘In that day ye shall ask Me nothing [ἐμὲ οὐκ ἐρωτήσετε οὐδέν]. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask [ὅσα dv αἰτήσητε) the Father in my name, He will give it you.” Now every one competent to judge is agreed, that “ ye shall ask” of…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

αἰτέω, -ῶ,

[in LXX chiefly for שׁאל;]

to ask, request: absol., Mt 7:7, Ja 1:6; c. acc. pers., Mt 5:42, Lk 6:30; c. acc. rei, seq. ἀπό, Mt 20:20, I Jo 5:15; id. seq. παρά, Ac 3:2, Ja 1:5; c. dupl. acc. Mt 7:9, Mk 6:22, Jo 16:23. Mid. (on the distinction bet. mid. and act., v. M, Pr., 160): absol., Mk 15:8, Jo 16:26, Ja 4:3; c. acc. rei, Mt 14:7, Mk…

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Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

αἰτέω, -ῶ; fut. αἰτήσω:; 1 aor. ἤτησα: pf. ἤτηκα ; Mid., pres. αἰτοῦμαι ; impf. ἠτούμην ; fut. αἰτήσομαι ; 1 aor. ἡτησάμην ; [fr. Hom. down]; to ask; mid. to ask for one’s self, request for one’s self; absol.: Jas. i. 6; Mt. vii. 7; mid., Jas. iv. 3; Jn. xvi. 26; Mk. xv. 8; aireiσθαί τι, Jn. xv. 7; Mt. xiv. 7; Mk. vi. 24; x. 38; xi. 24; xv. 43; 1 Jn. v. 14 sq.; Lk. xxiii. 52; Acts xxv. 3, 15, ete. ; αἰτεῖν with ace. of the pers. to whom the request is made: Mt. v. 42; vi. 8; Lk. vi. 30; αἰτεῖσθαι with acc. of the pers. asked for— whether to be released, Mt. xxvii. 20; Mk. xv. 6 [here T WH Tr mre. παραιτ. q- v-]; Lk. xxiii. 25; or bestowed as a gift, Acts xiii. 21; αἰτεῖν τι ἀπό twos, Mt. xx. 20 L Tr txt. WH txt.; [Lk. xii. 20 Tr WH]; 1 Jn. v. 15 L T Tr WH; (so αἰτεῖσθαι in Plut. Galb. 20) [ef. B. 149 (130)]; ri παρά τινος, Acts iii. 2; Mt. xx. 20 R G T Tr mre. WH mrg.; Jas. i.5; 1 Jn.…

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Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

αἰτέω. The ordinary meaning of this word ‘‘to make a request,” ““to ask for something” is borne out by the papyri, e.g. P Fay 109} (carly i/A.D.) αἴτησον Σάραν τὰς τοῦ (δραχμὰς) uB, ‘‘ask Saras for the twelve (silver) drachmae.” In ἐῤ. 121. (c, A.D. 100) it is construed with the accusative of the thing and παρά, τὸ δέρμα τοῦ μόσχου οὗ ἐθύ[σ]αμεν αἴτησον παρὰ τοῦ] κύρτου βυρσέως, “ask the hunchbacked tanner for the hide of the calf that we sacrificed ” (Edd.): cf. Ac 3%. See further σοῦ. ἐρωτάω, and for the distinction between active and middle Pvo/eg., p. 160f. If the middle connotes a greater degree of earnestness, it is natural that it should be more frequent than the active, as for example in the phrases αἰτούμενος λόγον SyA@ . . . (P Hamb I, 65 (A.D. 129), αἰτούμενος... ὀνόματα... δίϑομει (GU I. 91° a.p. 170-1), and see the list of passages in the index to Sy// (iii. p. 245). The…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

αἰτέω (aiteō) — to ask.

αἰτ-έω

(Aeolic dialect αἴτημι [Refs 5th c.BC+], Ionic dialect imperfect αἴτεον[Refs 5th c.BC+]future αἰτήσω: aorist ᾔτησα: perfect ᾔτηκα[NT]: pluperfect ᾐτήκει[Refs 2nd c.AD+]perfect passive ᾔτημαι, etc.:—ask, beg, absolutely, [Refs 8th c.BC+]

2. mostly with accusative of things, ask for, demand, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ὁδὸν αἰ. ask leave to depart, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; αἰ. τινί τι to ask something for one,[Refs 5th c.BC+]: with accusative person et of things, ask a person for a thing, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; δίκας αἰ. τινὰ φόνου to demand satisfaction from one for.., [NT+6th c.BC+]

3. with accusative person et infinitive, ask one to do, [Refs 8th c.BC+]

4. with accusative only, beg of, [Refs 3rd c.AD+]

5. in Logic, postulate, assume, [Refs 4th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

αἰτέω

aiteo

of uncertain derivation; to ask (in genitive case):--ask, beg, call

for, crave, desire, require. Compare 4441.

see GREEK for 4441

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

αἰτέω

v.

I ask, request, beg, petition

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

αἰτέω aiteō 70x

to ask, request; demand; desire, Acts 7:46

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

αἰτέω to ask, beg, Od., etc.

c. acc. rei, to ask for, crave, demand, Hom., etc.; ὁδὸν αἰτ. to beg one's departure, i. e. ask leave to depart, Od.:—c. acc. pers. et rei, to ask a person for a thing, Hom., etc.; δίκας αἰτ. τινὰ φόνου to demand satisfaction from one for murder, Hdt.

c. acc. pers. et inf. to ask one to do, Od., etc.

Mid. to ask for oneself, to claim, Aesch., etc.:—but often used just like Act.

Pass.:

of persons, to have a thing begged of one, Hdt., Thuc.

of things, to be asked, τὸ αἰτεόμενον Hdt., etc.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAI-3P — Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · plural
present active indicative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAI-3P Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: third Number: Plural

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

for (ki (conjunction), le, from 'el (preposition), and various other words. In the New Testament also the words are various, chiefly gar, kai gar, hoti (conjunctions); anti apo eis dia (accusative), epi (dative and accusative), peri (genitive), pros (genitive and accusative), huper (genitive) (prepositions)): the English Revised Version and the American Standard Revised Version give in many cases more literal or more accurate renderings than those in the King James Version.

In the New Testament the most important preps. from a doctrinal point of view are anti, "face to face," "over against," "instead," "on behalf of," peri, "around," "about," "concerning," huper, "over," "on behalf of." The first has been claimed as stating the substitutionary nature of Christ's sacrifice as contrasted with huper and peri, more frequently used of it. But, although anti in the New Testament often means…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
17%asking
asking17% · 12×you ask6% · 4×we shall ask6% · 4×do ask6% · 4×you may ask6% · 4×he will ask for4% · 3×you shall ask4% · 3×ask for3% · 2×other renderings49% · 34×

70 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 37 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
verb100%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 70 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
προσεύχομαιI pray, pray forπροσκυνέωI worshipΠιλᾶτοςPilate
Article the
γάρforἀγαθόςgoodἅγιοςset apart, holy,
ἐάνCond
ὅς
ἄνDisj
ὅσοςτὶςσύ
ὅς
ἄνθρωποςa man, one of thφυλακήa watching, guarὑπέρ
αἰτέωask for70×
what comes after →
Article the
σῶμαbody, fleshυἱόςa son, descendenδέbut, on the othe
καίand, even, also, nam
δίδωμιI offer, giveοὐNegγίνομαιI come into bein
αὐτός
σταυρόωI crucifyκαίand, even, also,
σύ
δίδωμιI offer, giveποιέωI do, makeλόγοςa word, speech,
λαμβάνωI receive, take
καίand, even, also,ἀπό

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

Concordanceαἰτέω · 70× in the New Testament
Matthew John Luke Acts Mark 1 John James Ephesians 1 Corinthians 1 Peter Colossians
Across the New Testament11 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 23 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Cherubim 72c. AD 40

„εἰ“ γάρ φησιν „ἀποκριθεὶς εἴποι ὁ παῖς Ἠγάπηκα τὸν κύριόν μου καὶ τὴν γυναῖκά μου καὶ τὰ παιδία, οὐκ ἄπειμι ἐλεύθερος“, ἀχθεὶς πρὸς τὸ κριτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ δικαστοῦ τυχὼν αὐτοῦ βέβαιον σχήσει ὃ ᾐτήσατο, πρότερον τρυπηθεὶς τὸ οὖς ὀπητίῳ (Exod.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.245c. AD 75–95

εὔχεται μὲν οὖν τῷ θεῷ Ῥεβέκκαν, ἣν τῷ παιδὶ Ἅβραμος μνηστευσόμενον ἐξαπέστειλεν, εἰ κατὰ νοῦν τὸν αὐτοῦ μέλλει ὁ γάμος οὗτος συντελεῖσθαι, ἐν ἐκείναις εὑρεθῆναι γνωρισθῆναι τε αὐτὴν τῶν μὲν ἄλλων αἰτοῦντι ποτὸν ἀρνουμένων ἐκείνης δὲ αὐτῷ…

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 36.4c. AD 96

Υἱός μου εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε: αἴτησαι παῤ ἐμοῦ, καὶ δώσω σοι ἔθνη τὴν κληρονομίαν σου καὶ τὴν κατάσχεσίν σου τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. AD 2nd c. AD 4th c. AD 1st c. AD 3rd c. BC
P.Sijp. 56OxyrhynchitesAD 1–AD 100

μα δικέλλας ὅσας ἐὰν δύνῃ τῷ ἐλαιῶνι … … ν τῷ σῷ ὅδε εἰμὶ αἰτήσας … σε ἐκκόψαι ἑκατὸν καὶ δέκα … ς. … δύο ἐπιμεληθῆναι Ἀσκλᾶς … ἀποκαταστήσει

P.Mich. 9 568Ptolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites)AD 92

γενείωι ἐξ ἀριστερῶν ἐπάναγκον τὴν ὁμολογοῦσαν Ταευήμερον ἀποδώσειν τῶι Μάρκῳ Ἀνθεστίῳ Γεμέλλῳ ἐν αἷς ᾐτήσατο αὐτὸν εἰς συμπεριφορὰν τῆς ἀποδόσεως ἡμέραις πέντε ἀπὸ τῆς προκειμένης τὰς ὀφειλομένας τῇ τοῦ

P. Mich. 9 569Ptolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites)AD 92

γενείωι ἐξ ἀριστερῶν ἐπάναγκον τὴν ὁμολογοῦσαν Ταευήμερον ἀποδώσειν τῷ Μάρκωι Ἀνθεστίωι Γεμέλλωι ἐν αἷς ᾐτήσατο αὐτὸν εἰς συνπεριφορὰν τῆς ἀποδόσεως ἡμέραις πέντε ἀπὸ τῆς προκειμένης τὰς ὀφειλομένας τῇ τοῦ

Seeing that both Jews signs ask for and Greeks wisdom seek,
καὶkai and G2532 Conjunction
8,978× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 Corinthians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
And or also, a connecting word used to join ideas or words, like in Matthew 2:18 and Hebrews 1:1.
Tyndale gloss
and
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

καί (kai) is a conjunction meaning 'and,' used to connect words, phrases, and clauses. It serves various functions, including copulative and adjunctive uses, and can express cumulative ideas like 'also' or 'even.' The New Testament frequently employs it to link terms and sentences, as seen in verses like Matthew 2:18 and John 10:3. Abbott-Smith notes its use in both simple and complex structures, while Thayer emphasizes its role as the most common particle in the New Testament.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

καί,

conj.,

and.

Copulative.

Connecting single words;

in general: Mt 2:18 16:1, Mk 2:15, Lk 8:15, He 1:1, al. mult.; repeated before each of the terms in a series, Mt 23:23, Lk 14:21, Ro 7:12 9:4, al.;

connecting numerals (WM, § 37, 4): Jo 2:20, Ac 13:20;

joining terms which are not mutually exclusive, as the part with the whole: Mt 8:33 26:59, Mk 16:17,

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Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

καί, a conj., and; the most freq. by far of all the particles in the N. T. [On its uses see W. § 53, 3sqq.; B. 361 (310) sqq., and ef. Ellicott on Phil. iv. 12; on the difference between it and τέ see 8. v. τέ ad init. ] I. It serves as a copulative i.e. to connect (Lat. et, atque, Germ. und) ; 1. it connects single words or terms: a. univ., as of Φαρισαῖοι καὶ Σαδδουκαῖοι, Mt. xvi. 1; ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατήρ, he who is God and Father (see θεός, 3); ἐν καρδίᾳ καλῇ καὶ ἀγαθῇ, Lk. viii. 15; πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως, ΗΘ}. 1. 1; it is repeated before single terms, to each of which its own force and weight is thus given: ἡ υἱοθεσία καὶ ἡ δόξα καὶ ai διαθῆκαι καὶ ἡ νομοθεσία καὶ ἡ λατρεία καὶ αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι, Ro. ix. 4 ; ἁγία καὶ δικαία καὶ ἀγαθή, Ro. vii. 12; add, Mt. xxiii. 23; Lk. xiv. 21; Jn. xvi. 8; Acts xv. 20, 29; xxi. 25; Heb. ix. 10; Rey. v. 12; xviii. 12 sq.; ef. W. 519 sq. (484). b. it…

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Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

και. In LAE p. 129 ff. Deissmann discusses the thoroughly popular character of the Johannine style with its short paratactic sentences, introduced by kal. . . καί. To illustrate this, he cites amongst other exx. a Dream from the Serapeum, P Par 51 (B.C. 160) (= Selections, p. 18 ff. : see especially the amended readings in Archiv vi. p. 204), which runs—** ὦμ[ην] βατί -- δ)ίζειν pe [ἀπ]ὸ λειβὸς ἕως ἀ[ πηλι]ώτου, καὶ ἀναπίπτομαι ἐπ᾿ ἄχυρον" καὶ [ἄν]θρωπ[ος9] ἀπὸ λιβός μου, ἐχόμενός μου’ ἀναπίπτει καὶ αὐτός, καὶ ὥσπερ κεκλειμμ[évot] μου ἦσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου, καὶ ἐξαί[φνης] ἀνύγω τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς pov, καὶ ὁρῶ kTA., “ I dreamed that I was going from West to East, and I lie down upon chaff. And there | αὐτὸ (deleted in the original) Σεμφθεῖ. | ἐκ καινῆς ἐν Σομολ(ῶ)…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

καί (kai) — and.

καί,

conjunction, copulative, joining words and sentences,

__A and; also adverb, even, also, just, frequently expressing emphatic assertion or assent, corresponding as positive to the negative οὐ (μή) or οὐδέ (μηδέ). copulative, and,

__A.I joining words or sentences to those preceding, ἦ, καὶ κυανέῃσιν ἐπ᾽ ὀφρύσινεῦσε Κρονίων [Refs 8th c.BC+]: repeated with two or more Nouns, αἱ δὲ ἔλαφοι κ. δορκάδες κ. οἱ ἄγριοι οἶες κ. οἱ ὄνοι οἱ ἄγριοι [Refs 5th c.BC+]; joining only the last pair, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; ὁ ὄχλος πλείων κ. πλείων ἐπέρρει more and more, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; to add epithets after πολύς, πολλὰ κ. ἐσθλά [Refs 8th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

καί

kai

apparently, a primary particle, having a copulative and sometimes also

a cumulative force; and, also, even, so then, too, etc.; often used in

connection (or composition) with other particles or small words:--and,

also, both, but, even, for, if, or, so, that, then, therefore, when,

yet.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

καί

Cj.

and, even, also, namely

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

καί kai 9x

(1) and, Mt. 2:2, 3, 11; 4:22; (2) καί ... καί, both ... and; (3) as a cumulative particle, also, too, Mt. 5:39; Jn. 8:19; 1 Cor. 11:6; (4) emphatic, even, also, Mt. 10:30; 1 Cor. 2:10; in NT adversative, but, Mt. 11:19; also introductory of the apodosis of a sentence, Gal. 3:28; Jas. 2:4

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Conj — Conjunction
conjunction — it joins clauses, and never changes form.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

CONJ CONJunction or conjunctive particle

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
89%and
and89% · 8448×also8% · 714×other renderings2% · 191×other renderings1% · 124×

9,477 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 42 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial16%subject13%object10%predicate3%verb2%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 8,978 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
αὐτός
ἐνἐπίπρός
σύ
χάριςgrace, favor, kiπρόςπατήρfather, Father,
ἐγώ
πατήρfather, Father, πρόςθεόςGod, a god
εἰμίI am, exist
αὐτόςArticle theἐγώ
θεόςGod, a god
Article theθέλημαwill, wish, desiδέbut, on the othe
καίand8978×
what comes after →
Article the
ἀδελφόςa brotherπατήρfather, Father, μήτηρa mother
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςArticle theπρός
οὐNeg
εἰμίI am, existμήNegδύναμαιI am powerful, a
ὁράωI see, look upon, ex
Article theαὐτόςἀνήρa male human bei
ἐν
Article theπᾶςall, the whole, ὅλοςall, the whole,

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

Concordanceκαί · 8,978× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew Revelation Acts Mark John 1 Corinthians Romans Hebrews 2 Corinthians Ephesians 1 John

3 inflected forms — one of the commonest words in the New Testament. Full distribution →

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 1c. AD 40

Τῶν ἄλλων νομοθετῶν οἱ μὲν ἀκαλλώπιστα καὶ γυμνὰ τὰ νομισθέντα παρ’ αὐτοῖς εἶναι δίκαια διετάξαντο, οἱ δὲ πολὺν ὄγκον τοῖς νοήμασι προσπεριβαλόντες ἐξετύφωσαν τὰ πλήθη μυθικοῖς πλάσμασι τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐπικρύψαντες.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.argc. AD 75–95

ἡ τοῦ κόσμου σύστασις καὶ διάταξις τῶν στοιχείων.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.1c. AD 100

Χαίρετε, υἱοὶ καὶ θυγατέρες, ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντος ἡμᾶς, ἐν εἰρήνῃ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD 1st c. AD 6th c. AD
P.Stras. 2 89Pathyris100 BC

r βασιλεύοντος Πτολεμαίου τοῦ ἐπικαλουμένου Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Βερενίκης τῆς ἀδελφῆς θεῶν Φιλομητόρων ἔτους ιε, ἐφʼ ἱερέων καὶ ἱερειῶν καὶ κανηφόρου τῶν

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

1 ἔτους ιζ Θῶυθ κη ἀπέδοτο Πετεσοῦχος Φίβιος καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ τὸ ὕπαρχον αὐτοῖς ἥμισυ περιστερῶνος τοῦ ὄντος ἐν τῶι ἀπὸ βορρᾶ μέρει

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

βασιλευόντων Πτολεμαίου τοῦ ἐπικαλουμένου Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Βερενίκης τῆς ἀδελφῆς θεῶν φιλομητόρων ἔτους ιϛ, ἐφʼ ἱερέων καὶ ἱερειῶν καὶ κανηφόρου τῶν

Seeing that both Jews signs ask for and Greeks wisdom seek,
ἝλληνεςHellēn Greeks G1672 Noun · nominative · plural · masculine
26× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
A Greek person or Gentile is what this word refers to, describing someone who is not Jewish. In Romans 1:16 and 1 Corinthians 1:22, it is used to describe those who are not part of the Jewish faith, but are still loved by God.
Amplified meaning
non-Jewish people, Gentiles
Tyndale gloss
Greek, Gentile
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word Ἕλλην (i.e., *Hellen*) refers to a Greek person, typically in contrast to a non-Greek, or barbarian. It encompasses Greeks by nationality and extends to Gentiles who adopt Greek language and culture, particularly in the New Testament, where it contrasts with Jews. The term appears frequently in the New Testament, indicating its significance in discussions of identity and faith.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

Ἕλλην, -ηνος, ὁ

[in LXX: Jl 3:6, Za 9:13 (יָוָן), etc.; I Mac 1:10, al. * ;]

a Greek; opp. to βάρβαρος, Ro 1:14; usually in ΝΤ of Greek Gentiles, opp. to Ἰουδαῖοι: Jo 7:35, Ac 11:20 14:1 16:1, 3 18:4 19:10, 17 20:21 21:28, Ro 1:16 2:9, 10 3:9 10:12, I Co 1:22, 24 10:32 12:13, Ga 2:3 3:28, Col 3:11; of proselytes, Jo 12:20, Ac 17:4.†

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

Ἕλλην, -nvos, 6; 1. a Greek by nationality, whether a native of the main land or of the Greek islands or colonies: Acts xviii. 17 Rec.; “Ἑλληνές τε καὶ βάρβαροι, Ro. i. 14. 2. in a wider sense the name embraces all nations not Jews that made the language, customs, and learning of the Greeks their own; so that where Ἕλληνες are opp. to Jews, the primary reference is to a difference of religion and worship: Jn. vii. 35 (cf. Meyer ad loc.) ; Acts xi. 20 GLT Tr [ef. B.D. Am. ed. p- 967]; Acts xvi. 1, 3; [xxi. 28]; 1 Co. i. 22, 23 Rec.; Gal. ii. 3, (Joseph. antt. 20, 11, 2) ; Ἰουδαῖοί τε καὶ Ἑλληves, and the like: Acts xiv.1; xviii.4; xix.10,17; xx. PA Ot Gs) 19. 10 1.9); x. 12: 1 Co: 1524s xi325 xii. 13; Gal. iii. 28; Col. iii. 11. The word is used in the same wide sense by the Grk. church Fathers, ef. Otto on Tatian p. 2; [Soph. Lex. s. v.]. The Ἕλληνες spoken of in Jn. xii. 20 and Acts…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

Ἕλλην=Ἕλλην (Hellēn) — Greek, Gentile.

1. Hellen , son of Deucalion, [8th/7th c.BC]

2. the Ἕλληνες of [8th/7th c.BC] are the Thessalian tribe of which Hellen was the reputed chief (compare Ἑλλάς 1), [8th/7th c.BC]

3. later, Ἕλληνες was the regularly name for Greeks , opposite to βάρβαροι, [Refs 5th c.BC], etc.

4. later still, of Gentiles , Opp. to Jews, [Refs 1st c.AD]

5. as adjective = Ἑλληνικός, [Refs 5th c.BC], etc.:—;even with a fem. Substantive, [6th/5th c.BC, Refs 5th c.BC] (Middle Liddel)

Strong's Greek Dictionary

Ἕλλην

Hellen

from 1671; a Hellen (Grecian) or inhabitant of Hellas; by extension a

Greek-speaking person, especially a non-Jew:-- Gentile, Greek.

see GREEK for 1671

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

Ἕλλην, ηνος, ὁ

n.m.

a Hellene, a Greek

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

Ἕλλην Hellēn 25x

a Greek, Acts 18:17; Rom. 1:14; one not a Jew, a Gentile, Acts 14:1; 16:1, 3

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

Ἕλλην Ἕλλην, ηνος, ὁ, Hellen, son of Deucalion, Hes.

the Ἕλληνες of Hom. are the Thessalian tribe of which Hellen was the reputed chief (cf. Ἑλλάς 1), Il.

later, Ἕλληνες was the regul. name for Greeks, opp. to βάρβαροι, Hdt., etc.

later still, of Gentiles, Opp. to Jews, NTest.

as adj. = Ἑλληνικός, Thuc., etc.:—even with a fem. Subst., Aesch., Eur.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-NPM — Noun · nominative · plural · masculine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked plural masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-NPM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Nominative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

See GRECIANS.

Thompson Chain Reference topics

Joh 12:20; Ac 14:1; 17:4; 18:4; 19:10; 20:21; 21:28; Ro 1:14

1Co 1:22

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
62%greeks
greeks62% · 16×greek35% · 9×greeks?4% · 1×

26 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 3 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject42%adverbial27%object12%indirect object12%predicate8%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 26 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
τέDisjπρῶτοςSupἸουδαῖοςJewish
Article the
διασποράdispersionδιδάσκωI teachπρός
δέbut, on the other ha
εἰμίI am, existπατήρfather, Father,
ὅτιthat, since, because
ἅπαςall, the whole
σέβωI reverence, worship
τέDisj
ἝλληνGreeks26×
what comes after →
Article the
πατήρfather, Father, κατοικέωI dwell in, settεἰς
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theἸουδαῖοςJewish
μέλλωI am about to
πορεύομαιI travel, journe
τὶς
ἐκ
εὐαγγελίζωI bring good news, p
Article the

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

ConcordanceἝλλην · 26× in the New Testament
Acts Romans 1 Corinthians John Galatians Colossians
Across the New Testament6 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 4 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 127c. AD 40

Ῥωμαῖοι δὲ καὶ προστιθέντες τὸ ἐλλειφθὲν ὑφ’ Ἑλλήνων στοιχεῖον τὸ Σ τρανοῦσιν ἔτι μᾶλλον τὴν ἔμφασιν, ἐτυμώτερον σέπτεμ προσαγορεύοντες ἀπὸ τοῦ σεμνοῦ, καθάπερ ἐλέχθη, καὶ σεβασμοῦ.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.5c. AD 75–95

ταύτην δὲ τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν ἐγκεχείρισμαι πραγματείαν νομίζων ἅπασι φανεῖσθαι τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἀξίαν σπουδῆς·

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 2nd c. BC 3rd c. BC 4th c. AD
P. Princ. 1 1Philadelphia (Arsinoites)AD 51

ια ἔτους ὑπὲρ ι ἔτους … … Κερᾶς Ὡραυσίου κδ Ψάμις Ἀπύγχεως κ ιζ Ἕλλην Σαμβᾶτος ἡμιωβέλιον χαλκοῦς 2 α ὀβολὸν Ἀτομεῦς Ἄγρωνος ἡμιωβέλιον χαλκοῦς 2 α ὀβολὸν Τρύφων

P.Fam.Tebt. 12Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 112

η 𐅵 η, αἳ καὶ ἐμετρήθησαν Γεμείλωι καὶ Κρονίωνι σιτολόγοις. ιε ἔτους Ἐπεὶφ η. Ἑλλήνων. καὶ μηνὶ Καισαρείωι κζ. Κερκήσεως. Πτολεμᾶ Διδᾶ ἀμπελουργοῦ πυροῦ ἀρτάβαι β ϛ κδ, προσμετρούμενα

P.Mil.Vogl. 1 26Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 128

αὐτῇ Πτολλαρίων Παυλείνου τοῦ Πάτρωνος τῶν ἐκ τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ τῶν ἐν τῷ Ἀρσινοείτῃ ἀνδρῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ παρὰ Διοσκόρου τοῦ Νεμεσίωνος τοῦ Ἀρείου Σωσικοσμείου τοῦ καὶ Ζηνείου· συνχωροῦμεν πρὸς ἀλλήλους

Seeing that both Jews signs ask for and Greeks wisdom seek,
σοφίανsophia wisdom G4678 Noun · accusative · singular · feminine
51× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
commoner in 1 Corinthians than anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
Wisdom refers to higher or spiritual understanding, as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 2:1 and James 3:15.
Amplified meaning
higher understanding, spiritual insight
Tyndale gloss
wisdom
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

σοφία (sophia) means wisdom and encompasses a range from practical skills to profound spiritual insight. It is used in various contexts in the New Testament, including references to human wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:19) and divine wisdom (Romans 11:33). The term is associated with both intellectual and practical understanding, distinguishing it from related concepts like φρόνησις (prudence) and σύνεσις (intelligence).

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — σοφία, φρόνησις, γνῶσις, ἐπίγνωσι from a scan

Σοφία, φρόνησις, and γνῶσις occur together, Dan. i. 4, 17. They are all ascribed to God (φρόνησις not in the N. T., 1 Augustine (Serm. Ixxi. 6. 10): ‘In eo quod dictum est, Deus neminem tentat, non omni sed quodam tentationis modo Deus neminem tentare intelligendus est: ne falsum sit illud quod scriptum est, Tentat vos Dominus Deus vester [Deut. xiii. 3]; et ne Christum negemus Deum, vel dicamus falsum Evangelium, ubi legimus quia interrogabat discipulum, tentans eum [Joh. vi. 6]. Est enim tentatio adducens peccatum, qua Deus neminem tentat: et est tentatio probans fidem, qua et Deus tentare dignatur.’ Cf. Serm. lvii. c. 9: Enarr. in Ps. lv. 1; Serm. 11. ¢. 3: ‘Deus tentat, ut doceat: diabolus tentat, ut decipiat.’ 282 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. ὃδυχχνυ. for Ephes. i. 8 is not in point); σοφία and γνῶσις, Rom. Xi. 333 φρόνησις and σοφία, Prov. iii. 19; Jer. x. 12. There have been…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

σοφία, -ας, ἡ

[in LXX chiefly for חׇכְמָה ;]

skill, intelligence, wisdom, ranging from knowledge of the arts and matters of daily life to mental excellence in its highest and fullest sense;

of human wisdom: I Co 2:1, 4, 5, Ja 3:15, Re 13:18 17:9; σ. Σολομῶνος, Mt 12:42, Lk 11:31; Αἰγυπτίων, Ac 7:22; Ἕλληνες σ. ζητοῦσιν, I Co 1:22; σ. λόγου, I Co 1:17; τ. σοφῶν, ib. 19 (LXX); τ. κόσμου, ib. 20, 21 3:19; ἀνθρωπίνη, I Co 2:13; σαρκική,

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Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

σοφία Ρ. 387-- ἐποίησα ἐμαυτῷ πέϊλτα Tle καὶ σορὸν ἐν ἡ τὰ προ[γεγραμένα] ταῦτα ἐποίησα ἐπιγρίά)φιν ἐμὸν τῆς τε ἐκ[ϑδοχῆς] τοῦ γένους μου. “1 made myself a monument and sarcophagus on which I had the above engraved, on (this my tomb) and the tomb of the successors of my race,’’ and Cagnat IV. 245° ἔθηκα τὴν σορὸν ἐμαυτῷ [καὶ τῇ συμβίῳ μον. In P Hib I. 67% (8.6. 228) (= Chrest. 1. p. 366) σορώϊον is cloth used for burials. σός, “thy,” “thine’’: P Oxy IV. 811 (c. A.D. 1) eis τὴν σὴν καταλογήν, BGU 11. 665%! (i/a.p.) διὰ τὸ σὸν ὀψώνι[ο]ν, P Ryl IL. 113% (ΛΟ, 133) τῆς σῆς μειζοπονηρίας (‘hatred of wrongdoers’’), P Oxy XII. 1503} (iv/a.D.) ἀσπάζομαι τὸν πατέρα ἡμῶν, τούτεστιν σόν, ἄδελφε, P Strass I. 358 (iv/v A.D.) ἡ σὴ ἀρετή, and P Amh II. 1455 (a title—c. A.D. 400) τῇ σῇ τιμιότητι, “to your honour.” The word is often used substantively, e.g. 6 σός, ‘thy household, agent, friend” (cf. Mk…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

σοφία (sophia) — wisdom.

σοφία,

Ionic dialect -ιη, ἡ, properly cleverness or skill in handicraft and art, as in carpentry, τέκτονος, ὅς ῥά τε πάσης εὖ εἰδῇ σ. [Refs 8th c.BC+]; of the Telchines, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἡ ἔντεχνος σ., of Hephaestus and Athena, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of Daedalus and Palamedes, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; in music and singing, τέχνῃ καὶ σ. [Refs 6th c.BC+]; in medicine or surgery, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἡ περὶ Ὁμήρου σ. [Refs 4th c.BC+]: rare in plural, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. skill in matters of common life. sound judgement, intelligence, practical wisdom, etc., such as was attributed to the seven sages, like{φρόνησις}, [Refs 6th c.BC+]; ἡ τῶν δεινῶν σ., opposed to ἀμαθία, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὴν τότε καλουμένην σ., οὖσαν δὲ δεινότητα πολιτικὴν καὶ δραστήριον σύνεσιν [Refs 1st c.AD+]; also, cunning…

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

σοφία

sophia

from 4680; wisdom (higher or lower, worldly or spiritual):--wisdom.

see GREEK for 4680

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

σοφία, ας, ἡ

n.f.

wisdom

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

σοφία sophia 51x

wisdom in general, knowledge, Mt. 12:42; Lk. 2:40, 52; 11:31; Acts 7:10; ability, Lk. 21:15; Acts 6:3, 10; practical wisdom, prudence, Col. 4:5; learning, science, Mt. 13:54; Mk. 6:2; Acts 7:22; scientific skill, 1 Cor. 1:17; 2:1; professed wisdom, human philosophy, 1 Cor. 1:19, 20…

Read the full entry →
Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

σοφία σοφία, ἡ, skill in handicraft and art, Il., Xen., etc.:— ς. τινός or περί τινος knowledge of, acquaintance with a thing, Plat.

sound judgment, intelligence, practical wisdom, such as was attributed to the Seven Wise men, Theogn., Hdt.; in not so good a sense, cunning, shrewdness, craft, like δεινότης, Hdt.

wisdom, philosophy, Theogn., attic

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-ASF — Noun · accusative · singular · feminine
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular feminine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-ASF Part of Speech: Noun Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Feminine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

wiz'-dum:

1. Linguistic

2. History

3. Religious Basis

4. Ideals

5. Teaching of Christ

6. Remainder of the New Testament

(1) James

(2) Paul

7. Hypostasis

LITERATURE

1. Linguistic:

In the Revised Version (British and American) the noun "wisdom" and its corresponding adjective and verb ("be wise," "act wisely," etc.) represent a variety of Hebrew words: bin (binah, and in the English Revised Version tebunah), sakhal (sekhel, sekhel), lebh (and in the English Revised Version labhabh), tushiyah (and in the English Revised Version Te`em, `ormah, piqqach. None of these, however, is of very frequent occurrence and by far the most common group is the verb chakham, with the adjective chakham, and the nouns chokhmah, chokhmoth, with something over 300 occurrences in the Old Testament (of which rather more than half are in Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes). Cokhmah, accordingly, may be treated as the Hebrew…

Nave's Topical Bible

→ Of Joseph Ge 41:16,25-39; Ac 7:10

→ Of Moses Ac 7:22

→ Of Bezaleel Ex 31:3-5; 35:31-35; 36:1

→ Of Aholiab Ex 31:6; 35:34,35; 36:1

→ Of other skilled artisans Ex 36:2

→ Of women Ex 35:26

→ Of Hiram 1Ki 7:14; 2Ch 2:14

→ Of Solomon 1Ki 3:12,16-28; 4:29-34; 5:12; 10:24

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
100%wisdom
wisdom100% · 51×

51 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 1 different way. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
object35%adverbial31%subject26%predicate6%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 51 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
Article the
δικαιόωI make righteousἀκούωI hear, listenοὗτος
καίand, even, also, nam
πλοῦτοςriches, wealthστόμαthe mouth, speecπνεῦμαwind, breath, sp
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
ἐνΜωϋσῆςMoses
ἐν
οὐNegεἰμίI am, exist
θεόςGod, a god
καίand, even, also,λαλέωI speak, say
σοφίαwisdom51×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theγνῶσιςknowledge, doctrχάριςgrace, favor, ki
Article the
θεόςGod, a godκόσμοςthe world, univeδίδωμιI offer, give
λόγοςa word, speech, divi
ἀλλάbut, exceptἵναin order that, s
ἀπό
Article theπᾶςall, the whole,
ΣολομώνSolomon
καίand, even, also,

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

Concordanceσοφία · 51× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians Colossians Luke Acts James Revelation Ephesians Matthew 2 Corinthians 2 Peter Mark Romans
Across the New Testament12 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 94 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus Clement of Rome The Epistle of Barnabas Polycarp
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 5c. AD 40

οὐ μὴν διὰ τοῦθ’ ἡσυχαστέον, ἀλλ’ ἕνεκα τοῦ θεοφιλοῦς καὶ ὑπὲρ δύναμιν ἐπιτολμητέον λέγειν, οἴκοθεν μὲν οὐδέν, ὀλίγα δ’ ἀντὶ πολλῶν, ἐφ’ ἃ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην διάνοιαν φθάνειν εἰκὸς ἔρωτι καὶ πόθῳ σοφίας κατεσχημένην.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.18c. AD 75–95

Ἐπειδὴ δὲ πάντα σχεδὸν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ νομοθέτου σοφίας ἡμῖν ἀνήρτηται Μωυσέος, ἀνάγκη μοι βραχέα περὶ ἐκείνου προειπεῖν, ὅπως μή τινες τῶν ἀναγνωσομένων διαπορῶσι, πόθεν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος περὶ νόμων καὶ πράξεων ἔχων τὴν ἀναγραφὴν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον φυσιολογίας…

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.3c. AD 100

τούτων οὖν μενόντων τὰ πρὸς κύριον ἁγνῶς, συνευφραίνονται αὐτοῖς σοφία, σύνεσις, ἐπιστήμη, γνῶσις.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 4th c. AD 5th c. AD 7th c. AD 3rd c. AD
P.Oxy. 24 2421Oxyrhynchites (?)AD 312–AD 323

Ἀτοῦς γυνὴ Ἁγίωνος πορθμαρίου σίτου γ ιβ δηνάρια υθ κριθῆς ἀρτάβαι β δηνάρια Ατι. Σοφία Ἀγαθοῦ Δαίμωνος κριθῆς ἀρτάβη α δ κδ δηνάρια πε … Ὧρος ἀναγνώστης κριθῆς ἀρτάβης

Αὐρηλίᾳ Θεοδωρᾳ ἐλαιοπωλίσσῃ ἀπὸ Πανὸς πόλεως παρὰ Σοφίας Ὡρίωνος ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς. μεμίσθωμαι παρὰ σοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄντος μηνὸς Χοιὰκ πρὸς χρόνον

P.Ross.Georg. 3 28ArsinoitesAD 343

καὶ … … ον καὶ ἐνώτιον· οὐκ οὔσης δὲ ἐξουσίας τῷ Ἀσὴπ καταλεῖψαι τὴν Σοφίαν μετὰ ταῦτα, ἐπιδώσει ὁ παραβὰς μετὰ ταῦτα τῷ ἐμμένοντι ὑπὲρ ἐπιτίμου καὶ στροφῆς καὶ

Seeing that both Jews signs ask for and Greeks wisdom seek,
ζητοῦσιν,zēteō seek, G2212 Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · plural
117× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 Corinthians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To seek something means to look for it or try to find it, like when Jesus teaches to seek first God's kingdom in Matthew 7:7. It can also mean to worship or plot against someone.
Amplified meaning
look for, seek after
Tyndale gloss
to seek
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

ζητέω means to seek or search for something, whether literally or figuratively. It can also imply a desire or striving after something, such as God or knowledge. The New Testament uses it in various contexts, including seeking the life of another (e.g., Mt 2:20) and seeking the kingdom of God (e.g., Mt 6:33). The entries show a range of meanings from inquiry to demand.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ζητέω, -ῶ,

[in LXX chiefly for בּקשׁ pi., also for דּרשׁ, etc.;]

to seek, seek for: Mt 7:7, 8, Lk 11:9, 10; c. acc. pers., Mk 1:37, Lk 2:48, Jo 6:24, al.; id. seq. ἐν, Ac 9:11; c. acc. rei, Mt 13:45, Lk 19:10; seq. ἐν, Lk 13:6, 7; ψυχήν, of plotting against one's life (Ex 4:19, al.), Mt 2:20, Read the full entry →

Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament from a scan

ζητέω, -d; impf. 3 pers. sing. ἐζήτει, plur. ἐζήτουν ; fut. Qyrngw; 1 aor. ἐζήτησα; Pass., pres. ζητοῦμαι: impf. 3 pers. sing. ἐζητεῖτο (Ileb. viii. 7); 1 fut. ζητηθήσομαι (Lk. xii. 48); [fr. Hom. on]; Sept. for w73, and much oftener for wpa; to seek, i. 6. 1. to seek in order to find; a. univ. and absol. : Mt. vii. 7sq.; Lk. xi. 9 sq. (see εὑρίσκω. 1 a.); τινά, Mk. i. 37; Lk. ii. [45 R Lmrg.], 48; [iv. 42 Ree.]; Jn. vi. 24; xviii. 4,7; Acts x. 19, and often; foll. by ἐν νυ. dat. of place, Acts ix. 11; w. ace. of the thing (μαργαρίτας), of buyers, Mt. xiii. 45; something lost, Mt. xvili.12; Lk. xix. 10; τὶ ἔν τινι, as fruit on a tree, Lk. xiii. 6 sq.; ἀνάπαυσιν, a place of rest, Mt. xii. 3; Lk. xi. 24; after the Hebr. (“3 wa3-ns wp3 [ef. W. 33 (32); 187) ψυχήν τινος, to seek, plot against, the life of one, Mt. ii. 20; Ro. xi. 3, (Ex. iv. 19, ete.); univ. τί ζητεῖς; what dost thou seek?…

Read the full entry →
Moulton & Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament from a scan

ζητέω ἦν ὁ θάνατος τῷ θ(ε)ῷ ἢ ζημία ὅπερ ἀδύνατον, which Harnack (Chron. ii. p. anderes fiir Gott als Strafe, was unmoglich ist,’’ adding in a note that the meaning may be, ‘‘ Ware Gott der, 181) renders, ‘‘so ware der Tod nichts welcher den Tod verhangt, so ware er ein strafender Gott, was unmoglich ist.” The subst. ζημίωμα is found in P Flor II. 1507 (Δ... 267) οὐχ ὀλίγον ζημίωμα εἰς τοῦτο γεινίόϊμενον ἡμῖν, BGU ΤΙ. 41013 (A.D. 276-7) τὰ περιγινόμενα λήμματα καὶ ζημίωμα [π]ρὸς σὲ ἤτω.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ζητέω (zēteō) — to seek.

ζητ-έω,

Doric dialect participle ζάτεισα [Refs 3rd c.BC+]imperfect ἐζήτουν, Epic dialect 3rd.pers. singular ζήτει [Refs 8th c.BC+]: aorist 1 ἐζήτησα [Refs 5th c.BC+]: perfect ἐζήτηκα [Refs 4th c.BC+] —middle, aorist 1 ἐζητησάμην (ἀν-) [Refs 3rd c.AD+]:—passive, future ζητηθήσομαι [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; but ζητήσομαι in passive sense,[Refs 2nd c.AD+]:—seek, seek for, ἐμὲ δ᾽ ἔξοχα πάντων ζήτει Il.[same place]; ζ. πημάτων ἀπαλλαγάς [Refs 5th c.BC+]; μὴ ζητῶν without seeking, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὸ ζητούμενον ἁλωτόν what is sought for may be found, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. mquire for, τὰ πινάκια καὶ τὰ γραμματεῖα [Refs 5th c.BC+]

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

ζητέω

zeteo

of uncertain affinity; to seek (literally or figuratively); specially,

(by Hebraism) to worship (God), or (in a bad sense) to plot (against

life):--be (go) about, desire, endeavour, enquire (for), require, (X

will) seek (after, for, means). Compare 4441.

see GREEK for 4441

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ζητέω

v.

I seek, search for, desire

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ζητέω zēteō 117x

to seek, look for, Mt. 18:12; Lk. 2:48, 49; to search after, Mt. 13:45; to be on the watch for, Mt. 26:16; to pursue, endeavor to obtain, Rom. 2:7; 1 Pet. 3:11; to desire, wish, want, Mt. 12:47; to seek, strive for, Mt. 6:33; to endeavor, Mt. 21:46; to require, demand, ask for, Mk. 8:11; Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ζητέω to seek, seek for, Il., Aesch., etc.; μὴ ζητῶν without seeking, Xen.; τὸ ζητούμενον ἁλωτόν what is sought for may be found, Soph.

to enquire for, Xen.: to ask about a thing, id. Xen.

to search after, search out, Soph., Thuc.

to search or inquire into, investigate, Plat., etc.; ζ. τὰ θεῖα Xen., etc.

to require, demand, παρὰ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ λόγον ζητοῦντες Dem.

to seek after, desire, ἀμήχανα Eur.

c. inf. to seek to do, Hdt., Aesch., etc.

to have to seek, feel the want of, Lat. desidero, Hdt.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAI-3P — Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · plural
present active indicative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAI-3P Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: Indicative Person: third Number: Plural

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
36%seeking
seeking36% · 43×do seek8% · 10×you seek7% · 8×they were seeking6% · 7×seeks6% · 7×he was seeking4% · 5×seek3% · 4×seek you?3% · 4×other renderings26% · 31×

119 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 33 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
verb100%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 117 occurrences — a word inside a phrase counts towards whatever that phrase is doing.

The phrases it lives inwhat stands either side of it, across the New Testament
← what comes before
καίand, even, also, nam
γραμματεύςa scribe, town-cἡμέραa dayδίδωμιI offer, give
τίςIrg
αὐτόςλέγωI say, speakκλαίωI weep, weep for
σύ
δίδωμιI offer, giveλέγωI say, speakτίςIrg
μήNeg
γυνήa woman, wife, mσύἐγώ
Article the
καίand, even, also,γάρforεἰμίI am, exist
ζητέωseek,117×
what comes after →
Article the
ψυχήthe soul, life, δέbut, on the otheἀρχιερεύςhigh priest, chi
αὐτός
κρατέωI lay hold of, oArticle theἐν
ἐγώ
καίand, even, also,οὐNegἀποκτείνωI put to death,
σύ
λαλέωI speak, sayλιθάζωI stone
καίand, even, also, nam
εὑρίσκωI findσημεῖονa sign, miracle,σῴζωI save, heal

branches are dictionary forms, so endings do not split one phrase into five; the number on a branch is how many times the New Testament takes that path

Concordanceζητέω · 117× in the New Testament
John Luke Matthew Acts Mark 1 Corinthians Romans 1 Peter 2 Corinthians Galatians 1 Thessalonians 2 Timothy

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament16 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 132 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Philo of Alexandria Josephus Clement of Rome The Shepherd of Hermas Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 104c. AD 40

πέμπτῃ δ’ ὥριον ἄνδρα γάμου μεμνημένον εἶναι καὶ παίδων ζητεῖν ἐξοπίσω γενεήν·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.295c. AD 75–95

Ἰάκωβος δὲ πᾶσαν αὐτῷ τὴν αἰτίαν διηγεῖτο λέγων Ἰσάκῳ γενέσθαι παῖδας διδύμους αὐτόν τε καὶ Ἡσαῦν, ὃν ἐπεὶ τῶν τοῦ πατρὸς εὐχῶν διήμαρτε σοφίᾳ τῆς μητρὸς εἰς αὐτὸν γενομένων, ἀποκτεῖναι ζητεῖν αὐτὸν ὡς ἀφῃρημένον τῆς παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ βασιλείας καὶ…

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.9c. AD 100

αἰσθάνεσθαι οὖν ὀφείλομεν, μὴ ὄντες ἀσύνετοι, τὴν γνώμην τῆς ἀγαθωσύνης τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν, ὅτ̓ ἡμῖν λέγει, θέλων ἡμᾶς μὴ ὁμοίως πλανωμένους ἐκείνοις ζητεῖν, πῶς προσάγωμεν αὐτῷ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 2nd c. AD 7th c. AD 3rd c. AD 4th c. AD
P.Tebt. 2 286Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 138

αὐτοψίας ἣν ἐγὼ ἐπεῖδον, ἡ οἰκία τῇ Πτολέμᾳ προσήκει. περὶ γὰρ τῆς νομῆς οὐδὲν ζητεῖν δεόμεθα προσκυνεῖν ὀφείλοντες τὰς ἀναγνωσθείσας τοῦ θεοῦ Τραιανοῦ καὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἁδριανοῦ Καίσαρος

P.Bas. 1 2Arsinoites ?AD 190

δὲ πταίσῃ τι ἐξ αὐτῶν κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν, οἴσομεν ὑμῖν τὴν σφραγῖδα καὶ οὐδὲν ζητηθήσεται πρὸς ἡμᾶς. ἔτους λα Μάρκου Αὐρηλίου Κομμόδου Ἀντωνίνου Καίσαρος τοῦ κυρίου Θώθ κη

PSI 8 930 VoTheadelphia (Arsinoites)AD 251

ἵνα ἀπὸ τῶν καλαμειῶν φέρωσιν κάλαμον εἰς τὸ ἐποίκιον· οἱ γὰρ πωλήσαντες ἡμῖν ἐνοχλοῦσιν ζητοῦντες … ιμελ … ἑαυτῶν τὰς καλαμείας. εὐθὺς οὖν αὐτὰ ἀποπέμψατε ἐκεῖ, ἵνα μὴ δοκῆτε

Sources on this page. Lexicons and dictionaries imported from the CrossWire SWORD modules — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, Dodson, the Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones, Robinson and Packard, Webster and Cawdrey. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Harper, 1889 — Grimm’s Wilke’s Clavis Novi Testamenti, translated, revised and enlarged by Joseph Henry Thayer) is public domain and is set here from the Internet Archive page scan greekenglishlex00grim; it is uncorrected OCR, marked as such on the entry itself, and the Strong’s numbers — which Thayer’s own edition does not carry — were matched by lemma against the other modules on this page. Trench’s Synonyms of the New Testament (Macmillan, 1880) and Moulton and Milligan’s Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (Hodder & Stoughton, 1930, which entered the United States public domain on 1 January 2026) are set from Internet Archive page scans synonymsofnewtes00treniala and vocabularyofgree00mouluoft, and are likewise uncorrected OCR matched to Strong’s numbers by lemma. Trench treats a group of words at once, so the same essay stands on the page of each word it compares. The Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary is © 1993 and is used here by permission for non-commercial use, www.teknia.com/greek-dictionary. The full Liddell-Scott-Jones and the Hebrew word data (TAHOT) come from STEPBible.org, CC BY 4.0. Brown-Driver-Briggs is the OpenScriptures digitisation, public domain. Syntax analysis is the Nestle 1904 Lowfat treebank (biblicalhumanities.org); the concordance and morphology are built from the tagged Nestle 1904 text. Septuagint occurrences use the Open Scriptures Septuagint lemma index, derived from CCAT (University of Pennsylvania) and the Rahlfs 1935 dataset by Eliran Wong, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — used here on a non-commercial ministry site. Greek of Josephus and Barnabas from the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0. Commentaries and the Ante-Nicene Fathers are public-domain texts hosted on this site. Everyday Greek from the Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri, CC BY 3.0, with dates and provenance from the Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis. Philo and the Apostolic Fathers from Open Greek and Latin (First1KGreek), CC BY-SA 4.0. The apparatus and the fifth Greek column are the SBL Greek New Testament, © 2010 SBL and Logos Bible Software, CC BY 4.0. The Latin is the Clementine Vulgate (public domain); the Syriac New Testament is the ETCBC edition (MIT licence). The Hebrew behind the Greek is computed here from the Septuagint index and TAHOT, not taken from any aligned edition. The translation spread and the per-word edition marks come from the Translators Amalgamated Greek NT (STEPBible, CC BY 4.0); clause roles from the Nestle 1904 Lowfat treebank (CC BY-SA 4.0); place identifications and their confidence from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding (CC BY 4.0), with map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Gospel parallels are computed here from shared uncommon vocabulary, not taken from any printed harmony. Cross references are the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and the subject headings are Nave’s Topical Bible, both public domain. Works under Creative Commons licences are used unchanged apart from markup removal.

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