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1 Corinthians 14:3 — Word Study

Depth

N1904 δὲ προφητεύων ἀνθρώποις λαλεῖ οἰκοδομὴν καὶ παράκλησιν καὶ παραμυθίαν.

BSAThe [one]ho howeverde prophesyingprophēteuō [speaks under inspiration from God, to prophesy] to menanthrōpos [human beings, people] speaks [for]laleō edificationoikodomē [spiritual growth, building up] andkai encouragementparaklēsis [exhortation, comfort] andkai consolation.paramuthia [consolation, solace]

Word
Listen & take away1 Corinthians 14
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 3 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 (paramuthia) — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
Take it away
1 Corinthians 14:3quick helps
In a sentencePaul explains that prophesying is a way to communicate directly to people for their spiritual benefit.
Who is speakingPaul, addressing the Corinthian church about the gifts of the Spirit.
Where we areIn a discussion about spiritual gifts, particularly the role of prophecy.
The hard wordπροφητεύων
Take awayProphesying serves to build up, encourage, and comfort the community.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause subject verbπροφητεύω The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
How rare are these words?in the New Testament

1 of 10 occurs nowhere else in the New Testament — a word chosen on purpose.

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 14:3

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 Role of Prophecy in the Churchgenerated

2For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries in the Spirit.
3But he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, encouragement, and comfort.
4The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.
5I wish that all of you could speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be edified.

1 Corinthians 14:3 highlights the importance of prophecy in the church, emphasizing that it is meant to benefit others. Paul contrasts this with speaking in tongues, which is more personal and less understood by the community. The context is a broader discussion on how spiritual gifts should be used for the edification of the church, as seen in verses 4 and 5 of the same chapter.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
11 Corinthians 14:4–12The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.
21 Corinthians 8:1Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
31 Corinthians 10:23“Everything is permissible,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything is edifying.
4Acts 9:31Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced a time of peace. It grew in strength and numbers, living in the fear of the Lord and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.
5Romans 14:19So then, let us pursue what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

The Key Word προφητεύων, prophēteuōgenerated

The word προφητεύων is a present active participle of προφητεύω, meaning 'to prophesy' or 'to speak forth.' It denotes someone who is actively delivering a message inspired by God.

This term focuses on the act of communicating divine truths rather than merely predicting future events. The emphasis is on the immediate benefit to the hearers, which aligns with the purpose of prophecy as stated in this verse.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The verse is rendered in the Berean Standard Bible as 'But he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, encouragement, and comfort.' This is consistent across several translations, including the KJV and ASV, which also maintain the triad of benefits: edification, exhortation, and comfort.

Where translations differ is in the choice of terms for the Greek words. For instance, ἀνθρώποις is rendered as 'to men' in the BSB, while the KJV opts for 'men.' Similarly, παράκλησιν appears as 'encouragement' in the BSB but as 'exhortation' in the ASV.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main verb of the sentence is λαλεῖ, speaks, which governs the subject προφητεύων and the indirect object ἀνθρώποις. The structure indicates that the act of speaking is directed towards people for their benefit.

The sentence comprises a main clause followed by a series of noun phrases that detail the purpose of the speaking, which is to provide edification, encouragement, and comfort.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

προφητεύω has roots in the Septuagint, where it translates the Hebrew verb נָבָא (H5012), meaning 'to prophesy.' This connection emphasizes the continuity of the prophetic tradition from the Old Testament into the New.

In the LXX, prophecy is often associated with delivering messages from God, which aligns with the New Testament understanding of the role of prophets in the church.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

1 Corinthians 14:3 explains that when someone prophesies, they are speaking to others to help them grow spiritually, encourage them, and provide comfort. This shows the importance of prophecy in building up the church community.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean to prophesy?

To prophesy means to speak under divine inspiration, delivering God's messages to people, which can include encouragement and guidance.

Why is prophecy important in the church?

Prophecy is vital because it builds up the church, provides encouragement, and offers comfort to believers, helping them grow in their faith.

How does prophecy differ from speaking in tongues?

Prophecy is directed towards others and is meant to be understood, while speaking in tongues is often a personal expression that may not be understood by all.

Can anyone prophesy?

According to Paul, anyone can prophesy if they are inspired by the Holy Spirit, as spiritual gifts are given for the benefit of the church.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. How can I use my words to build up and encourage others in my community?
  2. In what ways have I experienced comfort through the words of others?
  3. What role does prophecy play in my understanding of spiritual gifts?
  4. How can I be more open to receiving and sharing prophetic messages in my life?

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

Early church Fathers comment on the role of prophecy in the church, emphasizing its importance for edification and comfort.

John ChrysostomHomily on 1 Corinthians 35 c. 347–407
"But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men edification, and exhortation, and comfort." Seest thou by what he signifies the choice nature of this gift? i.e.,
Early Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 14 →
AmbrosiasterCOMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES fl. c. 366–384
A person is built up when he finds out the answer to disputed points. Encouragement comes to him when he is enabled to endure. He is consoled when he continues in hope even when others are viewing his discipline with contempt.
Early Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 14 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on 1 Corinthians 14:3 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

But he that prophesieth,.... Preaches, prays, or sings, in a language understood by the common people: speaketh unto men to edification; to the building of them up in Christ, and on their most holy

Read John Gill on 1 Corinthians 14 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary

But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. But - on the other hand.

Read Robert Jamieson on 1 Corinthians 14 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Speaketh unto men; that is, to the understanding of men, and for the good and profit of men. To edification; for their increase in knowledge and all habits of grace. And exhortation; to quicken them in the exercise and practice of such duties as God hath, in his word, required of, them. And comfort; and for the relief of them under their burdens, to support and uphold their troubled or wounded spirits. These expressions make it probable, that the apostle, by prophecy in this text, understands ministerial preaching; which more properly tends to edification, exhortation, and comfort, than the foretelling of things to come.

Read Matthew Poole on 1 Corinthians 14 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. Ver. 3. To edification, to exhortation] These three ends every preacher ought to propound to himself: 1. Edification in knowledge and holiness. 2. Exhortation, that is, reprehension and admonition. 3. Consolation, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, Hebrews 12:13.

Read John Trapp on 1 Corinthians 14 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) Edification, and exhortation, and comfort.—They communed with God by the speaking with tongues; they communed with the brethren by prophecy—building up, stirring up, cheering up, as each required.

Read Charles John Ellicott on 1 Corinthians 14 →
AdamClarkeAdam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

Verse 3. But he that prophesieth] The person who has the gift of teaching is much more useful to the Church than he is who has only the gift of tongues, because he speaks to the profit of men: viz. to their edification, by the Scriptures he expounds; to their exhortation, by what he teaches; and to their comfort, by his revelation.-Whitby. I must here refer to my sermon on this text, intitled, "The Christian Prophet and his Work," in which I have endeavoured to consider the whole of this subject at large.

Read AdamClarke on 1 Corinthians 14 →
Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But he that prophesieth - See the note at 1 Corinthians 14:1. He that speaks under the influence of inspiration in the common language of his hearers.

Read Albert Barnes on 1 Corinthians 14 →
Daniel Denison Whedon1808–1885Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

3. Prophesieth—As the Spirit selects for its instruments the persons most qualified by nature for its special work, so the individual naturally susceptible to presentiment would be gifted with the prophetic charism.

Read Daniel Denison Whedon on 1 Corinthians 14 →

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

But he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, encouragement, and comfort.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

But he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, exhortation, and consolation.

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

But he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, encouragement, and comfort.

NETBNew English Translation2006

But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and consolation.

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men edification, and exhortation, and consolation.

RVARevised Version, American1894

But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men edification, and comfort, and consolation.

NWBWebster's Bible1833

But he that prophesieth, speaketh to men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

GNVGeneva Bible1599

But he that prophecieth, speaketh vnto me to edifying, and to exhortation, and to comfort.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

But he that prophesies speaks to men [in] edification, and encouragement, and consolation.

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

and he who is prophesying to men doth speak edification, and exhortation, and comfort;

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

and he who is prophesying to men speaks edification, and exhortation, and comfort;

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

But the one who prophesies speaks to people to build them up, to encourage them, and to comfort them.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

But he that prophesieth, speaketh to men unto edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

However, the words of those who speak for God build people up—they provide encouragement and comfort.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

But the word of the prophet gives men knowledge and comfort and strength.

Word by word, the decisions they made

ἀνθρώποιςanthrōpos to men G444 3 different renderings
to menBSB DBY DRA LSV MSB NWB WEB YLT
menASV BBE KJV RVA
peopleFBV NETB ULB
λαλεῖlaleō speaks [for] G2980 2 different renderings
speaksBSB DBY LSV MSB NETB ULB WEB
speakFBV YLT
παράκλησινparaklēsis encouragement G3874 4 different renderings
exhortationASV DRA GNV KJV LSV NWB WEB YLT
encouragementBSB DBY FBV MSB NETB
comfortBBE ULB
consolationRVA

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.

clauseδὲhoweverclausenoun phrase · subjectThe [one]clauseverbπροφητεύωνprophesyingindirect objectἀνθρώποιςto menverbλαλεῖspeaks [for]noun phrase · objectοἰκοδομὴνedificationκαὶandπαράκλησινencouragementκαὶandπαραμυθίανconsolation

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

Nam qui prophetat, hominibus loquitur ad ædificationem, et exhortationem, et consolationem.

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

ܐܝܢܐ ܕܝܢ ܕܡܬܢܒܐ ܠܒܢܝܢܫܐ ܡܡܠܠ ܒܢܝܢܐ ܘܠܘܒܒܐ ܘܒܘܝܐܐ

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

δὲ προφητεύων ἀνθρώποις λαλεῖ οἰκοδομὴν καὶ παράκλησιν καὶ παραμυθίαν.

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

δὲ προφητεύων ἀνθρώποις λαλεῖ οἰκοδομὴν καὶ παράκλησιν καὶ παραμυθίαν.

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

δὲ προφητεύων ἀνθρώποις λαλεῖ οἰκοδομὴν καὶ παράκλησιν καὶ παραμυθίαν.

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

δὲ προφητεύων ἀνθρώποις λαλεῖ οἰκοδομὴν καὶ παράκλησιν καὶ παραμυθίαν.

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

δὲ προφητεύων ἀνθρώποις λαλεῖ οἰκοδομὴν καὶ παράκλησιν καὶ παραμυθίαν.

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

δὲ προφητεύων ἀνθρώποις λαλεῖ οἰκοδομὴν καὶ παράκλησιν καὶ παραμυθίαν.

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

δὲ προφητεύων ἀνθρώποις λαλεῖ οἰκοδομὴν καὶ παράκλησιν καὶ παραμυθίαν.

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

δὲ προφητεύων ἀνθρώποις λαλεῖ οἰκοδομὴν καὶ παράκλησιν καὶ παραμυθίαν.

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

Every witness on this verse all agree
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

Every edition agrees. All 8 printed editions — Nestle-Aland 28, Nestle-Aland 27, SBLGNT, Westcott-Hort, Tregelles, Tyndale House 2017, Textus Receptus (KJV), Byzantine majority — carry every word of this verse, in the same order, with no difference that any translator would render differently.


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 14:3The [one]The [one]δέhoweverhoweverδέπροφητεύωprophesyingprophesyingπροφητεύωἄνθρωποςto mento menἄνθρωποςλαλέωspeaks [forspeaks [for]λαλέωοἰκοδομήedificationedificationοἰκοδομήκαίandandκαίπαράκλησιςencouragemeencouragementπαράκλησιςκαίandandκαίπαραμυθίαconsolationconsolation.παραμυθίαπαρακαλέωv. I summov. I summon, enπαρακαλέωπροφήτηςn.m. a pron.m. a prophet,προφήτηςπαραμυθέομαιv. I encouv. I encourage,παραμυθέομαιἀνήρn.m. a maln.m. a male humἀνήρὀπτάνομαιv. I appeav. I appear, amὀπτάνομαιλέγωv. I say, v. I say, speakλέγωοἶκοςn.m. a houn.m. a house, hοἶκοςδῶμαn.n. the tn.n. the top ofδῶμαἨσαΐαςn.m. Isaian.m. IsaiahἨσαΐαςσόςPoss.pr. yPoss.pr. yours,σόςκοινόωv. I make v. I make uncleκοινόωυἱόςn.m. a sonn.m. a son, desυἱόςγλῶσσαn.f. the tn.f. the tongueγλῶσσαπαρρησίαn.f. freedn.f. freedom, cπαρρησίαἀγαθόςAdj goodAdj goodἀγαθόςἐκκλησίαn.f. an asn.f. an assemblἐκκλησίαὑπέρPrep. in bPrep. in behalfὑπέρ
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 14:3

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.

The [one] however prophesying to men speaks [for] edification and encouragement and consolation.
ho The [one] G3588 Article · nominative · singular · masculine
19,783× 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
The Greek word for 'the' or 'this', used to point out a specific person or thing, like in Acts 17:28. It can also mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
Tyndale gloss
the/this/who
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The definite article — the commonest word in the Greek New Testament at 19,867 occurrences. Greek uses it more freely than English does and can drop it deliberately, so its presence and its absence both carry weight for a translator; but no single occurrence carries a message of its own. Here it simply gathers “the things” into one definite bundle.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὁ, ἡ, τό,

the prepositive article (ἄρθρον προτακτικόν), originally a demonstr. pron. (so usually in Hom.), in general corresponding to the Eng. definite article.

As demonstr. pron.

As freq. in Hom., absol., he (she, it), his (etc.): Ac 17:28 (quoted from the poet Aratus).

Distributive, ὁ μὲν . . . ὁ δέ, the one . . . the other: I Co 7:7, Ga 4:22; pl., Ac 14:4, 17:32, Phl 1:16, al.; οἱ μὲν . . . ἄλλοι δέ, Mt 16:14, Jo 7:12; οἱ μεν̀ . . . ὁ δέ, He 7:21, 23.

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

ὁ 435 ὁ tives of quantity, ὅλος, πᾶς, πολύς, see each in its own place. d. What has been said concerning adjectives holds true also of all other limitations added to substantives, as ἡ κατ᾽ ἐκλογὴν πρόθεσις, Ro. ix. 11; ἡ παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ διαθήκη, Ro. xi. 27; 6 λόγος 6 τοῦ σταυροῦ, 1 Co. i. 18; ἡ εἰς Χριστὸν πίστις, Col. ii. 5; on the other hand, ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν ἡ πρὸς τὸν θεόν, 1 Th. i. 8; τῆς διακονίας τῆς εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους, 2 Co. viii. 4; see many other exx. of each usage in W. 131 (124) sqq.; [B. 91 (80) sqq.]. e. The noun has the article before it when a demonstrative pronoun (υὗτος, ἐκεῖνος) belonging to it either precedes or follows [W. § 18, 4; B. § 127, 29-31]; as, ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτος, Jn. ix. 24 [οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρ. 1, Tr mrg. WH); Acts vi. 13; xxii. 26; ὁ λαὸς οὗτος, Mt. xv. 8; 6 vids σου οὗτος, Lk. xv. 30; plur. Lk. xxiv. 17, and numberless other exx.; οὗτος 6 ἄνθρωπος, Lk. xiv. 30; οὗτος ὁ…

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

ὃ, ἡ τό. (1) Apart from connexion with μέν or δέ (see below) the demonstrative use of the art. in the NT is confined to a poetical quotation Ac 1778, but it is not uncommon in the papyri, e.g. P Par 45® (B.C. 153) (= Witkowski®, p. 85) τὰ (for ἃ) πράσεις (Δ πράσσεις), P Oxy VIII. 1160! (iii/iv A.D.) Ta (for ἃ) σεσύλληχα (for συνείληχα) δὲ κέρμα {ταν τηρῶ αὐτὰ εἰς τὴν δίκην, “1 am keeping for the trial the money that I have collected” (Ed.). For the distributive Opéev.. - 6 8€, as in 1 Cor7’, cf. P Lond 535 (B.c. 161) (=I. p. 19, U.P.Z. i. p. 239) kal τὰ μὲν ἡμῶν ἐληφότων εἰς τὴν γινομένην ἡμῖν συντάξειν, τὰ δ᾽ ἔτι διὰ τὴν τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων {(.. ... > παρελκομένων. (2) The use of the art. as a relative, of which there is no trace in the NT, may again be illustrated by the following papyrus citations from ¢c. A.D. 346—P Lond 414® (= II. Ῥ. 292) γεινῴσκιν oe θέλω περὶ τοῦ βρεουίου…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὁ (ho) — the/this/who.

ὁ,

ἡ, τό, is, when thus written,

__A demonstrative Pronoun.

__B in Attic dialect, definite or prepositive Article.

__C in Epic dialect, the so-called postpositive Article, = relative Pronoun, ὅς, ἥ, ὅ.—The nominative masculine and feminine singular and plural, ὁ, ἡ, οἱ, αἱ, have no accent in codices and most printed books, except when used as the relative; but ὁ, ἡ, οἱ, αἱ differ only in writing from ὃ, ἣ, οἳ, α; the nominative forms of the article are said by Hdn.Gr.1.474 to be oxytone, and by [Refs 2nd c.AD+] in Aeolic dialect accusative to [Refs 8th c.BC+] genitive and dative dual τοῖιν [Refs 8th c.BC+]— In Doric dialect and all other dialects except Attic dialect and Ionic dialect the feminine forms preserve the old ᾱ instead of changing it to η, hence Doric dialect etc. ἁ, τάν, τᾶ; the genitive plural τάων contracts in many dialects to τᾶ; the genitive…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὁ ἡ τό

ho

he hay, and the neuter

to to

in all their inflections; the definite article; the (sometimes to be

supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom):--the, this, that, one,

he, she, it, etc.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὁ, ἡ, τό

Article

the

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὁ ho 19x

the prepositive article, answering, to a considerable extent, to the English definite article; but, for the principle and facts of its usage, consult a grammar; ὁ μὲν ... ὁ δέ, the one ... the other, Phil. 1:16, 17; Heb. 7:5, 6, 20, 21, 23, 24; pl. some ... others, Mt. 13:23; 22:5, 6; ὁ δέ, but he, Mt. 4:4; 12:48; οἱ δέ, but others, Mt. 28:17; used, in a poetic quotation, for a personal pronoun, Acts 17:28

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὁ the, that

ὁ, ἡ, τό, is

demonstr. Pronoun.

the definite Article.

in epic, the relative Pronoun, when it is written with the accent ὅ, ἥ, τό ῀ ὅς, ἥ, ὅ. Besides the common forms, note epic gen. sg. τοῖο for τοῦ; pl. nom. τοί, ταί; gen. fem. τάων [α^], dat. τοῖσι, τῇς and τῇσι; dual gen, and dat. τοῖιν:— in Trag. we find τοὶ μέν . . , τοὶ δέ . . , for οἱ μέν . . , οἱ δέ . . ; dat. pl. also τοῖσι, ταῖσι: the dual has commonly but one gender, τώ for τά, τοῖν for ταῖν.

DEMONSTR. PRONOUN:

joined with a Subst., not as the Art., but like Lat. ille, ὁ Τυδείδης Tydeus's famous son, Il.; Νέστωρ ὁ γέρων Nestor— that aged man, id. Il.; τιμῆς τῆς Πριάμου for honour, namely that of Priam, id. Il.

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Art-NSM — Article · nominative · singular · masculine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-NSM Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

wun.

See NUMBER.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
64%the
the64% · 13160×<the>28% · 5846×those3% · 597×other renderings4% · 788×other renderings1% · 294×

20,685 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 83 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
subject34%adverbial32%object24%predicate5%indirect object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 19,783 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
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existἐγώ
ἐν
καίand, even, also,αὐτόςArticle the
εἰς
αὐτόςεἰσέρχομαιI go in, come inἔρχομαιI come, go
αὐτός
λέγωI say, speakδέbut, on the otheπρός
εἰμίI am, exist
οὗτοςσύἐγώ
The [one]19783×
what comes after →
θεόςGod, a god
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐγώ
δέbut, on the other ha
λέγωI say, speakἸησοῦςJesusἀποκρίνομαιI answer, reply
ἸησοῦςJesus
λέγωI say, speakκαίand, even, also,Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, master,
ἐγώἸησοῦςJesusArticle the
πατήρfather, Father, ance
ἐγώσύαὐτός

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

Concordance · 19,783× in the New Testament
Matthew Acts Luke John Revelation Mark Romans 1 Corinthians Hebrews 2 Corinthians Ephesians 1 John

40 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 The Epistle of Barnabas
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

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 1st c. AD 3rd c. BC 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

P.Adl. 11Pathyris99 BC

ιζ Θῶυθ κη ἀπέδοτο Πετεσοῦχος Φίβιος καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ τὸ ὕπαρχον αὐτοῖς ἥμισυ περιστερῶνος τοῦ ὄντος ἐν τῶι ἀπὸ βορρᾶ μέρει Παθύρεως χαλκοῦ Γ. ἐπρίατο Ὧρος Νεχούτου.

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

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

The [one] however prophesying to men speaks [for] edification and encouragement and consolation.
δὲde however G1161 Conjunction
2,787× 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 is a conjunction that means and, but, or then, used to connect ideas like in Matthew 1:2 and 2 Corinthians 6:15.
Tyndale gloss
then
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

δέ (de) is a post-positive particle in Greek, primarily used as a conjunction to connect clauses. It can express contrast (but, on the other hand) or continuation (and, also), and is often used to transition between ideas or to add emphasis. In the New Testament, it appears frequently in various contexts, such as contrasting statements or resuming interrupted discourse, with notable examples in Matthew and 2 Corinthians.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

δέ (before vowels δ’; on the general neglect of the elision in NT, v. WH, App., 146; Tdf., Pr., 96),

post-positive conjunctive particle;

copulative, but, in the next place, and, now (Abbott, JG, 104): Mt 1:2ff., II Co 6:15, 16, II Pe 1:5-7; in repetition for emphasis, Ro 3:21, 22, 9:30, I Co 2:6, Ga 2:2, Phl 2:8; in transition to something new, Mt 1:18 2:19, Lk 13:1, Jo 7:14, Ac 6:1, Read the full entry →

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

δέ (related to δή, as μέν to μήν, ef. Klotz ad Devar. ii. 2 p. 355), a particle adversative, distinctive, disjunctive, but, moreover, (W.§ 53, 7 and 10, 2); it is much more freq. in the historical parts of the N. T. than in the other books, very rare in the Epp. of John and the Apocalypse. {On its general neglect of elision (when the next word begins with a vowel) cf. Tdf. Proleg. p. 96; WH. App. Ῥ 146; W.§5,1a.; B. p.10sq.] It is used ἘΠ ΟἹ δὲ univ. by way of opposition and distinction; it is added to statements opp. to a preceding statement: ἐὰν yap ἀφῆτε... ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀφῆτε, Mt. vi. 14 sq.; ἐὰν de ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς κτλ. Mt. vi. 23; ἐλεύσονται δὲ ἡμέραι, Mk. ii. 20; it opposes persons to persons or things previously mentioned or thought of, —either with strong emphasis: ἐγὼ δέ, Mt. v. 22, 28, 32, 34, 39,44; ἡμεῖς de, 1 Co. i. 23; 2 Co. x. 13; σὺ δέ, Mt. vi. 6; ὑμεῖς δέ, Mk. viii. 29; of δὲ…

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

δεῖ. For the conjunctive, as in Mt 26%, cf. P Fay 109° (early i/A.D.) ἐάν σε δῇ (for δέῃ) τὸ εἱμάτιόν σου θεῖναι ἐνέχυρον. “even if you have to pawn your cloak” (Edd.). In P Tebt I. 585° (B.c. 111) we have ἐάν followed by the indicative— ἐὰν δεῖ σε συνπεσεῖν τῶι ᾿Ανικήτωι, σύνπεσαι, ‘if you must meet Anicetus, meet him” (Edd.): cf. Mayser G7. p. 325. Other examples of the verb are l’ Par 461® (B.C. 153) διὸ Kal ἡγούμενος δεῖν ἐπ᾿ ἄλλου μὲν μηθενὸς αὐτῶι διακριθῆναι» P Lille I. 267 (iii.B.c.) περὶ (corr. from πεερὶ) δὲ τούτου τοῦ μέρους δεήσει ἐπισχεῖν, P Tebt 11. 3414 (A.p. 140-1) δεήσι ἐπισταλῆναι εἰς δάνε[ι]α σπέρματα κατασπίο]ρᾶς KTA., “ΕἼ will be necessary to send on account of loans of seedcorn for the sowing,” etc., AécheZ 1001" © (Theran Doric —c. B.C. 200) no one may bring forward a proposal ὡς δεείσῃ διαλῦσαι τὸ κοινὸν εἰ τὰς θυσίας, P Flor II. 133" (A.D. 257) ἔδι μὲν ὑμᾶς μηδὲ…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

δέ (de) — then.

δέ,

but: adversative and copulative Particle,

I. answering to μέν (which see), τὴν νῦν μὲν Βοιωτίαν, πρότερον δὲ Καδμηίδα γῆν καλουμένην [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II. without preceding μέν,

II.1. adversative, expressing distinct opposition, αἰεί τοι τὰ κάκ᾽ ἐστὶ φίλα.. μαντεύεσθαι, ἐσθλὸν δ᾽ οὔτε τί πω εἶπας[Refs 5th c.BC+]; so in Prose, οὐκ ἐπὶ κακῷ, ἐλευθερώσει δέ.. [Refs 5th c.BC+]

II.2. copulative,

II.2. a in explanatory clauses, ξυνέβησαν.. τὰ μακρὰ τείχη ἑλεῖν (ἦν δὲ σταδίων μάλιστα ὀκτώ) [Refs 8th c.BC+]: when a substantive is followed by words in apposition, Ἀρισταγόρῃ τῷ Μιλησίῳ, δούλῳ δὲ ἡμετέρῳ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; so in answers, διπλᾶ λέγειν. —Answ. διπλᾶδ᾽ ὁρᾶν…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

δέ

de

a primary particle (adversative or continuative); but, and,

etc.:--also, and, but, moreover, now (often unexpressed in English).

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

δέ

Cj.

but, on the other hand, and

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

δέ de 2x

a conjunctive particle, marking the superaddition of a clause, whether in opposition or in continuation, to what has preceded, and it may be variously rendered but, on the other hand, and, also, now, etc.; καὶ δέ, when there is a special superaddition in continuation, too, yea, etc. It sometimes is found at the commencement of the apodosis of a sentence, Acts 11:17. It serves also to mark the resumption of an interrupted discourse, 2 Cor. 2:10; Gal. 2:6

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

δέ but: conjunctive Particle, with adversative force: it commonly answers to μέν, and may often be rendered by while, whereas, on the other hand, v. μέν:— but μέν is often omitted, δέ being used merely to pass on from one thing to another; ὣς Ἀχιλεὺς θάμβησεν, θάμβησαν δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι Il.; etc.; κινεῖ κραδίην κινεῖ δὲ χόλον Eur.

δέ is often redundant,

to introduce the apodosis, where it may be rendered by then, yet, εἰ δέ κε μὴ δώωσιν, ἐγὼ δέ κεν αὐτὸς ἕλωμαι if they will not give it, then I will take it, Il.; so at in Lat., si tu oblitus es, at Dii meminerint Catull.

to resume after interruption caused by a parenthesis, where it may be rendered by I say, now, so then, Hdt.

POSITION of δέ: properly second, being often put between the Art. and Subst., the prep. and case.

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
33%now
now33% · 974×however27% · 780×then21% · 620×and12% · 360×but5% · 154×other renderings2% · 49×

2,937 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 15 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 2,787 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
αὐτόςεἰμίI am, existσύ
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςκύριοςlord, Lord, mastπεντακισχίλιοιfive thousand
εἰCond
παλαιόςold, ancient, woσύεἰμίI am, exist
εἰμίI am, exist
περιπατέωI walk, conduct ἀναπίπτωI lie down, reclμνημεῖονa tomb, sepulche
οὗτος
δίδωμιI offer, giveθεόςGod, a godπίστιςfaith, belief, t
δέhowever2787×
what comes after →
Article the
ἸησοῦςJesusθεόςGod, a godκύριοςlord, Lord, mast
αὐτός
Article theκαίand, even, also,ἐπί
λέγωI say, speak
αὐτόςArticle theσύ
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theοὗτοςἸωάννηςJohn
τὶς
Article theαὐτόςὄνομαname, character,

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

Concordanceδέ · 2,787× in the New Testament
Acts Luke Matthew 1 Corinthians John Mark Romans 2 Corinthians Hebrews Galatians James 1 Timothy

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

Across the New Testament26 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The [one] however prophesying to men speaks [for] edification and encouragement and consolation.
προφητεύωνprophēteuō prophesying G4395 Verb · present · active · participle · nominative · singular · masculine
28× 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
To prophesy means to speak under inspiration from God, as seen in Matthew 7:22 and Mark 14:65. It involves telling forth God's counsels or foretelling events.
Amplified meaning
speaks under inspiration from God, to prophesy
Tyndale gloss
to prophesy
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

προφητεύω (propheteuo) means to prophesy or foretell events, primarily conveying divine messages rather than merely predicting the future. It is derived from προφήτης and is used in the New Testament to describe speaking under divine inspiration, as seen in verses like Matthew 11:13 and Acts 19:6. The lexicons note that its primary function is to declare God's counsel, while the aspect of foretelling is considered incidental.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — προφητεύω, μαντεύομαι from a scan

Προφητεύω is a word of constant occurrence in the N. T.; μαντεύομαι occurs but once, namely at Acts xvi. 16; where, of the girl possessed with the “spirit of divination,” or “ spirit of Apollo,” it is said that she “ brought her masters much gain by soothsaying ” (μαντευομένη). Theabstinence from the use of this word on all other occasions, and the use of it on this one, is very observable, furnishing a notable example of that religious instinct wherewith the inspired writers abstain from words, whose employment would tend to break down the distinction between heathenism and revealed religion. Thus εὐδαιμονία, although from a heathen point of view a religious word, for it ascribes happiness to the favour of some deity, is yet never employed to express Christian blessedness ; nor could it fitly c2 22 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. ὃ νι. have been thus employed, δαίμων, which supplies its…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

προφητεύω

(< προφήτης),

[in LXX chiefly for נבא ni., hith.;]

to be a προφήτης (q.v.), to prophesy: in the primary sense of telling forth the Divine counsels, Mt 7:22 26:68, Mk 14:65, Lk 1:67 22:64, Ac 19:6, I Co 11:4, 5 13:9 14:1, 3-5, 24, 31, 39, Re 11:3; with the idea of foretelling future events (an idea merely incidental, not essential; v. Lft., Notes, 83 f.), Mt 11:13, Ac 2:17, 18(LXX) 21:9; seq. περί,

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

προφητεύω ; fut. προφητεύσω ; impf. mpoepnrevov (Acts xix. 6 RG) and ἐπροφήτευον (ibid. LT Tr WH; [1 K. xxii. 12]; Jer. [ii. 8]; xxiii. 21; xxv. 13); 1 aor. προεφήτευσα (RG in Mt. vii. 22; xi.13; xv.7; Mk. vii. 6; Lk. 1. 67; [Jn. xi. 51; Jude 147) and ἐπροφήτευσα (which form cod. Sin. gives everywh., and T Tr WH have everywh. restored, and Lchm. also with the single exception of Jude 14; add, Sir. xlviii. 13; 1 Esdr. vi. 1; Jer. xxxiii. (xxvi.) 9, 11, 20; xxxv. (xxviil.) 8; xxxvi. (xxix.) 31; the Alexandrian translators more com. use the forms προεφήτευον, προεφήτευσα, pf. ptcp. προπεφητευκώς, Eus. h. 6. 5, 17; pf. pass. int. προπεφητεῦσθαι, Clem. Alex. strom. p. 603; on the forms used by Justin M. see Otto’s prolegg. to his works, I. i. p. xxv. ed. 3; ef. [WH. App. Ῥ- 162; Veitch 8. v.]; W. § 12,5; [B. 35 (30sq.)]; ef. Fritzsche on Mk. p. 268; [Soph. Lex. s. v.]); (προφήτης, 4: v-)…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

προφητεύω (prophēteuō) — to prophesy.

προφητ-εύω,

Doric dialect προφᾱτ- [Refs 5th c.BC+] —in imperfect and aorist 1 the augment is sometimes placed after the preposition, προ-εφήτευον, -εφήτευσα[LXX+NT]:— to be a προφήτης or interpreter of the gods, μαντεύεο, Μοῖσα, προφατεύσω δ᾽ ἐγώ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τίς προφητεύει θεο; who is his interpreter? [Refs 5th c.BC+]; οὐκ ἔστιν ὅστις σοι προφητεύσει τάδε will be thy intermediary in asking this, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἡ μανία.. προφητεύσασα with oracular power, [Refs 5th c.BC+] —passive, τὰ προφητευθέντα [Refs 8th c.BC+]

II. expound, interpret, preach, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, [NT+4th c.AD+]

Read the full entry →
Strong's Greek Dictionary

προφητεύω

propheteuo

from 4396; to foretell events, divine, speak under inspiration,

exercise the prophetic office:--prophesy.

see GREEK for 4396

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

προφητεύω

v.

I foretell, prophesy

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

προφητεύω prophēteuō 28x

to exercise the function of a προφήτης; to prophesy, to foretell the future, Mt. 11:13; to divine, Mt. 26:68; Mk. 14:65; Lk. 22:64; to prophesy, to set forth matter of divine teaching by special faculty, 1 Cor. 13:9; 14:1

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

προφητεύω doric προφα_τεύω fut. -εύσω aor1 ἐπροφήτευσα to be an interpreter of the gods, μαντεύεο, Μοῖσα, προφατεύσω δ᾽ ἐγώ Pind.; τίς προφητεύει θεοῦ who is his interpreter? Eur.; ὅστις σοι προφητεύσει τάδε who will give thee this oracular advice, id. Eur.

in NTest. to expound scripture, to speak and preach under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAP-NSM — Verb · present · active · participle · nominative · singular · masculine
nominative — the one doing it — the subject.
Agrees with anything else marked singular masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAP-NSM Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: Participle Case: Nominative Number: Singular Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
25%prophesying
prophesying25% · 7×prophesied14% · 4×prophesy11% · 3×do prophesy11% · 3×they will prophesy7% · 2×you may prophesy7% · 2×he prophesied7% · 2×will prophesy4% · 1×other renderings14% · 4×

28 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 12 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
verb93%subject4%object4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 28 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
ἐγώἅγιοςset apart, holy,σάρξflesh, body
καλῶςwell, nobly, rightly
ὑποκριτήςa hypocrite, disαὐτός
λέγωI say, speak
ἐπερωτάωI interrogate, q
Disj
προσεύχομαιI pray, pray for
ἵναin order that, so th
δέbut, on the othe
προφητεύωprophesying28×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
Article the
περί
σύ
ἐγώ
Χριστόςanointed, the Me
ἨσαΐαςIsaiah
περί
λέγωI say, speak

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

Concordanceπροφητεύω · 28× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians Acts Matthew Luke Mark Revelation 1 Peter John Jude
Across the New Testament9 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 78 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 Epistle of Barnabas The Shepherd of Hermas
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Migration of Abraham 114c. AD 40

τοῖς γὰρ πολεμίοις φησὶν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ μισθῷ συνταχθέντα μάντιν γενέσθαι κακὸν κακῶν, ἀρὰς μὲν ἐν ψυχῇ θέμενον χαλεπωτάτας γένει τῷ θεοφιλεῖ, εὐχὰς δὲ ἀναγκασθέντα διὰ στόματος καὶ γλώττης ὑπερφυεστάτας προφητεῦσαι·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 6.115c. AD 75–95

ἀκούσας δὲ τὸν υἱὸν καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ τὸν ὁπλοφόρον ἀπεῖναι κελεύει τὸν ἀρχιερέα λαβόντα τὴν ἀρχιερατικὴν στολὴν προφητεύειν αὐτῷ περὶ τῶν μελλόντων.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 5.6c. AD 100

οἱ προφῆται, ἀπ̓ αὐτοῦ ἔχοντες τὴν χάριν, εἰς αὐτὸν ἐπροφήτευσαν: αὐτὸς δέ, ἵνα καταργήσῃ τὸν θάνατον καὶ τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν δείξῃ, ὅτι ὲν σαρκὶ ἕδει αὐτὸν φανερωθῆναι, ὑπέμεινεν,

The [one] however prophesying to men speaks [for] edification and encouragement and consolation.
ἀνθρώποιςanthrōpos to men G444 Noun · dative · plural · masculine
548× 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 human being, and is used in the Bible to describe people, like in John 16:21 and Romans 7:1.
Amplified meaning
human beings, people
Tyndale gloss
a human
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ἄνθρωπος (i.e., *anthropos*) means 'man' or 'human being,' encompassing both males and females. It is derived from roots meaning 'man-faced' and is used in various contexts throughout the New Testament, such as to distinguish humans from God and animals. The term can imply human frailty and is often used in phrases that reflect human nature or condition.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἄνθρωπος, -ου, ὁ,

[in LXX chiefly for אָדָם, אִישׁ, also for אֱנוֹשׁ, etc.;]

man:

generically, a human being, male or female (Lat. homo): Jo 16:21; c. art., Mt 4:4 12:35, Mk 2:27, Jo 2:25, Ro 7:1, al; disting. from God, Mt 19:6, Jo 10:33, Col 3:23, al.; from animals, etc., Mt 4:19, Lk 5:10, Re 9:4, al.; implying human frailty and imperfection, I Co 3:4; σοφία ἀνθρώπων,

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

ἄνθρωπος, -ov, 6, [perh. fr. ἀνήρ and oy, i. e. man’s face; Curtius § 422; Vaniéek p.9. From Hom. down]; man. Tt is used 1. univ., with ref. to the genus or nature, without distinction of sex, a human being, whether male or female: Jn. xvi. 31. And in this sense a. with the article, generically, so as to include all human individuals: Mt. iv. 4 (ἐπ᾿ ἄρτῳ ζήσεται 6 ἄνθρωπος) ; Mt. xii. 35 (ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἄνθ. every good person); Mt. xv. 11, 18; Mk. ii. 27; vil. 15, 18, 20; Lk.iv.4; Jn. ii. 25 [W. § 18, 8]; vii. 51; Ro. vii.1,ete. b. so that a man is distinguished from beings of a different race or order; a. from animals, plants, ete.: Lk. v.10; Mt.iv.19; xii. 12; 2 Pet. ii. 16; Rev. ix. 4, 7, 10, 15,18; xi. 13, ete. β. from God, from Christ as divine, and from angels: Mt. x. 32; xix. 6; Mk. x. 9; Lk. 11. 15 [Ὁ WH om., L Tr br.] (opp. to angels); Jn. x. 33; Acts x. 26; xiv.11; 1 Th. ii. 13…

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

ἄνθρωπος, like ἀνήρ, has kept its differentia practically unchanged from Homer to MGr. It is interesting to notice its philosophical abstract ἀνθρωπότης vouched for as fairly popular Greek by Vettius Valens (p. 346%, in antith. to ἀθανασία), passing into Christian theology (see LS and Sophocles Zex.), and current in MGr. The NT has no trace of the curious misuse by which the principal difference between a. and ἀνήρ is ignored: Tob 65 ἀνθρώπου ἢ γυναικός. P Flor |. 61 (a.p. 86-8) ἄξιος μ[ὲ]ν ἧς μαστιγωθῆναι, διὰ σεαυτοῦ [κ]Ἰατασχὼν ἄνθρωπον εἰσχήμονα καὶ yuv[ai]kas is not parallel, as a. only means as little is Jn 772. (Grimm). Another case of ἄνθρωπος invading the sphere of ἀνήρ is the Matthzean locution ἄ, οἰκοδεσπότης, βασιλεύς, φαγός etc. though not Attic: Mt may have got it from LXX (so Lev 21° ἀνθρώπου ἱερέως). Some papyrus passages may be cited, though little is needed. The…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos) — a human.

ἄνθρωπος, ἡ,

Attic dialect crasis ἅνθρωπος, Ionic dialect ὥνθρωπος, for ὁ ἄνθρ-:— man, both as a generic term and of individuals, [Refs 8th c.BC+], opposed to gods, ἀθανάτων τε θεῶν χαμαὶ ἐρχομένων τ᾽ ἀνθρώπων[Refs 8th c.BC+]; πρὸς ἠοίων ἢ ἑσπερίων ἀνθρώπων the men of the east or of the west, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; even of the dead in the Isles of the Blest,[Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. [Refs 5th c.BC+] uses it both with and without the Article to denote man generically, ὁ ἄ. θείας μετέσχε μοίρας[Refs]; ὁ ἄ. the ideal man, humanity, ἀπώλεσας τὸν ἄ., οὐκ ἐπλήρωσας τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν[Refs 2nd c.AD+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἄνθρωπος

anthropos

from 435 and ops (the countenance; from 3700); man-faced, i.e. a human

being:--certain, man.

see GREEK for 435

see GREEK for 3700

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἄνθρωπος, ου, ὁ

n.m.

a man, one of the human race

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἄνθρωπος anthrōpos 550x

a human being, Jn. 16:21; Phil. 2:7; an individual, Rom. 3:28, et al. freq.; used also pleonastically with other words, Mt. 11:19; et al.; met. the spiritual frame of the inner man, Rom. 7:22; Eph. 3:16; 1 Pet. 3:4

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἄνθρωπος prob. from ἀνήρ, ὤψ, manfaced man, Lat. homo (not vir), opp. to gods, ἀθανάτων τε θεῶν, χαμαὶ ἐρχομένων τ᾽ ἀνθρώπων Il.

with or without the Art. to denote man generally, Plat., etc.

in pl. mankind, ἀνθρώπων, ἀνδρῶν ἠδὲ γυναικῶν Il.; ὁ ἄριστος ἐν ἀνθρώποις ὄρτυξ the best quail in the world, Plat.; μάλιστα, ἥκιστα ἀνθρώπων most, least of all, Hdt., etc.

with another Subst., to give it a contemptuous sense, ἄνθρ. ὑπογραμματεύς, συκοφάντης, Oratt.; so homo histrio Cic.:—so, ἄνθρωπος or ὁ ἄνθρωπος was used alone, the man, the fellow, Plat.:— also in vocat. it was addressed contemptuously to slaves, ἄνθρωπε or ὦ 'νθρωπε, sirrah! you sir! Hdt., Plat.

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-DPM — Noun · dative · plural · masculine
dative — to, for, with — the one it is done to or by.
Agrees with anything else marked plural masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-DPM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Dative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
59%man
man59% · 328×men33% · 185×a man2% · 13×other renderings6% · 33×

559 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 21 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
subject43%adverbial24%object17%predicate9%indirect object5%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 548 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
υἱόςa son, descendenκοινόωI make unclean, ἀπό
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
εἰςπρόςδέbut, on the othe
ὁράωI see, look upon, ex
καίand, even, also,ἐξέρχομαιI go out, come oλέγωI say, speak
ἐκ
DisjλέγωI say, speakεἰμίI am, exist
ἐγώ
γάρforὅτιthat, since, becΠαῦλοςPaul
ἄνθρωποςto men548×
what comes after →
Article the
δέbut, on the otheπατήρfather, Father, Article the
οὗτος
ὅςδίκαιοςjust, righteous,καίand, even, also,
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theλέγωI say, speakεἰμίI am, exist
εἰμίI am, exist
ὑπόκαίand, even, also,Article the
ἐν
Article theμαλακόςsoft, effeminateπνεῦμαwind, breath, sp

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

Concordanceἄνθρωπος · 548× in the New Testament
Matthew Luke John Mark Acts 1 Corinthians Romans Revelation Galatians 1 Timothy Hebrews Ephesians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament24 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 708 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 The Shepherd of Hermas Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 25c. AD 40

τὴν γοῦν ἀνθρώπου γένεσιν ἀναγράφων ἐν τοῖς ἔπειτα διαρρήδην ὁμολογεῖ, ὡς ἄρα κατ’ εἰκόνα θεοῦ διετυπώθη (Gen.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.16c. AD 75–95

γέγονε γὰρ πρὸ ἐτῶν δισχιλίων, ἐφʼ ὅσον πλῆθος αἰῶνος οὐδʼ αὐτῶν οἱ ποιηταὶ τὰς γενέσεις τῶν θεῶν, μήτι γε τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων πράξεις ἢ τοὺς νόμους ἀνενεγκεῖν ἐτόλμησαν.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 3.1c. AD 100

οὐ ταύτην τὴν νηστείαν ἐγὼ ἐξελεξάμην, λέγει κύριος, οὐκ ἄνθρωπον ταπεινοῦντα τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ,

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 6th c. AD 4th c. AD 3rd c. BC 3rd c. AD
P.Cair. Zen. 3 59301Philadelphia (Arsinoites)251 BC

Ψύχεως. καλῶς ἂν οὖν ποιήσαις διέμενος αὐτόν, καθὰ ἐν πόλει μοι ἐπηγγείλω. ἔστιν γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ἡμῖν χρήσιμος. ἔρρωσο. ἔτους λϛ, Παχώνς.

P.Giss. 1 39Theben206 BC–181 BC

ἀεὶ χρόνου. ἐὰν δέ τίς σοι ἐπέλθηι ἔκ τε τοῦ ἐμοῦ ὀνόματος ἢ ἄλλου ἀνθρώπου, ἀνεπιεικὲς ἐκστήσω αὐτὸν ἀπὸ σοῦ περὶ αὐτῶν καὶ βεβαιώσω σοι αὐτὰ ἀπὸ συναλλαγμάτων καὶ

P.Grenf. 1 37Thebais109 BC

ντων ὑμῶν διαλήψεως … καὶ οὐδὲ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν οὐδενός … ς ἀξιοῦμεν … ἀνθρώπου ἀλόγως … ὀφείλει ἡμῖν διάφορα … θαι ἀλλʼ ἀποστερέσαι … ησας ἀλλά … τας

The [one] however prophesying to men speaks [for] edification and encouragement and consolation.
λαλεῖlaleō speaks [for] G2980 Verb · present · active · indicative · third person · singular
298× 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
To speak or talk, as in Matthew 9:33 and 12:46, where Jesus speaks to the crowds. It can also mean to utter words, like in Revelation 4:1. This word is often translated as preach, say, or tell in the KJV.
Tyndale gloss
to speak
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

λαλέω (laleo) means to talk or speak, often implying a vocal utterance. It can refer to both human speech and the sounds made by animals or inanimate objects. The New Testament uses it in various contexts, such as to convey messages or make declarations (e.g., Matthew 9:33). Notably, it differs from λέγω (lego), which focuses more on the meaning of what is said.

Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament — λαλέω, λέγω, λαλιά, λόγος from a scan

In dealing with synonyms of the N. T. we plainly need not concern ourselves with such earlier, or even contemporary, uses of the words which we are discriminating, as lie altogether outside of the N. T. sphere, when these uses do not illustrate, and have not affected, their Scriptural employment. It follows from this that all those contemptuous uses of λαλεῖν as to talk at random, as one ἀθυρόστομος, or with no door to his lips, might do; of λαλιά, as chatter («Kpacia λόγου ἄλογος, Plato, Defin. 416)—for I cannot believe that we are to find this at John iv. 42—may be dismissed and set aside. The antithesis in the line of Eupolis (Meineke, /ragm. Com. Gr. p. 174), Λαλεῖν ἄριστος, ἀδυνατώτατος λέγειν, does little or nothing to illustrate the matter in hand. The distinction which indeed exists between the words may in this way be made clear. There are two leading aspects under which speech…

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Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

λαλέω, -ῶ,

[in LXX chiefly for דּבר pi., also for אמר, etc.;]

to utter: of inanimate things, Re 4:1 10:4; metaph., He 11:4 12:24.

to talk, speak, say: absol., Mt 9:33 12:46, Mk 5:35, Lk 8:49; seq. ὡς, I Co 13:11, Re 13:11; εἰς, I Co 14:9; ἐκ, Mt 12:34; c. acc. rei, Mt 10:19, Mk 11:32, Jo…

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

λαλέω, -@; impf. 3 pers. sing. ἐλάλει, plur. ἐλάλουν; fut. AaAjow; 1 aor. ἐλάλησα; pf. λελάληκα; Pass., pres. λαλοῦμαι; pf. λελάλημαι; 1 aor. ἐλαλήθην; 1 fut. λαληθήcopa; [ἴτ. Soph. down]; found in bibl. Grk. much more freq. than in prof. auth., in Sept. times without number for 739 or 135, more rarely for V8; prop. to uller a sound (ef. [onomatop. /a-/a, ete.] Germ. lallen), to emit a voice, make one’s self heard ; hence to utter or form words with the mouth, to speak, haying reference to the sound and pronunciation of the words and in general the form of what is uttered, while λέγω refers to the meaning and substance of what is spoken; hence λαλεῖν is employed not only of men, esp. when chatting and prattling, but also of animals (of birds, Mosch. 3, 47 ; of locusts, Theoer. 5, 34; λαλοῦσι μέν, οὐ φράζουσι δέ, of dogs and apes, Plut. mor. ii. p. 909 a.), and so of inanimate things (as…

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

λαλέω. In P Amh II. 1315 (early ii/A.D.) a brother writes to his sister with reference to the management of certain family property, stating that he will remain where he is until he learns that all is safely settled, and adding—eédml{w δὲ θεῶν θελόντων ἐκ τῶν λαλουμένων διαφεύξεσθαι Kal μετὰ τὴν πεντεκαιδεκάτην ἀναπλεύσειν, “ but I hope, if the gods will, to escape from the talking and after the fifteenth to return home.’”’ See also P Oxy I. 1198 (ii/iii A.D.) (= Selections, p- 103) where the naughty boy writes to his father— οὐ θέλις ἀπενέκκειν μετ᾽ ἐσοῦ els ᾿Αλεξανδρίαν, od μὴ γράψω σε ἐπιστολήν, οὔτε λαλῶ σε, οὔτε υἱγένω σε εἶτα, “if you refuse to take me along with you to Alexandria, I won’t write you a letter, or speak to you, or wish you health henceforth,” P Fay 1264 (ii/iii A.D.) ἤκουσα φίλον Tod πατρός μου λαλοῦνTos περὶ σοῦ ὅτι πεμψεν (/. ἔπεμψεν) ἐπὶ τὴν πενθερά (/.—pav) σου…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

λαλέω (laleō) — to speak.

λᾰλ-έω,

talk, chat, prattle, ἕπου καὶ μὴ λάλει [Refs 5th c.BC+]: with dative, talk to one, λαλῶν ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς σεαυτῷ [Refs 5th c.BC+]; opposed to λέγω, λαλεῖν ἄριστος, ἀδυνατώτατος λέγειν [Refs 5th c.BC+]; λαλῶν μὲν.., λέγων δέ.. [Refs 4th c.BC+]

__b generally, talk, speak, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. talk of, τινα [Refs 3rd c.BC+]:—passive, πρᾶγμα κατ᾽ ἀγορὰν λαλούμενον [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. in later writers, ={λέγω}, speak, λαλεῖ οὐθὲν τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων πλὴν ἀνθρώπου [NT+5th c.BC+]; χειρσὶν ἅπαντα λαλήσας, of a pantomime, [NT+3rd c.BC+]passive, λαληθήσεταί σοι ὅ τι σε δεῖ ποιεῖν it shall be told thee.., [NT]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

λαλέω

laleo

a prolonged form of an otherwise obsolete verb; to talk, i.e. utter

words:--preach, say, speak (after), talk, tell, utter. Compare 3004.

see GREEK for 3004

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

λαλέω

v.

I speak, say

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

λαλέω laleō 296x

to make vocal utterance; to babble, to talk; in NT absol. to exercise the faculty of speech, Mt. 9:33; to speak, Mt. 10:20; to hold converse with, to talk with, Mt. 12:46; Mk. 6:50; Rev. 1:12; to discourse, to make an address, Lk. 11:37; Acts 11:20; 21:39; to make announcement, to make a declaration, Lk. 1:55; to make mention, Jn. 12:41; Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

λαλέω λαλός to talk, chat, prattle, babble, Ar., etc.:—generally, to talk, say, Soph.

c. acc. to talk of, Theocr.

in late Gr., just like λέγω, to speak, NTest., Thuc.:—Pass., λαληθήσεταί σοι it shall be told thee, NTest.

the proper sense, to chatter, is sometimes opp. to articulate speech, as of monkeys, λαλοῦσι μὲν φράζουσι δὲ οὔ Plut.; of locusts, to chirp, Theocr.

of musical sounds, αὐλῶι λαλεῖν id. Theocr.

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

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

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
20%speaking
speaking20% · 61×speak13% · 39×spoke9% · 27×he was speaking4% · 12×i speak3% · 10×speaks3% · 10×he spoke3% · 8×we speak3% · 8×other renderings41% · 123×

298 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 81 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
verb98%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 298 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
εἰμίI am, existκαίand, even, also,σύ
αὐτός
ἔτιstill, yet, evenοὗτοςδέbut, on the othe
καίand, even, also, nam
αὐτόςθύραa door, opportunθεόςGod, a god
ὅς
πᾶςall, the whole, λόγοςa word, speech, ἀργόςidle, lazy, thou
οὗτος
ὥραan hour, seasonποιέωI do, makeὡςas, like as, how
λαλέωspeaks [for]298×
what comes after →
Article the
λόγοςa word, speech, ἸησοῦςJesusἑπτάIndec
αὐτός
Article theὁράωI see, look uponκαίand, even, also,
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theὅςβλέπωI look, see
σύ
ἵναin order that, sArticle theἔτιstill, yet, even
ἐν
Article theσύΠέργηPerga

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

Concordanceλαλέω · 298× in the New Testament
Acts John 1 Corinthians Luke Matthew Mark Hebrews Revelation 2 Corinthians 1 Thessalonians Ephesians James

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament23 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 661 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 The Shepherd of Hermas Ignatius of Antioch The Epistle of Barnabas Clement of Rome
Philo of AlexandriaAllegorical Interpretation of Genesis 3.101c. AD 40

διὰ τοῦτο Μωυσῆν ἀνακέκληκε καὶ ἐλάλησεν αὐτῷ ὁ θεός.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 5.349c. AD 75–95

καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ φθεγξαμένου πάλιν ἀκούσας ἠξίου λαλεῖν ἐπὶ τοῖς χρωμένοις·

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 1.4c. AD 100

πεπεισμένος οὖν τοῦτο καὶ συνειδὼς ἐμαυτῷ, ὅτι ἐν ὑμῖν λαλήσας πολλὰ ἐπίσταμαι, ὅτι ἐμοὶ συνώδευσεν ἐν ὁδῷ δικαιοσύνης κύριος, καὶ πάντως ἀναγκάζομαι κἀγὼ εἰς τοῦτο, ἀγαπᾶν ὑμᾶς ὑπὲρ τὴν ψυχήν μου, ὅτι μεγάλη πίστις καὶ ἀγάπη ἐγκατοικεῖ ἐν ὑμῖν ἐπ’…

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 6th c. AD 4th c. AD 7th c. AD 3rd c. AD
BGU 3 822ArsinoitesAD 105

ἀπαιτεῖς τὴν ἐνμένουσαν ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ σου τὸ ἐνοίκιον. ἵνα εὕρωμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς εὔλογον λαλῆσαι αὐτῇ, γράψον Κουπανηοῦτι ἐπιστολήν, προστάξας, ἵνα εὕρῃ εὔλογον πρὸς αὐτὴν λαλῆσαι. θερμῶς ἀσπάζεταί σε

P.Mil.Vogl. 1 24Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 117

περὶ ἀργυρωματίων σὺν Κέρτῳ. εὔχομαί σε ἰσχύειν. περὶ Πτολλαρίωνος ἡ μήτηρ μέμφεται. οὐκ ἐμοὶ λαλεῖ, ἀλλὰ καὶ φεύγει με ἐὰν ἴδῃ, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἐμοῖς ἀπομέμφεται αὐτόν. ἐγὼ ἐπιτιμῶ Πτολλαρίωνι·

P.Wisc. 2 73OxyrhynchitesAD 122–AD 123

περὶ τῶν ὀσπριδίων. περὶ τούτου οὐδὲν τετέλεσται. τὴν γὰρ ἀτιμίαν Θέων σοι κατʼ ὄψιν λαλήσει. ταχέως οὖν σπεῦσον, ὡς ἔγραψας, πρὸς ἡμᾶς γενέσθαι. ἀσπάζονταί σε οἱ ἐν οἴκωι πάντες.

The [one] however prophesying to men speaks [for] edification and encouragement and consolation.
οἰκοδομὴνoikodomē edification G3619 Noun · accusative · singular · feminine
18× 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
The Greek word for building or construction, used figuratively to mean spiritual growth or confirmation, as seen in Romans 14:19 and 1 Corinthians 14:26. It refers to the act of building up or edifying others. This concept is key to Christian community.
Amplified meaning
spiritual growth, building up
Tyndale gloss
building
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word οἰκοδομή (oikodome) is derived from οἶκος (house) and δέμω (to build). It primarily refers to the act of building or edification, especially in a metaphorical sense within the New Testament, indicating spiritual growth or development. This term appears in various contexts, such as Romans 14:19 and 1 Corinthians 14:26, and can also denote a physical structure, as seen in Matthew 24:1.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

† οἰκοδομή, -ῆς, ἡ

(< οἶκος, + δέμω, to build),

[in LXX: I Ch 29:1 A (בִּירָה), Ez 17:17 40:2 (בּנה, מִבְנֶה), Si 22:16 40:19, al.;]

= cl. οἰκοδομία (q.v.), -δόμησις (Thuc., Plat.),

the act of building; in NT always metaph., building up, edifying: Ro 14:19 15:2, I Co 14:26, II Co 10:8 13:10, Eph 4:29; c. gen. obj., I Co 14:12, II Co 12:19, Eph 4:12, 16; λαλεῖν, λαβεῖν, οἰ., I Co 14:3.

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

οἰκο-δομή, -ῆς, ἡ, (οἶκος, and δέμω to build), a later Grk. word, condemned by Phryn., yet used by Aristot., Theophr., [(but both these thought to be doubtful)], Diod. (1, 46), Philo (vit. Moys. i. § 40; de monarch. ii. § 2), Joseph., Plut., Sept., and many others, for οἶκοδόμημα and οἰκοδόμησις ; cf. Lob. ad Phryn. p. 487 sqq. ef. p. 421; [W. 24]; 1. (the act of) building, building up, i. q. τὸ οἰκοδομεῖν ; as, τῶν τειχέων, 1 Mace. xvi. 23; τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ θεοῦ, 1 Chr. xxvi. 27; in the N. T. metaph., edifying, edification, i.e. the act of one who promotes another’s growth in Christian wisdom, piety, > ar, holiness, happiness, (see οἰκοδομέω, b. β. [οὐ W. 85 (8477): Ro. xiv. 19; xv. 2; [1 Co. xiv. 26]; 2 Co. x. 8 [see below]; xiii. 10; Eph. iv. 29; with a gen. of the person whose growth is furthered, ὑμῶν, 2Co. xii. 19, [ef x. 8]; ἑαυτοῦ [ Tdf. αὐτοῦ]. Eph. ἵν. 16: τοῦ σώματος τοῦ…

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

οἰκοδομὴ found already in Xen. Cyr, viii. 7. 15. οἰκοδομεῖτε ἄλλα φιλικὰ ἔργα : see also Deissmann Pax, p. 184 ff. οἰκοδομή,. This late Greek word, which is condemned by the Atticists (Lob. PAry2. pp. 487 ff., 421), but is found in Aristotle (Eth. Nic. v. 14.7), occurs in the literal sense of “ building ” in the Κοινή, e.g. P Grenf I. 2117 (B.c, 126) εἰς οἰκ)]οδομὴν περιστερῶνος, BGU III. S94? (A.D. 109) Ady(os) οἰτομῆς (2. οἰκοδομῆς) τέκτω(νες) B, P Flor II. 2004 (A.D. 259) eis οἰκοδομὴν κρήνης, and from the inscrr. OG/S 655? (B.c. 25) ἡ οἰκοδομὴ τοῦ περιβόλου τῷ θεῶι καὶ κυρίῳ Σοκνοπαίωι. In Eph 45" πρὸς οἰκοδομὴν τῆς χρείας Field (Moses, p. 192) suggests that perhaps the meaning is ‘‘ for the improvement of the occasion.” The word is a shortened form of οἰκοδόμημα : sce στο. ἀγάπη…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

οἰκοδομή (oikodomē) — building.

οἰκοδομ-ή, ἡ,

={-δόμησις},{-δομία}, [Refs 3rd c.BC+], proverbial Laconian dialect cited in [LXX+4th c.BC+]

II. = {οἰκοδόμημα}, [NT+1st c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

οἰκοδομή

oikodome

feminine (abstract) of a compound of 3624 and the base of 1430;

architecture, i.e. (concretely) a structure; figuratively,

confirmation:--building, edify(-ication, -ing).

see GREEK for 3624

see GREEK for 1430

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

οἰκοδομή, ῆς, ἡ

n.f.

the act of building, a building, edification

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

οἰκοδομή oikodomē 18x

pr. the act of building; a building, structure, Mt. 24:1; in NT a spiritual structure, as instanced in the Christian body, 1 Cor. 3:9; Eph. 2:21; religious advancement, edification, Rom. 14:19; 1 Cor. 14:3

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

οἰκοδομή οἰκοδομή, ἡ, a late form for οἰκοδόμημα, Plut., NTest.

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
Torrey's New Topical Textbook

- Described

Eph 4:12-16

- IS THE OBJECT OF

. The ministerial office

Eph 4:11,12

. Ministerial gifts

1Co 14:3-5,12

. Ministerial authority

2Co 10:8; 13:10

. The Church's union in Christ

Eph 4:16

- The gospel, the instrument of

Ac 20:32

- Love leads to

1Co 8:1

- Exhortation to

Jude 1:20,21

- Mutual, commanded

Ro 14:19; 1Th 5:11

- All to be done to

Thompson Chain Reference topics

the building up of believers

Ro 14:19; 15:2; 1Co 8:1; 14:3,26; 2Co 10:8; 12:19; Eph 4:12,29

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
44%edification
edification44% · 8×building up22% · 4×building17% · 3×buildings6% · 1×buildings!6% · 1×buildings?6% · 1×

18 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 6 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
adverbial39%object33%predicate22%subject6%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 18 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
εἰς
κύριοςlord, Lord, mastἐγώδιακονίαwaiting at table
Article the
αὐτόςArticle theπρός
πρός
ἀγαθόςgoodπᾶςall, the whole,
ποταπόςof what kind
καίand, even, also,
μέγας
Article the
οἰκοδομήedification18×
what comes after →
Article the
ἱερόςa templeεἰςἐκκλησίαan assembly, con
καίand, even, also, nam
οὐNegπαράκλησιςexhortation, ent
οὐNeg
μήNeg
εἰμίI am, exist
λαμβάνωI receive, take

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

Concordanceοἰκοδομή · 18× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Ephesians Mark Romans Matthew
Across the New Testament6 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
The Shepherd of Hermas Josephus Philo of Alexandria Ignatius of Antioch Polycarp
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Virtues 132c. AD 40

οἱ τὰς πόλεις τό γ’ ἐφ’ ὑμῖν ἧκον μέρος ἐρημοῦντες, ἀπὸ τῶν ἐγγυτάτω γένους ἀρξάμενοι τῆς ἀπωλείας, οἱ τοὺς τῆς φύσεως θεσμοὺς ἀνατρέποντες καὶ ὅσα ἂν οἰκοδομῇ καθαιροῦντες, δι’ ἀνημέρου καὶ ἀτιθάσου ψυχῆς ὠμότητα γενέσει φθορὰν καὶ ζωῇ θάνατον…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 7.argc. AD 75–95

τελευτὴ Δαυίδου καταλιπόντος τῷ παιδὶ πολλὴν ὕλην ἀργύρου τε καὶ χρυσοῦ καὶ λιθίας εἰς τὴν οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ ναοῦ.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 16.1c. AD 100

Ἔτι δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ ναοῦ ἐρῶ ὑμῖν, ὡς πλανώμενοι οἱ ταλαίπωροι εἰς τὴν οἰκοδομὴν ἤλπισαν, καὶ οὐκ ἐπὶ τὸν θεὸν αὐτῶν τὸν ποιήσαντα αὐτούς, ὡς ὄντα οἶκον θεοῦ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 6th c. AD 3rd c. AD 3rd c. BC 5th c. AD
P.Oslo 3 136Euhemeria (Arsinoites)AD 141–AD 142

πέμπτου ἔτους Ἀντωνείνου Καίσαρος τοῦ κυρίου ἐπὶ τῷ ποιῆσαι τὸν ἐξ ἔθους ποτισμὸν καὶ οἰκοδομὰς ῥείθρων καὶ ὑδραγωγῶν καὶ τήρησιν βλαστῶν καὶ δενδροκοπίας καὶ τῆς ἐλαίας τὴν τήρησιν ἕως

O.Claud. 4 755Mons ClaudianusAD 138–AD 161

ἐργασίμη οἰκοδόμης ὀνῶνος. ἀνηλώθη σφυρίδια δέκα

O.Claud. 4 762Mons ClaudianusAD 138–AD 161

ι ἐργασίμη οἰκοδόμης ὀνῶνος καὶ κάθαρσις σχισμῆς τοῦ στύλου ἀνηλώθη σφυρίδια … εἰς ἀμφοτέρας

The [one] however prophesying to men speaks [for] edification and encouragement and consolation.
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

The [one] however prophesying to men speaks [for] edification and encouragement and consolation.
παράκλησινparaklēsis encouragement G3874 Noun · accusative · singular · feminine
29× 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
Encouragement is about giving comfort or solace to someone, like in 2 Corinthians 8:4. It's also about exhorting or urging someone to do something, as seen in Acts and other biblical passages.
Amplified meaning
exhortation, comfort
Tyndale gloss
encouragement
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word παράκλησις (paraklesis) is derived from παρακαλέω and encompasses meanings such as a calling for aid, exhortation, encouragement, and comfort. It appears in various contexts in the New Testament, notably in passages like 2 Corinthians 1:4-7 and Romans 15:5. Some lexicons emphasize its use in both consolation and exhortation, reflecting its broad application in both personal and communal settings.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

παρά-κλησις, -εως, ἡ

(< παρακαλέω),

[in LXX: Jb 21:2, Ps 93 (94):19, Ho 13:14, Na 3:7, Is 57:18 66:11, Je 16:7 (נחם, its parts and derivatives), Je 38 (31):9 (תַּחֲנוּן), Is 28:29 30:7, I Mac 10:24 12:9, II Mac 7:24 15:11*;]

a calling to one's aid, summons (Thus.), hence, appeal, entreaty (Strab., Plut., al., I Mac 10:24; cf. Lft., Notes, 20): II Co 8:4.

exhortation, encouragement: Ac 15:31, Ro 12:8, I Co 14:3, II Co 8:17, Phl 2:1, I Th 2:3,

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

παρά-κλησις, -ews, 7), (παρακαλέω, α. V-) ; 1. prop. a calling near, summons, (esp. for help, Thue. 4, 61; Dem. p. 275, 20). 2. imploration, supplication, entreaty: 2 Co. viii. 4 (Strab. 13 p. 581; Joseph. antt. 3, 1,5; [e. Ap. 2, 23, 3 a. πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἔστω] ; λόγοι παρακλήσεως, words of appeal, containing entreaties, 1 Mace. Tapakoyn x. 24). 3. exhortation, admonition, encouragement: Acts xv. 31 [al. refer this to 4]; 1 Co. xiv. 3; 2 Co. viii. 17; Phil. ii. 1; 1 Tim. iv. 13; Heb. xii. 5; λόγος τῆς παρακλήσεως, Heb. xiii. 22, (2 Mace. vii. 24; xv. 9 (11); Plat. def. 415 e.; Thue. 8, 92; Aeschin., Polyb., al.). 4. consolation, comfort, solace: 2 Co. i. 4-7; Heb. vi. 18; [add, Acts ix. 31; 2 Thess. ii. 16], (Jer. xvi. 7; Hos. xiii. 14; [Job xxi. 2; Nah. iii. 7]; Phalar. ep. 97 init.) ; τῶν γραφῶν, afforded by the contents of the Scriptures, Ro. xv. 4 [W. 189 (178)]; θεὸς τῆς παρακλ., God…

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

παράκλησις. For the primary meaning “appeal,” ‘‘exhortation’’ (as in 1 Thess 28, 2 Cor δὴ) cf. P Grenf I. 321° (B.c. 102) δι[ὰ τ]ὰς ἡμῶν παρακλήσεις, with reference to the ‘appeals ” made to allow three soldiers to come to a certain spot, and P Tebt II. 3925 (A.D. 134-5) of the insertion of a name in an agreement of indemnity at the instance of others—ka[T]a παράκλησιν γέγραπται αὐτῶν. Seealso the late P Flor III. 323° (A.D. 525) δεή]σεις kal παρακλή[σ]εις προσ{ε]νήνοχά got, and from the inserr. Sy// 552 (= %695)** (after B.c. 129) κατευχὴν καὶ παράκλησιν παντὸς τοῦ πλήθους ποιεῖσθαι. On the semi-technical use οἵ παράκλησις in Lk 2535 with reference to the coming of the Messiah see Dalman Words, p- togf., and on the similar meaning ‘‘comfort’’ (not “invocation ’’ as Hort Ecclesta p. 55) in Ac 9951 see Swete Holy Spirit in the NT p. 96f. As against the derivation of BapvaBas — vids…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

παράκλησις (paraklēsis) — encouragement.

παρά-κλησις, εως, ἡ,

calling to one's aid, summons, οἱ ἐκ παρακλήσεως συγκαθήμενοι a packed party in the assembly, [Refs 4th c.BC+]

2. imploring, appealing, τινος of or on the part of one, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; deprecation, συγγνώμης δεῖ καὶ π. [Refs 1st c.BC+]

3. invocation of gods, [Refs 4th c.AD+]

4. demand, request, [Refs 2nd c.BC+]; κατὰ-σιν on demand, [Refs 3rd c.AD+]

II. exhortation, address, πρὸς τὸν ὄχλον [Refs 5th c.BC+]; οὐ π. εὑρόντες, ἀλλὰ παραίνεσιν γράψαντες not a mere address to their feelings, but counsel to act rightly, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἀξιώσεισκαὶ-κλήσεις [Refs 2nd c.BC+]

III. consolation, [LXX+NT+3rd c.BC+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

παράκλησις

paraklesis

from 3870; imploration, hortation, solace:--comfort, consolation,

exhortation, intreaty.

see GREEK for 3870

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

παράκλησις, εως, ἡ

n.f.

exhortation, entreaty, encouragement, comfort

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

παράκλησις paraklēsis 29x

a calling upon, exhortation, incitement, persuasion, Rom. 12:8; 1 Cor. 14:3; hortatory instruction, Acts 13:15; 15:31; entreaty, importunity, earnest supplication, 2 Cor. 8:4; solace, consolation, Lk. 2:25; Rom. 15:4, 5; 2 Cor. 1:3, 4, 5, 6, 7; cheering and supporting influence, Acts 9:31; joy, gladness, rejoicing, 2 Cor. 7:13; cheer, joy, enjoyment, Read the full entry →

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

παράκλησις παράκλησις, εως, παρακαλέω a calling to one's aid, summons, οἱ ἐκ παρακλήσεως συγκαθήμενοι a packed party in the jury, Dem.

a calling upon, appealing, τινος to one, Thuc.: intreaty, deprecation, Strab.

an exhortation, address, Thuc., Aeschin.: encouragement, NTest.

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

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
38%comfort
comfort38% · 11×encouragement31% · 9×exhortation21% · 6×entreaty3% · 1×appeal3% · 1×consolation3% · 1×

29 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 6 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
adverbial45%object31%subject21%predicate3%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 29 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
καίand, even, also,ἐνδιά
καίand, even, also, nam
οἰκοδομήthe act of buildἔχωI have, hold, po
σύ
Article the
προσδέχομαιI expect, welcome, a
εὐλαβήςcautious, pious
υἱόςa son, descendent
μεθερμηνεύωI translate, int
παράκλησιςencouragement29×
what comes after →
Article the
ἸσραήλPropἅγιοςset apart, holy,μεταδίδωμιI share, impart
καίand, even, also, nam
παραμυθίαencouragement, cσωτηρίαdeliverance, salγάρfor
ἐγώ
περισσῶςCompοὐNeg
ὅς
παρακαλέωI summon, entrea
σύ

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

Concordanceπαράκλησις · 29× in the New Testament
2 Corinthians Acts Hebrews Romans Luke 1 Corinthians 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Thessalonians Philemon Philippians
Across the New Testament11 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Contemplative Life 12c. AD 40

οἱ δὲ ἐπὶ θεραπείαν ἰόντες οὔτε ἐξ ἔθους οὔτε ἐκ παραινέσεως ἢ παρακλήσεώς τινων, ἀλλ’ ὑπ’ ἔρωτος ἁρπασθέντες οὐρανίου, καθάπερ οἱ βακχευόμενοι καὶ κορυβαντιῶντες ἐνθουσιάζουσι, μέχρις ἂν τὸ ποθούμενον ἴδωσιν.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.272c. AD 75–95

καὶ μηδὲν ὑπολαβὼν κακοῦργον δειπνήσας τρέπεται πρὸς εὐχὰς καὶ παράκλησιν τοῦ θεοῦ δέσποτα, λέγων, παντὸς αἰῶνος καὶ δημιουργὲ τῆς ὅλης οὐσίας·

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 7th c. AD 5th c. AD 2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD
P.Oxy. 34 2725OxyrhynchosAD 71

οθ … κειται Ἀμμωνίου τεταγμένοι εἰσὶν εἰς τὴν ϛ μετὰ πολλῆς παρακλήσεως ἵνα μοι δῶσι τὸ κερμάτιον. περὶ δὲ τῶν χορτασμάτων τῶν χοιριδίων μὴ ἀμελήσῃς ἀγοράσαι

P.Tebt. 2 392Tebtynis (Arsinoites)AD 134–AD 135

τὸν Κρονίωνα ἐσχηκέναι ταύτας εἰς τὸ ἴδιον τὸν δὲ Ὡρίωνα μηδὲν ἁπλῶς λαβόντα κατὰ παράκλησιν γεγράφθαι αὐτῶν. Κρονίων Κρονίωνος ὁμολογῶ παρέξεσθαι τὴν ἀδελφήν μου Εὐδαιμονίδα τὴν καὶ Πόλιτταν ἀπαρενόχλητον

P.Amh. 2 148ArsinoitesAD 487

συμπληρώσεως τοῦ χρέους. ἐὰν δὲ ἐκπροθέσμως ὑπερθῶμαι περὶ τὴν τούτων ἀπόδοσιν καὶ βουληθείης κατὰ παράκλησιν ἐμὴν ἑτέραν μοι ἐκδοῦναι πρόθεσιν

The [one] however prophesying to men speaks [for] edification and encouragement and consolation.
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,

Read the full entry →
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…

Read the full entry →
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)…

Read the full entry →
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+]

Read the full entry →
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

The [one] however prophesying to men speaks [for] edification and encouragement and consolation.
παραμυθίαν.paramuthia consolation. G3889 Noun · accusative · singular · feminine
1× 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
Comfort refers to the feeling of consolation or encouragement, like the comfort Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 14:3. It's about receiving support and reassurance during difficult times.
Amplified meaning
consolation, solace
Tyndale gloss
comfort
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

παραμυθία is a feminine noun meaning encouragement, comfort, or consolation, derived from παραμυθέομαι. It covers a range of meanings including exhortation and gentle persuasion, with references in classical literature and the New Testament, specifically in 1 Corinthians 14:3. The lexicons note its use in various contexts, such as relief from distress and the soothing tales told to children.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

** παραμυθία, -ας, ἡ

(< παραμυθέομαι),

[in LXX: Es 8:13, Wi 19:12*;]

encouragement, exhortation.

comfort, consolation: I Co 14:3.†

SYN.: παράκλησις.

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

παραμυθία, -as, 7, (παραμυθέομαι), in class. Grk. any address, whether made for the purpose of persuading, or of arousing and stimulating, or of calming and consoling; once in the N. T., like the Lat. allocutio (Sen. ad Mare. 1; ad Helv. 1), i. q. consolation, comfort: 1 Co. xiv. 3. (So Plat. Ax. p. 365 a.; Aeschin. dial. Socr. 3, 3; Joseph. b. 1. 3, 7,15; Lceian. dial. mort. 15, 3; Ael. v. h. 12, 1 fin.)

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

παραμυθία. in its only occurrence in the NT, 1 Cor 148 (cf. Sap 1912), refers to spiritual ‘‘encouragement”’ or ‘‘comfort.” J. Weiss ad 1. thinks that the idea may be derived from the tales which a mother or nurse relates toa child: cf. 1 Thess 24 and MGr παραμύθι, ‘‘fable,” ‘‘tale.” In the Christian P Oxy X. 1298? (iv/a.D.) the writer addresses his correspondent as—tapapv0(qa τῶν φίλων, ‘the consolation of his friends”: cf. P Thad 1717 (A.D. 332). In BGU IV. 1024%ii- 12. a long legal report of the end of iv/A.v., we read of an old woman who sold her daughier πορνοβοσκῷ ἵνα δυνηθῶ διατραφῆναι. The girl is murdered, and the mother demands that the murderer παρασχεῖν αὐτῇ eis λόγον διατροφῶν ὀλί[γ]ην τινὰ τοῦ βίου παραμυθίαν. The word seems to have developed into the ‘* comforts” of life, as with us—it is at any rate *‘consolation”’ that is suggested. in a money form Cf. the late use of…

Read the full entry →
Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

παραμυθία (paramuthia) — comfort.

παραμῡθ-ία, ἡ,

encouragement, exhortation, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; reassurance, gentle persuasion, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

2. consolation, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; diversion, distraction, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

3. relief from, abatement of, φθόνου [Refs 1st c.AD+]; π. ταλαιπωρούντων, of sleep, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

4. explanation, solution of a difficulty, π. πρὸς τὴν ἀπορίαν [Refs 1st c.AD+]

5. excuse, ἔχειν τινὰ π. [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

Strong's Greek Dictionary

παραμυθία

paramuthia

from 3888; consolation (properly, abstract):--comfort.

see GREEK for 3888

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

παραμυθία, ας, ἡ

n.f.

encouragement, comfort

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

παραμυθία paramythia 1x

comfort, encouragement, 1 Cor. 14:3*

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

παραμυθία παραμυ_θία, ἡ, from παραμυ_θέομαι encouragement, exhortation, persuasion, Plat.

consolation, diversion, id. Plat.

relief from, abatement of, φθόνου Plut.

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

kon-so-la'-shun (paraklesis): "Consolation of Israel" (Lu 2:25), refers to the fulfillment of the promises in Isa 40:1 ff. See COMFORT. "Son of consolation" (Ac 4:36 the King James Version and the American Revised Version, margin).

See BARNABAS.

Nave's Topical Bible

→ See AFFLICTION, CONSOLATION IN

→ See HOLY SPIRIT

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
100%consolation
consolation100% · 1×

1 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.

Concordanceπαραμυθία · 1× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians
Across the New Testament1 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria
Philo of AlexandriaOn Abraham 196c. AD 40

ἐκ πολυπαιδίας μὲν οὖν ἕνα προέσθαι θεῷ καθάπερ ἀπαρχήν τινα τέκνων παράδοξον οὐδέν, ἔχοντα τὰς ἐπὶ τοῖς ζῶσιν ἡδονὰς οὐ μικρὰ παραμύθια καὶ μειλίγματα τῆς ἐπὶ τῷ σφαγιασθέντι λύπης·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 16.254c. AD 75–95

Τούτοις ἐπίστευσεν Ἡρώδης καί τινα παραμυθίαν τῆς προπετείας εἴληφεν ἐν τοῖς κακοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν χειρόνων κολακευόμενος.

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 3rd c. AD 5th c. AD
P.Ross.Georg. 3 2AlexandriaAD 270

ἐνταῦθα διάγῃς σὺν τῷ ὑιῶι· καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἡ θυγάτηρ σοι συνέσται, ἐν πένθει παραμυθία οὐκ ὀλίγη, καὶ σεβαζομένην ἔχεις, ὑπὸ πολλῶν ποθηθεῖσαν διὰ τὴν … μνείαν, πολὺ δὲ

P.Ryl. 4 653Ptolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites)AD 320

πεδίον … καὶ λιθίνην κατεσκεύασεν, τὸ καλούμενον ῥεῖθρον ἵνα δηλαδὴ διὰ τὴν … εισι παραμυθίαν τῆς ἀρδείας. ἀλλʼ οἱ ἀπὸ κώμης Ἀνδρομαχίδος, τῆς ἐρημίας … … ονται καὶ ἀνατρέπουσιν

P.Oxy. 10 1298OxyrhynchosAD 330

r τῷ δεσπότῃ καὶ ἀσυνκρίτῳ καὶ παραμυθίᾳ τῶν φίλων Γονᾶτι Ἄμμων χαίρειν. πρὸ παντὸς εὔχομαι τῷ κυρίῳ θεῷ περὶ τῆς ὁλοκληρίας

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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