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1 Corinthians 14:39 — Word Study

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N1904Ὥστε, ἀδελφοί μου, ζηλοῦτε τὸ προφητεύειν, καὶ τὸ λαλεῖν μὴ κωλύετε γλώσσαις.

BSASo,hōste [therefore, as a result] brothersadelphos [fellow believers, brethren] of mine, do earnestly desirezēloō [desire earnestly, zealous] <the>ho to prophesy,prophēteuō [speak under inspiration from God, tell forth His message] andkai <the>ho to speaklaleō [to utter words, talk] not [lest, God forbid] do forbidkōluō [prevent, stop] in tongues. [languages, special languages, with other languages]

Word
Listen & take away1 Corinthians 14
English ↓ Download MP3 The Berean Standard Bible chapter audio already hosted for the site's Bible section — verse 39 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 () — no per-word recordings of the Greek exist to link to.
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1 Corinthians 14:39quick helps
In a sentencePaul encourages the Corinthians to eagerly desire prophecy and not to hinder speaking in tongues.
Who is speakingThe Apostle Paul is addressing the Corinthian church as 'brothers.'
Where we areThis verse concludes a section on spiritual gifts, emphasizing their proper use.
The hard wordζηλοῦτε
Take awayDesire for spiritual gifts should be encouraged, while restrictions on tongues should be avoided.
8 commentators on this verse Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them › clause verbζηλόω The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
How rare are these words?in the New Testament

Every word here is used elsewhere in the New Testament.

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

Deep Study — 1 Corinthians 14:39

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 — Instructions on Spiritual Giftsgenerated

37If anyone considers himself a prophet or spiritual person, let him acknowledge that what I am writing you is the Lord’s command.
38But if anyone ignores this, he himself will be ignored.
39So, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.
40But everything must be done in a proper and orderly manner.

1 Corinthians 14:39 is part of Paul's guidance to the church in Corinth regarding the use of spiritual gifts, particularly prophecy and speaking in tongues. He emphasizes the importance of desiring to prophesy, which serves to edify the church, while also advising against forbidding the practice of speaking in tongues. This reflects Paul's broader theme of order and edification in worship, as he addresses various issues the Corinthian church faced in their gatherings, as seen in 1 Corinthians 14:40.


Cross References

ReferenceText (BSB)
11 Corinthians 14:1–3Earnestly pursue love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.
21 Corinthians 12:31But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.
31 Thessalonians 5:20Do not treat prophecies with contempt,

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 3 references, hung on the phrase they belong to


The Key Word ζηλοῦτε, zēloōgenerated

The verb ζηλόω is in the present active imperative form, indicating a command to actively pursue or desire something earnestly. It suggests a strong inclination or zeal towards prophesying.

In this context, Paul encourages the believers to have a passionate desire for the gift of prophecy, which is seen as beneficial for the church community. This eagerness is contrasted with the prohibition of hindering the practice of speaking in tongues, indicating a balanced approach to spiritual gifts.


How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated

The verse is rendered in the Berean Standard Bible as 'So, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.' This is similar in meaning across several translations.

However, differences arise with the Greek word ἀδελφοί, where the KJV and others use 'brethren', while the BSB and others opt for 'brothers'. Additionally, ζηλοῦτε is translated as 'covet' in the KJV, while the ASV and others use 'desire earnestly'.


Sentence Structuregenerated

The main verb of the verse is ζηλοῦτε, do earnestly desire, which governs two infinitive phrases: προφητεύειν (to prophesy) and λαλεῖν (to speak). The structure emphasizes the imperative call to desire prophecy while also including a prohibition against forbidding tongues.

The verse is constructed with a main clause followed by two infinitive phrases that express actions the brothers are encouraged to take, creating a clear directive.


Septuagint Backgroundgenerated

ζηλόω appears in the Septuagint, where it is often associated with zeal and desire, particularly in the context of serving God or pursuing righteousness. It carries a similar connotation of passionate pursuit in both the Old and New Testaments.

προφητεύω also has roots in the Septuagint, where it relates to speaking on behalf of God, reinforcing the idea of divine inspiration in prophecy.


In plain words — the whole versegenerated

1 Corinthians 14:39 encourages believers to eagerly desire the gift of prophecy while not hindering the practice of speaking in tongues. Paul emphasizes that both gifts are valuable for the church's edification and should be embraced rather than restricted.


Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated

What does it mean to desire to prophesy?

Desiring to prophesy means having a strong wish to speak under God's inspiration, conveying His messages to others, which is seen as beneficial for the church.

Why should we not forbid speaking in tongues?

Speaking in tongues is considered a spiritual gift that can edify the church, and forbidding it would hinder the expression of spiritual worship.

How can we balance the use of prophecy and tongues in worship?

Balancing these gifts involves encouraging prophecy for edification while allowing tongues as a valid expression of worship, ensuring everything is done in order.

What is the significance of Paul addressing the Corinthians as 'brothers'?

By calling them 'brothers,' Paul emphasizes their shared faith and community, fostering a sense of unity and mutual encouragement in spiritual matters.


Reflection Questionsgenerated

  1. What are some ways I can actively desire spiritual gifts in my life?
  2. How can I encourage others to use their spiritual gifts in our church community?
  3. In what ways can speaking in tongues be beneficial for personal and corporate worship?
  4. How do I ensure that my use of spiritual gifts is done in an orderly and edifying manner?

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

Early church Fathers commented on this verse to emphasize the importance of prophecy and the proper use of spiritual gifts.

John ChrysostomHomily on 1 Corinthians 37 c. 347–407
Then, as he is ever wont to do, unto the former subject whence he digressed to say these things, he brings back his discourse as follows: "Wherefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy,
Early Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 14 →
AmbrosiasterCOMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES fl. c. 366–384
Anyone who does not recognize that what the apostle says is from God will not be recognized on the day of judgment.
Early Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 14 →
AmbrosiasterCOMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES fl. c. 366–384
In order to console them after all his rebukes, Paul calls them brothers and encourages them to have a desire to prophesy,
Early Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 14 →

Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse

Each of these wrote on 1 Corinthians 14:39 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.

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

Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy,.... The apostle now draws to a conclusion, and reassumes the exhortation he gave in the beginning of the chapter, pressing the members of this church to desire

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

Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. Covet - earnestly desire with prayer, in submission to God's will.

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

The apostle concludeth his discourse, summarily repeating all that he before had said. He had, , encouraged their desire of spiritual gifts; all along the chapter he hath been magnifying the gift of prophecy above the gift of tongues, as being of much more general use, and more for the profit of others; but he minds them here, that he did not forbid those to whom God had given the gift of tongues, to make use of it at due times, and in a due manner and order.

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

39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. Ver. 39. Wherefore, brethren] This he adds as a corollary, to prevent mistakes, as if that he were an enemy either to prophecy or tongues, so soberly and orderly used. Arbitror nonnullos in quibusdam locis librorum meorum, opinaturos me, sensisse quod non sensi, aut non sensisse quod sensi, saith Augustine (lib. iii. de Trin. c. 3): I foresee that some will construe many passages of my writings far otherwise than I intend them: and it happened accordingly, as Baronius testifieth. (Annul. tom. 6, A. D. 450, n. 17.)

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

(39) Wherefore, brethren.—The practical summing up of the whole matter. Seek earnestly to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. The phraseology intimates the relative importance of the two gifts in the estimation of the Apostle, which was inverted by those to whom he wrote at Corinth. This ought you to do, but not leave the other undone.

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

Verse 39. Covet to prophesy] Let it be your endeavour and prayer to be able to teach the way of God to the ignorant; this is the most valuable, because the most useful gift of the Spirit. And forbid not to speak with tongues.] Let every gift have its own place and operation; let none envy another; nor prevent him from doing that part of the work to which God, by giving the qualification, has evidently called him.

Read AdamClarke on 1 Corinthians 14 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

39. Wherefore, brethren] The Apostle, as is his wont, sums up the whole section in a few concluding words. Prophecy is a gift to be earnestly sought (see for covet, the note on ch. 1 Corinthians 12:31). Speaking with tongues is a gift not to be discouraged.

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

Covet to prophesy - See the note at 1 Corinthians 14:1. This is the “summing up” of all that he had said.

Read Albert Barnes 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

So, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.

WEBWorld English Bible2000

Therefore, brothers, desire earnestly to prophesy, and don’t forbid speaking with other languages.

MSBMajority Standard Bible2022

So, brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.

NETBNew English Translation2006

So then, brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid anyone from speaking in tongues.

Tyndale line

KJVKing James Version1611

Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.

ASVAmerican Standard Version1901

Wherefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.

RVARevised Version, American1894

Wherefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.

NWBWebster's Bible1833

Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak in languages.

GNVGeneva Bible1599

Wherefore, brethren, couet to prophecie, and forbid not to speake languages.

Strictly literal

DBYDarby Translation1890

So that, brethren, desire to prophesy, and do not forbid the speaking with tongues.

YLTYoung's Literal Translation1862

so that, brethren, earnestly desire to prophesy, and to speak with tongues do not forbid;

LSVLiteral Standard Version2020

so that, brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues;

ULBUnlocked Literal Bible2017

So then, brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid anyone from speaking in tongues.

From the Latin

DRADouay-Rheims (Challoner)1899

Wherefore, brethren, be zealous to prophesy; and forbid not to speak with tongues.

Simplified

FBVFree Bible Version2020

So my brothers and sisters, make it your aim to speak for God. Don't prohibit speaking in tongues.

BBEBible in Basic English1949

So then, my brothers, let it be your chief desire to be prophets; but let no one be stopped from using tongues.

Word by word, the decisions they made

ἀδελφοίadelphos brothers G80 2 different renderings
brethrenASV DBY DRA GNV KJV NWB RVA YLT
brothersBBE BSB FBV LSV MSB NETB ULB WEB
ζηλοῦτεzēloō do earnestly desire G2206 3 different renderings
desire earnestlyASV RVA WEB
covetKJV NWB
be zealousDRA
λαλεῖνlaleō to speak G2980 2 different renderings
to speakASV DRA KJV LSV NWB RVA YLT
speakingBSB DBY FBV MSB NETB ULB WEB

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.

clauseὭστεSoclausenoun phraseἀδελφοίbrothersμουof meclauseclauseverbζηλοῦτεearnestly desirenoun phrase · objectτὸ-clauseverbπροφητεύεινto prophesyκαὶandclausenoun phrase · objectτὸ-clauseverbλαλεῖνto speakadverbialγλώσσαιςin tonguesadverbialμὴnotverbκωλύετεdo forbid

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

Itaque fratres æmulamini prophetare : et loqui linguis nolite prohibere.

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

ܛܢܘ ܗܟܝܠ ܐܚܝ ܠܡܬܢܒܝܘ ܘܠܡܡܠܠܘ ܒܠܫܢܐ ܠܐ ܬܟܠܘܢ

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

Ὥστε, ἀδελφοί μου, ζηλοῦτε τὸ προφητεύειν, καὶ τὸ λαλεῖν μὴ κωλύετε γλώσσαις.

The standard critical text of the New Testament.

Nestle-Aland 27th edition1993 · Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft

Ὥστε, ἀδελφοί μου, ζηλοῦτε τὸ προφητεύειν, καὶ τὸ λαλεῖν μὴ κωλύετε γλώσσαις.

The previous edition, still widely cited.

SBL Greek New Testament2010 · Michael Holmes

Ὥστε, ἀδελφοί μου, ζηλοῦτε τὸ προφητεύειν, καὶ τὸ λαλεῖν μὴ κωλύετε γλώσσαις.

The Society of Biblical Literature edition, freely licensed.

Westcott–Hort1881 · Westcott and Hort

Ὥστε, ἀδελφοί μου, ζηλοῦτε τὸ προφητεύειν, καὶ τὸ λαλεῖν μὴ κωλύετε γλώσσαις.

The edition that turned scholarship toward the earliest manuscripts.

Tregelles1857–1879 · Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

Ὥστε, ἀδελφοί μου, ζηλοῦτε τὸ προφητεύειν, καὶ τὸ λαλεῖν μὴ κωλύετε γλώσσαις.

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

Tyndale House Greek NT2017 · Tyndale House, Cambridge

Ὥστε, ἀδελφοί μου, ζηλοῦτε τὸ προφητεύειν, καὶ τὸ λαλεῖν μὴ κωλύετε γλώσσαις.

A recent critical edition following documentary evidence closely.

Byzantine majority text2018 · Robinson–Pierpont

Ὥστε, ἀδελφοί ζηλοῦτε τὸ προφητεύειν, καὶ τὸ λαλεῖν γλώσσαις.

The reading of the majority of surviving manuscripts.

Textus Receptus1550/1894 lineage

Ὥστε, ἀδελφοί ζηλοῦτε τὸ προφητεύειν, καὶ τὸ λαλεῖν γλώσσαις.

The printed tradition behind the King James Version.

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

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

Word by word, across the editions

WordEditions carrying itMissing from
μου, of mine,NA28, NA27, Tyn, SBL, WH, TregTR, Byz
μὴ notNA28, NA27, Tyn, SBL, WH, TregTR, Byz
κωλύετε do forbidNA28, NA27, Tyn, SBL, WH, TregTR, Byz

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

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

1 Corinthians 14:39ὥστεSo,So,ὥστεἀδελφόςbrothersbrothersἀδελφόςμου,of mine,of mine,μου,ζηλόωdo earnestldo earnestly deζηλόω<the><the>προφητεύωto prophesyto prophesy,προφητεύωκαίandandκαί<the><the>λαλέωto speakto speakλαλέωμήnotnotμήκωλύωdo forbiddo forbidκωλύωγλῶσσαin tongues.in tongues.γλῶσσαὡςAdv as, liAdv as, like asὡςἄλφαletter theletter the firsἄλφαζῆλοςn.m. & n.nn.m. & n.n. eagζῆλοςπροφήτηςn.m. a pron.m. a prophet,προφήτηςλέγωv. I say, v. I say, speakλέγωοὐNeg.prt. nNeg.prt. no, noοὐκολάζωv. I chastv. I chastise, κολάζωοὐκέτιNeg.adv. nNeg.adv. no lonοὐκέτιπλοῖονn.n. a shin.n. a ship, veπλοῖονἈνδρέαςn.m. Andren.m. AndrewἈνδρέαςἀδελφήn.f. a sisn.f. a sisterἀδελφήἀγάπηn.f. loven.f. loveἀγάπηκαλόςAdj beautiAdj beautiful, καλόςἨσαΐαςn.m. Isaian.m. IsaiahἨσαΐαςσόςPoss.pr. yPoss.pr. yours,σόςγλῶσσαn.f. the tn.f. the tongueγλῶσσαπαρρησίαn.f. freedn.f. freedom, cπαρρησίαπότεIrg.prt. wIrg.prt. when, πότε
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 14:39

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.

So, brothers of mine, do earnestly desire <the> to prophesy, and <the> to speak not do forbid in tongues.
Ὥστε,hōste So, G5620 Conjunction
84× 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
This word means so or therefore, used to show a result or conclusion. It appears in Matthew 8:24 and Romans 7:6.
Amplified meaning
therefore, as a result
Tyndale gloss
so
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word ὥστε is a conjunction that expresses result, often translated as 'so that' or 'therefore.' It can be used with infinitives to indicate intended outcomes, as well as with indicative and subjunctive moods. The New Testament frequently employs hōste to connect actions and their consequences, appearing in various contexts, including teachings and narratives.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ὥσ-τε

consecutive particle,

c. infin., expressing result, so as to: Mt 8:24 12:22, Mk 1:27, Lk 5:7, Ac 1:19, Ro 7:6, I Co 1:7, He 13:6, al.; of a designed result, Mt 10:1, Lk 4:29, al.; preceded by οὕτως, Ac 14:1; by τοσοῦτος, Mt 15:33.

C. indic.,

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

ὥστε. 1. For the construction c. inf. denoting result ‘‘so as to,” the stress being laid on the dependence of the result on its cause (cf. Mt 834, Lk 439, a/.) we may cite BGU I. 2718 (ii/A.D.) (= Selections, p. 101) καθ᾽ ἡμέραν προσδεχόμ[ε]θα διμι[σ]σωρίαν, ὥστε ἕως σήμερον μηδέν᾽ ἀπολελύσθαι τῶν μετὰ σίτου, ‘‘daily we are waiting for our discharge, so that up till to-day no one of us in the corn service has been let go,” P Oxy X. 127914 (A.D. 139) ἐπιδέχομαι μισθώσασθαι ἐκ τοῦ δημοσίου. . . ἀρούρας τρεῖς... ὥστε κατ᾽ ἔτος σπεῖραι καὶ ξυλαμῆσαι οἷς ἐὰν αἱρῶμαι, “1 consent to lease from the State three arourae, on condition that I may sow and plant the land with any crop which I choose” (Edd.), 24. 12557 (A.D. 292) ἐπειθεμένου σου ἡμῖν ὥστε ἐν ἀσφαλεῖ ἔχειν τοὺς καρποὺς ἐν ταῖς ἁλωνίαις, “‘having been enjoined by you to keep in safety the crops at the threshing floors” (Edd.), 26. VI.…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ὥστε (hōste) — so.

ὥστε,

as adverb, bearing the same relation to ὡς as ὅστε to ὅς, and used by [Refs 8th c.BC+] more frequently than ὡς in similes, when it is commonly written divisim, and is relative to a demonstrative ὥς: sometimes with present Indic., [Refs 8th c.BC+]: sometimes with aorist, ὥς τε λέων ἐχάρη [Refs]subjunctive present or aorist, [Refs 8th c.BC+]: all three usages combined in one simile, with varied construction, [Refs 8th c.BC+]:—the verb is sometimes omitted, λάμφ᾽ ὥς τε στεροπή [Refs] is chiefly Epic dialect [Refs 5th c.BC+], but it occurs in [Refs 7th c.BC+]

II. to mark the power or virtue by which one does a thing, as being, inasmuch as, like{ἅτε}, τὸν δ᾽ ἐξήρπαξ᾽ Ἀφροδίτη ῥεῖα μάλ᾽, ὥ. θεός [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ὥ. περὶ ψυχῆς since it was for life, [Refs 8th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ὥστε

hoste

from 5613 and 5037; so too, i.e. thus therefore (in various relations

of consecution, as follow):--(insomuch) as, so that (then), (insomuch)

that, therefore, to, wherefore.

see GREEK for 5613

see GREEK for 5037

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ὥστε

Cj.

so that, therefore

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ὥστε hōste 83x

so that, so as that, so as to, Mt. 8:24; Mk. 2:12; Acts 14:1; Gal. 2:13; as an illative particle, therefore, consequently, Mt. 12:12; 23:31

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ὥστε as adv., bearing the same relation to ὡς, as ὅστε to ὅς, and used by Hom. more frequently than ὡς in similes; rare in attic Poets, κατώρυχες δ᾽ ἔναιον ὥστ᾽ ἀήσυροι μύρμηκες Aesch., etc.

as, as being, like ἅτε, Lat. utpote, ῥεῖα μάλ᾽, ὥστε θεός very easily, as being a goddess, Il.; ὥστε περὶ ψυχῆς since it was for life, Od.; ὥστε ταῦτα νομίζων Hdt.

as Conjunction, to express the result or effect of the action in the principal clause:

with Inf. so as to do a thing, εἰ δέ σοι θυμὸς ἐπέσσυται, ὥστε νέεσθαι if thy heart is bent upon returning, Il.; οὐ τηλίκος, ὥστε πιθέσθαι not of such age as to obey, Od.; freq. in attic

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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

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

so (co', although the Hebrew might be pointed cewe'; Assyrian Sib'u; Septuagint Segor, Soa; Manetho, Seuechos; Latin Sevechus; Herodotus (ii. 137 ff), Sabakon): In all probability the "Sabaeo" of Herodotus, the Shabaka, who founded the Ethiopian dynasty, the XXVth of Egyptian kings. His date is given as 715-707 BC (Flinders Petrie, History of Egypt, III, 281 ff), but we may suppose that before his accession to the throne he was entitled to be designated king, as being actually regent. To this So, Hoshea, king of Israel, made an appeal for assistance to enable him to throw off the yoke of the Assyrian Shalmaneser IV (2Ki 17:3). But Hoshea's submission to So brought him no advantage, for Shalmaneser came up throughout all the land and laid siege to Samaria. Not long after the fall of Samaria, So ventured upon an eastern campaign, and…

Easton's Bible Dictionary

So

(Nubian, Sabako), an Ethiopian king who brought Egypt under his sway. He was bribed by Hoshea to help him against the Assyrian monarch Shalmaneser (2 Kings 17:4). This was a return to the policy that had been successful in the reign of Jeroboam I.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

"So, king of Egypt," is once mentioned in the Bible -- (2 Kings 17:4) So has been identified by different writers with the first and second kings of the Ethiopian twenty-fifth dynasty, called by Manetho, Sabakon (Shebek) and Sebichos (Shebetek).

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

King of Egypt, made an alliance with Hoshea king of Israel, and promised him assistance; but was unable to prevent Shalmaneser king of Assyria from taking Samaria and subverting the kingdom, B. C. 721, 2Ki 17:4. See PHARAOH.

So is believed to have been the Servetus or Sabaco II of secular history, the second king of the Ethiopian or twenty-fifth dynasty, and the predecessor of Trihakah. A singular fact has been brought to light by the recent explorations at Nineveh, corroborating the Scripture record the more forcibly, because unexpected and direct. The Bible shows that Egypt and Assyria, though remote, were often in conflict during the height of the Assyrian ruins power, and that So was at war with Shalmaneser. After war comes the treaty of peace; and as the Bible prepares us to suppose such treaties were made, the Assyrian ruins…

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
30%so that
so that30% · 25×therefore16% · 13×so as13% · 11×so as for13% · 11×so then8% · 7×so7% · 6×order for4% · 3×that2% · 2×other renderings6% · 5×

83 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
adverbial54%subject2%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 84 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
θεραπεύωI care for, atteσυναγωγήan assembly, conοἰκοδομέωI build, build u
πολύςmuch, many, often
ὄχλοςa crowdσυνάγωI gather togethe
λόγοςa word, speech, divi
Article theαὐτός
ὄχλοςa crowd
Article the
μέγας
κλάδοςa branchγίνομαιI come into bein
ὥστεSo,84×
what comes after →
Article the
πλοῖονa ship, vesselκωφόςdumb, deafὄχλοςa crowd
μήNeg
δύναμαιI am powerful, aἰσχύωI am strong, ablπρό
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theεἰςἐπί
ἀδελφόςa brother
ἐγώ
αὐτός
εἰςἐγώ

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

Concordanceὥστε · 84× in the New Testament
Matthew 1 Corinthians Mark Acts 2 Corinthians Galatians Luke Romans 1 Thessalonians Philippians 1 Peter 2 Thessalonians
Across the New Testament14 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 23c. AD 40

οὐ γὰρ ὡς πέφυκεν ὁ θεὸς εὖ ποιεῖν, οὕτως καὶ τὸ γινόμενον εὖ πάσχειν, ἐπεὶ τοῦ μὲν αἱ δυνάμεις ὑπερβάλλουσι, τὸ δ’ ἀσθενέστερον ὂν ἢ ὥστε δέξασθαι τὸ μέγεθος αὐτῶν ἀπεῖπεν ἄν, εἰ μὴ διεμετρήσατο σταθμησάμενος εὐαρμόστως ἑκάστῳ τὸ ἐπιβάλλον.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.277c. AD 75–95

οὐ γὰρ εὐνόουν τοῖς Χαναναίοις οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἴσακον, ὥστε ἐπὶ τοῖς πρότερον αὐτοῦ γάμοις δυσχερῶς διακειμένων εἰς τὸ ἐκείνοις κεχαρισμένον τὴν Βασεμάθην παρέλαβεν μάλιστα περὶ αὐτὴν σπουδάσας.

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 4.2c. AD 100

μὴ δῶμεν τῇ ἑαυτῶν ψυχῇ ἄνεσιν, ὥστε ἔχειν αὐτὴν ἐξουσίαν μετὰ ἁμαρτωλῶν καὶ πονηρῶν συντρέχειν, μήποτε ὁμοιωθῶμεν αὐτοῖς.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
3rd c. BC 2nd c. AD 3rd c. AD 6th c. AD 2nd c. BC
P.Giss. 1 39Theben206 BC–181 BC

σε ὑπὲρ … καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ δικαίου πέσηι, ὅ γέγραφά σοι διὰ τῆς συγγραφῆς, ὥστε ἐμὲ ἐπιτελέσαι, ἐγὼ ἐπιτελέσω ἄνευ λόγου παντὸς οὑτινοσοῦν τοῦ πρός σε· ἔγραψεν ὁ δεῖνα

P.Dryton 43155 BC–143 BC

Χοίακ ι ἀρτάβαι κ, λοιπὸν κδ ὧν ἀποδημοῦντός μού εἰς Πτολεμαίδα τὸ β Μυρσίνη ὥστε Ἑρμοκράτει τραπεζίτηι δέδωκεν ἀρτάβας 𐅵 Παχὼν β διʼ ἐμοῦ ἀρτάβαι δ γίνονται δ 𐅵

P.Grenf. 2 33Pathyris101 BC

ἐτῶν δέκα εἰς τὰ ἐνλιπόντα αὐτῷ ἑτέρων , τεσσάρων εἰς συμπλήρωσιν ἐτῶν πέντε , ὥστε γεωργῆσαι ἧς ἔθεντο μίσθωσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ προκειμένου ἔτους οὗ καὶ συμπεπεῖσθαι αὐτῷ τῆς συγχωρηθείσης

So, brothers of mine, do earnestly desire <the> to prophesy, and <the> to speak not do forbid in tongues.
ἀδελφοίadelphos brothers G80 Noun · vocative · plural · masculine
343× 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 brother refers to a male sibling or a fellow Christian, as seen in Matthew 1:2 and 1 Corinthians 1:1. It implies a close relationship.
Amplified meaning
fellow believers, brethren
Tyndale gloss
brother
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

ἀδελφός is built from a copulative particle and δελφύς, meaning 'womb.' It primarily refers to a brother, either by birth or in a broader sense, such as a fellow Christian or a member of the same nation. In the New Testament, it appears in various contexts, including familial and spiritual relationships, as seen in Matthew 1:2 and 1 Corinthians 1:1.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἀδελφός, -οῦ, ὁ

(< ἀ- copul., δελφύς, womb),

in cl., a brother, born of the same parent or parents. [In LXX (Hort, Ja., 102 f.), for אָח;]

lit. of a brother (Ge 4:2, al.).

Of a neighbour (Le 19:17).

Of a member of the same nation (Ex 2:14, De 15:3). In NT in each of these senses (1. Mt 1:2, al.; 2. Mt 7:3; 3. Ro 9:3) and also,

of a fellow-Christian: I Co 1:1, Ac 9:30. This usage finds…

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

ἀδελφός, -οῦ, ὁ, (fr. a copulative and δελφύς, from the same womb; cf. ἀγάστωρ), [fr. Hom. down]; 1. a brother (whether born of the same two parents, or only of the same father or the same mother): Mt. i. 2; iv. 18, and often. That ‘the brethren of Jesus,’ Mt. xii. 46, 47 [but WH only in mrg.]; xiii. 55 sq.; Mk. vi. 3 (in the last two passages also sisters); Lk. viii. 19 sq.; Jn. ii. 12; vii. 8; Acts i. 14; Gal. i. 19; 1 Co. 1. 5, are neither sons of Joseph by a wife married before Mary (which is the account in the Apocryphal Gospels [ef. Thilo, Cod. Apocr. N. T. i. 8362 sq.]), nor cousins, the children of Alpheus or Cleophas [i. 6. Clopas] and Mary a sister of the mother of Jesus (the current opinion among the doctors of the church since Jerome and Ausustine [ef. Bp. Lghtft. Com. on Gal., diss. ii.]), according to that use of language by which ἀδελφός like the Hebr. τὶ denotes any…

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

ἀδελφός. For the literal and the more general derived sense we may quote Sy// 474° ἀδελφοὶ ols κοινὰ τὰ πατρῷα, and 276" διὰ τὸ Μεσσαλιήτας εἶναι ἡμῖν ἀδελφούς]. In P Lond 421 (B.C. 168) (= I. p. 30, Selections p. 9) ᾿Ισίας Ἡφαιστίωνι τῶι ἀδελφῶ[ι χαί(ρειν)], it seems probable that Isias is

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ἀδελφός (adelphos) — brother.

ἀδελφός [ᾰ],

(ἀ- copulative, δελφύς, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; compare ἀγάστωρ) properly, son of the same mother:

I. as substantive, ἀδελφός, ὁ, vocative ἄδελφ; Epic dialect, Ionic dialect, and Lyric poetry ἀδελφεός (genitive -ειοῦ in [Refs 8th c.BC+]:—brother, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἀδελφοί brother and sister, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; so of the Ptolemies, θεοὶ ἀδελφοί[Refs 3rd c.BC+]; ἀπ᾽ ἀμφοτέρων ἀδελφεός[LXX+5th c.BC+]

I.2. kinsman,[LXX]; tribesman, Ex.[Refs]

I.3. colleague, associate, [Refs]; member of a college, [Refs]

I.4. term of address, used by kings, [LXX+2nd c.BC+], etc.:—as a term of affection, applicable by wife to husband, [LXX+2nd c.BC+]

I.5. brother (as a fellow Christian), [NT]; of other religious communities, e.g. Serapeum, [Refs 2nd c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἀδελφός

adelphos

from 1 (as a connective particle) and delphus (the womb); a brother

(literally or figuratively) near or remote (much like 1):--brother.

see GREEK for 1

see GREEK for 1

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ἀδελφός, οῦ, ὁ

n.m.

a brother

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἀδελφός adelphos 343x

a brother, near kinsman or relative; one of the same nation or nature; one of equal rank and dignity; an associate, a member of the Christian community

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ἀδελφός α copul. , δελφύς; cf. Lat. couterinus ἀδελφοί are properly sons of the same mother:

as Subst., ἀδελφός, ὁ, voc. ἄδελφε (not -φέ), ionic ἀδελφεός, epic -ειός:—a brother, or generally, a near kinsman, ἀδελφοί brother and sister, like Lat. fratres, Eur.; ἀδελφεοὶ ἀπ᾽ ἀμφοτέρων brothers by both parents, i. e. not half-brothers, Hdt.

a brother (as a fellow Christian), NTest.

adj., ἀδελφός, ή, όν, brotherly or sisterly, Trag., Plat.

like Lat. geminus, gemellus, of anything in pairs, twin, Xen.:—then, just like, c. gen. or dat., ἀδελφὰ τῶνδε, ἀδελφὰ τούτοισι Soph.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Noun-VPM — Noun · vocative · plural · masculine
vocative — the one being addressed.
Agrees with anything else marked plural masculine.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

N-VPM Part of Speech: Noun Case: Vocative Number: Plural Gender: Masculine

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
64%brothers
brothers64% · 223×brother35% · 121×other renderings1% · 4×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
subject25%object20%adverbial12%indirect object6%predicate4%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 343 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,ἸωάννηςJohnἈνδρέαςAndrew
σύ
δέbut, on the otheπερίἀδελφόςa brother
ἀνήρa male human being,
λέγωI say, speakποιέωI do, makeφημίI say
δέbut, on the other ha
σύἐγώπαραδίδωμιI hand over, del
οὖνtherefore, then
ἄραDisjἑπτάIndecλοιπόςleft, left behin
ἀδελφόςbrothers343×
what comes after →
αὐτός
καίand, even, also,Article theἐν
ἐγώ
καίand, even, also,ἀγαπητόςloved, belovedArticle the
σύ
Article theκαίand, even, also,ὡςas, like as, how
Article the
κύριοςlord, Lord, mastἐκκλησίαan assembly, conεὐαγγέλιονthe good news, t
καίand, even, also, nam
Article theἀδελφήa sisterπατήρfather, Father,

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

Concordanceἀδελφός · 343× in the New Testament
Acts 1 Corinthians Matthew Luke Mark 1 Thessalonians James Romans 1 John John 2 Corinthians Galatians

Every reference is on the Strong's page.

Across the New Testament25 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 419 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria Clement of Rome The Shepherd of Hermas Ignatius of Antioch
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Creation of the World 12c. AD 40

ἀλλ’ ὅ γε μέγας Μωυσῆς ἀλλοτριώτατον τοῦ ὁρατοῦ νομίσας εἶναι τὸ ἀγένητον — πᾶν γὰρ τὸ αἰσθητὸν ἐν γενέσει καὶ μεταβολαῖς οὐδέποτε κατὰ ταὐτὰ ὄν — τῷ μὲν ἀοράτῳ καὶ νοητῷ προσένειμεν ὡς ἀδελφὸν καὶ συγγενὲς ἀιδιότητα, τῷ δ’ αἰσθητῷ γένεσιν οἰκεῖον…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 1.53c. AD 75–95

οἱ μὲν οὖν ἀδελφοὶ διαφόροις ἔχαιρον ἐπιτηδεύμασιν·

The Epistle of BarnabasThe Epistle of Barnabas 2.10c. AD 100

ἀκριβεύεσθαι οὖν ὀφείλομεν, ἀδελφοί, περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν, ἵνα μὴ ὁ πονηρὸς παρείσδυσιν πλάνης ποιήσας ἐν ἡμῖν ἐκσφενδονήσῃ ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν.

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

P.Grenf. 2 35Pathyris99 BC

ν μέσος ἢ ἐλασσων μελίχρως μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν ὑπόσκνιφος, ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑπάρχοντος αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς παστοφορίου ὠκοδομημένου καὶ δεδοκωμένου καὶ τεθυρωμένου ἐν τῷ ἀπὸ νότου μέρει τοῦ ἐν Παθύρει

BGU 3 1000Pathyris99 BC

ἐτῶν ξ μέσος μελίχρως τετανὸς ἀναφάλακρος μακροπρόσωπος εὐθύριν ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπαρχούσης αὐτῷ καὶ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς γῆς ἠπείρου σιτοφόρου ἀδιαιρέτου ἐν τῷ ἀπὸ βορρᾶ πεδίωι Παθύρεως τὸ ἐπιβάλλον αὐτῷ μέρος

So, brothers of mine, do earnestly desire <the> to prophesy, and <the> to speak not do forbid in tongues.
μου, of mine, G3165
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ἐγώ, gen, etc., ἐμοῦ, ἐμοί, ἐμέ (enclitic μου, μοι, με), pl. ἡμεῖς, -ῶν, -ῖν, -ᾶς,

pers. pron.

I.

The nom. is usually emphatic, when expressed as subjc, as in Mt 3:11, Mk 1:8, Lk 3:16, al. But often there is no apparent emphasis, as Mt 10:16, Jo 10:17; ἰδοὺ ἐ. (= Heb. הִנֵּנִי, cf. I Ki 3:8), Ac 9:10; ἐ. (like Heb. אֲנִי), I am, Jo 1:23 (LXX), Ac 7:32 (LXX).

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

ἐγώ, gen. ἐμοῦ, enclitic pod; dat. ἐμοί, enclitic μοί; acc. ἐμέ, enclitic μέ; plur. ἡμεῖς, ete.; personal pronoun, J. 1. The nominatives ἐγώ and ἡμεῖς, when joined to a verb, generally have force and emphasis, or indicate antithesis, as Mt. iii. 11; Mk.i. 8; Lk. iii. 16 (ἐγὼ pev... ὁ δέ); Mt. iii. 14 (ἐγὼ... ἔχω, καὶ σύν ; V. 22, 28, 39, and often; ἡμεῖς, contrasted with God, Mt. vi. 12; ἡμεῖς x. of Φαρισαῖοι, Mt. ix. 14; cf. W. § 22,6. But sometimes they are used where there is no emphasis or antithesis in them, as Mt. x. 16; Jn. x. 17; and in many edd. in Mk. i. 2; Lk. vii. 27; οἵ. B. §129, 12. ἰδοὺ ἐγώ, 1397, behold me, hereamT: Acts ix.10 (1S. iii. 8). ἐγώ, like 38, Jam: Jn. i. 23; Acts vii. 32, [ef. W.585 (544); B. 125 (109)]. 2. The enclitic (and monosyllabic) gen., dat., and ace. are connected with nouns, verbs, adverbs, but not with prepositions: ἔμπροσθέν pov, Jn. i. 15; ὀπίσω…

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

ἐγώ. Deissmann (ZAZ p. 134 ff.) has drawn attention to the parallels to the solemn use of the first personal pronoun in the Fourth Gospel that may be adduced from inscriptions and magical texts. Thus in an inscr. in honour of Isis from Ios, written in ii/iii A.p., the contents of which are preChristian, we find —Elows ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ τ[ύρανν]ος πάσης χόρας.. ἐγὼ νόμους ἀνθρώποις ἐθέμην . . ἐγώ εἰμι Kpdvov θυγάτηρ πρεσβυτάτη α΄. And similarly in the magical papyrus P Lond 4645 (iv/a.p.) (=I. p. 69) ἐγώ εἰμι ὃ ἀκέφαλος δαίμων . . ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀλήθεια ὁ μεισῶν ἀδικήματα γείνεσθαι ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ α΄. With the construction of the phrase τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί ; in Jn 24 we may compare BGU IV. 1141°8 (n.c. 14) ἐδίδουν αὐτῷ διαστολὰς μηδὲν αὐτῶι καὶ ἐκείνωι εἶναι : for its meaning see Ε΄. C. Burkitt in 77:5 xiii. p- 594f., where it is rendered, ‘‘ What have I and thou to do with that ?” On the difficult…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μέ (me) — me.

ἐγώ,

I: pronoun of the first person:—Epic dialect mostly ἐγών before vowels (so in Doric dialect, before consonants, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Boeotian dialect ἱών [Refs 2nd c.AD+]:— strengthened ἔγωγε, I at least, for my part, indeed, for myself (more frequently in Attic dialect than in [Refs 8th c.BC+]: Doric dialect ἐγώνγα [Refs 7th c.BC+]: Boeotian dialect ἱώνγα [Refs 6th c.BC+]; ἱώνει [Refs]; ἰώγα [Refs 5th c.BC+]: Laconian dialect and Tarentum dialect ἐγώνη, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

II. oblique cases from a different root, genitive ἐμοῦ, enclitic μο; Ionic dialect and Epic dialect ἐμέο, ἐμεῦ, μευ, also ἐμέθεν [Refs 8th c.BC+]; Aeolic dialect ἔμεθεν [Refs 7th c.BC+]; Doric dialect ἐμέος, ἐμεῦς, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Boeotian dialect ἐμοῦς [Refs 6th c.BC+] — _dative_ ἐμοί, enclitic μοι (which may be compared with Sanskrit…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ἐγώ

me

a shorter (and probably originally) from of 1691; me:--I, me, my.

see GREEK for 1691

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ἐγώ egō 2x

I, gen., ἐμοῦ [μου], dat., ἐμοί [μοι], acc., ἐμέ [με]

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Easton's Bible Dictionary

Mine

The process of mining is described in Job 28:1-11. Moses speaks of the mineral wealth of Palestine (Deut. 8:9). Job 28:4 is rightly thus rendered in the Revised Version, “He breaketh open a shaft away from where men sojourn; they are forgotten of the foot [that passeth by]; they hang afar from men, they swing to and fro.” These words illustrate ancient mining operations.

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
35%us
us35% · 717×me32% · 644×mine20% · 402×we ourselves6% · 124×my2% · 45×other renderings5% · 97×

2,029 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 27 different ways. The commonest English word for it is not its meaning — it is one translator's decision, repeated.

So, brothers of mine, do earnestly desire <the> to prophesy, and <the> to speak not do forbid in tongues.
ζηλοῦτεzēloō do earnestly desire G2206 Verb · present · active · imperative · second person · plural
12× 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 be eager means to have a strong desire or feeling for something, like being jealous or enthusiastic. In 1 Corinthians 12:31 and 14:1, it's about seeking something eagerly, while in Acts 7:9, it's about being jealous. This feeling can be positive or negative.
Amplified meaning
desire earnestly, zealous
Tyndale gloss
be eager
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

ζηλόω is built from the root meaning to have warmth of feeling, covering a range from envy and jealousy to eager desire. In the New Testament, it appears in contexts of both negative jealousy (Acts 7:9; 1 Corinthians 13:4) and positive zeal (2 Corinthians 11:2; Galatians 4:17). The lexicons note that it can mean to strive after or emulate, with some variations in emphasis on its connotations.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

ζηλόω, -ῶ,

[in LXX chiefly for קנא pi.;]

to burn with envy or jealousy, to be jealous: absol., Ac 7:9 17:5, I Co 13:4, Ja 4:2 (R, mg., cf. Mayor, in l.).

to seek or desire eagerly: c. acc. rei, I Co 12:31 14:1, 39 (cf. Si 50:18, Wi 1:12); c. acc. pers., II Co 11:2, Ga 4:17; pass., Ga 4:18.†

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

ζηλόω, -6; 1 aor. ἐζήλωσα ; pres. pass. inf. ζηλοῦσθαι ; τὥλος, q. v.); Sept. for NIP; to burn with zeal; as absol. to be heated or to boil [A.V. to be moved] with envy, hatred, anger : Acts vii. 9; xvii. 5 (where Grsb. om. ᾧηλώσ.) ; 1 Co. xiii. 4; Jas. iv. 2; in a good sense, to be zealous in the pursuit of good, Rev. iii. 19 RG Trmrg. (the aor. ζήλωσον marks the entrance into the mental state, see βασιλεύω, fin.; ἐζήλωσε, he was seized with indignation, 1 Mace. ii. 24). 2. trans.; τί, to desire earnestly, pursue: 1 Co. xii. 81; xiv. 1, 39, (Sir. li. 18; Thue. 2, 37; Eur. Hee. 255; Dem. 500, 2; al.); μᾶλλον δέ, sc. ζηλοῦτε, foll. by iva, 1 Co. xiv. 1 [B. 237 (205); ef. W. 577 (537)]. τινά, 8. to desire one earnestly, to strive after, busy one’s self about him : to exert one’s self for one (that he may not be torn from me), 2Co. xi. 2; to seek to draw over to one’s side, Gal. iv. 17…

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

ζηλόω. For ζηλόω c. acc., as in Ac 7° according to the RV rendering (cf. Gal 417), see PSI I. 945 (ii/A.p.) ζηλοῖ yap τὴν μάθησιν, and from the inserr. A/ichel 39.447 (mid. i/B.C.) ἐφ᾽ οἷς οὐχ ἧττον ὁ δῆμος [{]ηλοῖ αὐτόν, and 76. 1007 (118.6.) καὶ ζηλῶσιν αὐτοὺς οἱ ἐπιγινόμενοι ᾿Εἰχιναδῶν, The compound ζηλοτυπέω may be illustrated from P Oxy III. 472" (c. A.D. 130) ἐζηλοτύπει αὐτὴν μὴ ἐπισταμένην, “he was jealous of her without her knowledge” (Edd.): cf. for the subst. Numb 5:5 θυσία ζηλοτυπίας.

Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

ζηλόω (zēloō) — be eager.

ζηλ-όω,

(ζῆλος):

I. with accusative person, vie with, emulate, τινα [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—passive, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; in bad sense, to be jealous of, envy, ζηλοῖ δέ τε γείτονα γείτων [LXX+8th c.BC+]: absolutely, to be jealous, [NT]through jealousy, [NT]

__b with accusative person, to be jealous for, [LXX]

2. esteem or pronounce happy, admire, praise, τινά τινος one for a thing, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: more rarely, ζ. τινά τι [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ζ. σε ὁθούνεκα.. [Refs 4th c.BC+]; τὴν πόλιν, ὅτι.. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; πολλά σε ζηλῶ βίου, μάλιστα δ᾽ εἰ.. [Refs 5th c.BC+]: with participle, σε ζ. θανόντα πρὶν κακῶν ἰδεῖν βάθος [Refs 5th c.BC+] happy in your ignorance! [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—passive, to be deemed fortunate, ὑπό τινων [Refs 5th…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

ζηλόω ζηλεύω

zeloo

from 2205; to have warmth of feeling for or against:--affect, covet

(earnestly), (have) desire, (move with) envy, be jealous over, (be)

zealous(-ly affect).

see GREEK for 2205

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

ζηλόω

v.

I am jealous, eager for

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

ζηλόω zēloō 11x

to have strong affection towards, be ardently devoted to, 2 Cor. 11:2; to make a show of affection and devotion towards, Gal. 4:17; to desire earnestly, aspire eagerly after, 1 Cor. 12:31; 14:1, 39; absol. to be fervent, to be zealous, Rev. 3:19; to be jealous, envious, spiteful, Acts 7:9; 17:5; 1 Cor. 13:4; Jas. 4:2; pass. to be an object of warm regard and devotion, Gal. 4:18

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

ζηλόω ζηλόω, φυτ. -ώσω ζῆλος c. acc. pers. to rival, vie with, emulate, Lat. aemulari, Soph., Thuc., etc.: —in bad sense, to be jealous of, envy, Hes., Theocr.:— absol, to be jealous, NTest.

to esteem or pronounce happy, admire, praise, τινά τινος one for a thing, Soph., Ar.: ironical, ζηλῶ σε happy in your ignorance! Eur.

c. acc. rei, to desire emulously, strive after, Dem.:—Pass., Plat., etc.

Pass. also of persons, to be impelled by zeal, NTest.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAM-2P — Verb · present · active · imperative · second person · plural
present active imperative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAM-2P Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: iMperative Person: second Number: Plural

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

de-zir': The verb "to desire" in the Scriptures usually means "to long for," "to ask for," "to demand," and may be used in a good or bad sense (compare De 7:25 the King James Version). the Revised Version (British and American) frequently renders the more literal meaning of the Hebrew. Compare Job 20:20, "delight"; Pr 21:20, "precious"; Ps 40:6, "delight"; aiteo (except Col 1:9), and erotao (except Lu 7:36) are rendered "to ask" and zeteo, "to seek" (compare Lu 9:9 et. al.). The Hebrew kacaph, literally, "to lose in…

Nave's Topical Bible

→ SPIRITUAL De 4:29; Ps 9:1; 17:1; 22:26; 24:6; 25:5,15; 27:8,14; 33:20; 34:10; 37:4,7,9,34; 39:12; 40:1,8; 42:1-11; 51:1-17; 62:1; 63:1,8; 68:28; 69:3,32; 70:4; 81:10; 84:2; 86:11,12,16; 94:19; 105:4; 118:17; 119:2,10,20,40,77,88,116,117,122,133,149,156; 123:1,2; 130:5,6; 143:5,6; Pr 2:3-5; 8:17,34; Isa 8:17,19; 26:8,9; 40:31; 55:1,2,6; Jer 29:13; La 3:25,26,41; Ho 10:12; Hab 3:2; Mt 5:6;

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
18%do earnestly desire
do earnestly desire18% · 2×having envied9% · 1×having become jealous9% · 1×do be desirous of9% · 1×envious9% · 1×i am jealous as to9% · 1×they are zealous after9% · 1×you may be zealous after9% · 1×other renderings18% · 2×

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

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

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 12 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
πατριάρχηςa patriarch
Article the
οὐNeg
ἀγάπηlove
ἀγάπηlove
Article the
ἐγώ
ἀδελφόςa brother
αὐτός
ἵναin order that, s
ζηλόωdo earnestly desire12×
what comes after →
Article the
ἸωσήφPropἀγάπηloveπροφητεύωI foretell, prop
δέbut, on the other ha
Article the
γάρfor
σύ
σύ
οὐNeg
ἐν
καλόςbeautiful, good,

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

Concordanceζηλόω · 12× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians Galatians Acts 2 Corinthians James Revelation
Across the New Testament6 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The company it keepswords that stand beside it more often than chance
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 24 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
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Confusion of Tongues 164c. AD 40

τί οὖν ἔτι τὰς τῶν τυράννων τύχας ὡς μακαρίων ζηλοῦτε καὶ θαυμάζετε, δι’ ἃς εὐπετῶς ἕκαστα ἐπεξίασιν, ὧν ἂν ὁ ἐκλελυττηκὼς κἀκτεθηριωμένος τέκῃ νοῦς, καὶ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς δέον ἐπιστένειν, εἴ γε ἀπορία καὶ [ἡ] ἀσθένεια κακοῖς λυσιτελές, ὡς περιουσία καὶ…

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 15.82c. AD 75–95

Ἡρώδης δὲ θερμῶς ἀεὶ καὶ ἐρωτικῶς πρὸς τὴν Μαριάμμην ἔχων εὐθὺς ἐξετετάρακτο καὶ τὴν ζηλοτυπίαν οὐκ ἔφερεν, ἐπικρατούμενος δʼ ἀεὶ τοῦ μὴ προπετές τι ποιῆσαι διὰ τὸν ἔρωτα, συντόνῳ τῷ πάθει καὶ τῷ ζήλῳ παρωξυμμένος ἰδίᾳ τὴν Μαριάμμην ἀνέκρινεν ὑπὲρ…

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD
PSI 1 94AD 101–AD 200

δὲ χάρις ὅτι ἤρεσε καὶ τῷ παιδὶ ἡ πόλις, καὶ προσεδρεύει εἰς τὰ μαθήματα· ζηλοῖ γὰρ τὴν μάθησιν. ἄσπασαι Τερεῦν καὶ τοὺς φιλοῦντάς σε πάντας· ἄσπασαι ἔρρωσ ο Θέτιν

So, brothers of mine, do earnestly desire <the> to prophesy, and <the> to speak not do forbid in tongues.
τὸho <the> G3588 Article · accusative · singular · neuter
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-ASN — Article · accusative · singular · neuter
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-ASN Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Neuter

English usagewhat the translators’ English meant
Webster's Dictionary (1828), Webster's Unabridged (1913), Webster's Dictionary (1806)

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

1. This adjective is used as a definitive, that is, before nouns which are specific or understood; or it is used to limit their signification to a specific thing or things, or to describe them; as the laws of the twelve tables. the independent tribunals of justice in our country, are the security or private rights, and the best bulwark against arbitrary power. the sun is the source of light and heat.

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

2. the is also used rhetorically before a noun in the singular number, to denote a species by way of distinction; a single thing representing the whole. the fig tree putteth forth her green figs; the almond tree shall flourish; the grasshopper shall be a burden.

3. In poetry, the sometimes loses the final vowel before another vowel.

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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>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

So, brothers of mine, do earnestly desire <the> to prophesy, and <the> to speak not do forbid in tongues.
προφητεύειν,prophēteuō to prophesy, G4395 Verb · present · active · infinitive
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
speak under inspiration from God, tell forth His message
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+]

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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-PAN — Verb · present · active · infinitive
present active infinitive — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAN Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: iNfinitive TVM equivalent: G5721

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
προφητεύωto prophesy,28×
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,

So, brothers of mine, do earnestly desire <the> to prophesy, and <the> to speak not do forbid in tongues.
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

So, brothers of mine, do earnestly desire <the> to prophesy, and <the> to speak not do forbid in tongues.
τὸho <the> G3588 Article · accusative · singular · neuter
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-ASN — Article · accusative · singular · neuter
accusative — the one it is done to — the object.
Agrees with anything else marked singular neuter.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

T-ASN Part of Speech: definite arTicle Case: Accusative Number: Singular Gender: Neuter

English usagewhat the translators’ English meant
Webster's Dictionary (1828), Webster's Unabridged (1913), Webster's Dictionary (1806)

THE, an adjective or definitive adjective.

1. This adjective is used as a definitive, that is, before nouns which are specific or understood; or it is used to limit their signification to a specific thing or things, or to describe them; as the laws of the twelve tables. the independent tribunals of justice in our country, are the security or private rights, and the best bulwark against arbitrary power. the sun is the source of light and heat.

This he calls the preaching of the cross.

2. the is also used rhetorically before a noun in the singular number, to denote a species by way of distinction; a single thing representing the whole. the fig tree putteth forth her green figs; the almond tree shall flourish; the grasshopper shall be a burden.

3. In poetry, the sometimes loses the final vowel before another vowel.

Th' adorning thee with so much art,

Is but a barb'rous skill.

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>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

So, brothers of mine, do earnestly desire <the> to prophesy, and <the> to speak not do forbid in tongues.
λαλεῖνlaleō to speak G2980 Verb · present · active · infinitive
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.
Amplified meaning
to utter words, talk
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-PAN — Verb · present · active · infinitive
present active infinitive — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAN Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: iNfinitive TVM equivalent: G5721

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
λαλέωto speak298×
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.

So, brothers of mine, do earnestly desire <the> to prophesy, and <the> to speak not do forbid in tongues.
μὴ not G3361 Particle · negative
1,060× 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
Not is a word used to show that something is not true or is not happening, like in phrases that say 'lest' or 'God forbid', as seen in various parts of the New Testament.
Amplified meaning
lest, God forbid
Tyndale gloss
not
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

μή () is a Greek negative particle used to express subjective negation, often in conditional or hypothetical contexts. It contrasts with οὐ (ou), which indicates absolute denial. μή can function as an adverb meaning 'not' or as a conjunction meaning 'lest.' It appears in various grammatical constructions, including prohibitions and deliberative questions, and is referenced in verses like Matthew 5:29 and John 3:18.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

μή,

subjective negative particle,

used where the negation depends on a condition or hypothesis, expressed or understood, as distinct from οὐ, which denies absolutely. μή is used where one thinks a thing is not, as distinct from an absolute negation. As a general rule, οὐ negatives the indic., μή the other moods, incl, ptcp. [In LXX for אֵין, אַיִן, אַל.]

As a neg. adv., not;

with ref. to thought or opinion: Jo 3:18, Tit 1:11, II Pe 1:9.

In delib. questions, c. subjc. (M, Pr., 185): Mk 12:14, Ro 3:8.

In conditional and final sentences, after εἰ, ἐάν, ἄν, ἵνα, ὅπως: Mt 10:14,

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

μή, Sept. for Ox, |X, PN, ἃ particle of negation, which differs from οὐ (which is always an adverb) in that ov denies the thing itself (orto speak technically, denies simply, absolutely, categorically, directly, objectively). but μή denies the thought of the thing, or the thing according to the judgment, opinion, will, purpose, preference, of some one (hence, as we say technically, indirectly, hypothetically, subjectively). This distinction holds also of the compounds οὐδείς, μηδείς, οὐκέτι, μηκέτι, ete. But pris either an ad verb of negation, not (Lat. non, ne); or aconjunction, that... not, lest, (Lat. ne); or an interrogative particle, (Lat. num) [i. e. (generally) implying aneg. ans.; in indir. quest. whether nol (suggesting apprehension) ]. Cf. Herm. ad Vig. § 267 p- 802 sqq-; Matthiae § 608; Bitm. Gram. § 148 (cf. Alex. Bttm. N. T. Gr. p. 344 (296) sqq.); Kiihner ii. §§ 512 sq. p.…

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

μή Grenf II. 384 (mid. 1.8.6.) καλῶς οὖ]ν ποιήσις μὴ ἀμελήσ[α]ς α[. . ἀγο]ράσαι. .. , P Oxy I. 3815 (a.p. 49--50) (= Selections, p. 53) τοῦ δὲ Σύρου μὴ βουλομένου ἐνμεῖναι τοῖς κεκριμένοις, “45 Syrus does not wish to abide by what has been decided,” 2d. II. 2755 (A.D. 66) (= Selections, p. 58) ἔγραψα ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ μὴ ἰδότος γράμματα, “1 wrote for him seeing that he was unlettered,” BGU I. 22° (a.p. 114) (= Selections, p. 74) TappovOios . . . τὸ παρὸν μὴ ἔχουσα κύριον, ‘ Tarmuthis at present without a guardian,’ and P Grenf II. 779 (iii/iv A.D.) (= Sedections, p. 120) θαυμάζω πάνυ [ὅτι] ἀλόγως ἀπέστητε μὴ ἄραντες [τὸ σ]ῶμα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ὑμῶν, “1 wonder exceedingly that you went off so unreasonably, without taking the body of your brother”; cf. P Tor 1. 1¥8-4 (νον 116) εἰ δὲ kal τις θείηι τὸ μὴ ὄν (cf. 1 Cor 1°8)—acc. and inf. follow, P Ryl II. 144°? (Α.Ὁ. 38) ἐπαγαγεῖν αἰτίας τοῦ μὴ ὄντος, ‘‘…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

μή (mē) — not.

μή,

Elean μά [ᾱ] [Refs 6th c.BC+]. (Cf. Sanskrit mā´, Armenian mi [from I.-[Refs 5th c.BC+] mē´], negative used in prohibitions):—not, the negative of the will and thought, as οὐ of fact and statement; μή rejects, οὐ denies; μή is relative, οὐ absolute; μή subjective, οὐ objective. (A few examples of μηδέ and μηδείς have been included.)

__A in INDEPENDENT sentences, used in expressions of will or wish, command, entreaty, warning,

__A.1 with present imperative, 2 person, μή μ᾽ ἐρέθιζε [Refs 8th c.BC+]: rarely with aorist imperative, μὴ.. ἔνθεο τιμῇ [Refs 8th c.BC+]; in Attic dialect, μὴ ψεῦσον, ὦ Ζεῦ, τῆς.. ἐλπίδος [Refs 8th c.BC+]perfect imperative [Refs 8th c.BC+] person when perfect = present, μὴ κεκράγετε [Refs 5th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

μή

me

a primary particle of qualified negation (whereas 3756 expresses an

absolute denial); (adverb) not, (conjunction) lest; also (as an

interrogative implying a negative answer (whereas 3756 expects an

affirmative one)) whether:--any but (that), X forbear, + God forbid, +

lack, lest, neither, never, no (X wise in), none, nor, (can-)not,

nothing, that not, un(-taken), without. Often used in compounds in

substantially the same relations. See also 3362, 3363, 3364, 3372,

3373, 3375, 3378.

see GREEK for 3756

see GREEK for 3362

see GREEK for 3363

see GREEK for 3364

see GREEK for 3372

see GREEK for 3373

see GREEK for 3375

see GREEK for 3378

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

μή

Neg.prt.

not, lest

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

μή mē 1x

a negative particle, can function as a conj, not, for the particulars of its usage, especially as distinguished from that of οὐ, consult a grammar; as a conj., lest, that not, Mt. 5:29, 30; 18:10; 24:6; Mk. 13:36; μή, or μήτι, or μήποτε, when prefixed to an interrogative clause, it expresses an intimation either of the reality of the matters respecting which the question is asked, Mt. 12:23; or the contrary, Jn. 4:12

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Particle-N — Particle · negative
particle — a small word colouring the clause; it does not decline.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

PRT-N PaRTicle, disjunctive particle Negative

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
71%not
not71% · 772×except9% · 95×unless5% · 58×surely not4% · 41×lest3% · 32×otherwise2% · 23×other renderings4% · 48×other renderings1% · 16×

1,085 occurrences in the New Testament, rendered 23 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
adverbial84%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 1,060 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
οὐNeg
καίand, even, also,σύἐγώ
ἵναin order that, so th
αὐτόςσύπροσεύχομαιI pray, pray for
καίand, even, also, nam
ἐγώαὐτόςεἰμίI am, exist
εἰCond
αὐτόςυἱόςa son, descendenκαίand, even, also,
Article the
καίand, even, also,εἰςδιά
μήnot1060×
what comes after →
Article the
πατήρfather, Father, υἱόςa son, descendenσημεῖονa sign, miracle,
ἔχωI have, hold, posses
καίand, even, also,ποιμήνa shepherdβάθοςdepth, a depth,
εἰμίI am, exist
δίδωμιI offer, giveἐνμετά
τὶς
σύὑστερέωI am lacking, faγεννάωI beget, bring f
φοβέωI fear, am terrified
ἀπόArticle theμόνοςalone, but, only

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

Concordanceμή · 1,060× in the New Testament
Luke Matthew John 1 Corinthians Romans Mark Acts Revelation 2 Corinthians Hebrews 1 Timothy Galatians

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

Across the New Testament27 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 1,321 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.

So, brothers of mine, do earnestly desire <the> to prophesy, and <the> to speak not do forbid in tongues.
κωλύετεkōluō do forbid G2967 Verb · present · active · imperative · second person · plural
23× in the NT scale is logarithmic — ὁ, the commonest word, appears 19,867×
about as common in 1 Corinthians as anywhere else in the New Testament
In plain English
Meaning
To prevent or stop something from happening, often used to describe hindering or forbidding someone. In the Bible, it appears in Matthew 19:14 and Acts 8:36. It means to restrain or withhold something.
Amplified meaning
prevent, stop
Tyndale gloss
to prevent
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

The Greek word κωλύω (*kōluō*) means to hinder or prevent. It can be used with various constructions, including direct objects and infinitives, to indicate forbidding or restraining actions. The New Testament employs this term in contexts where individuals or actions are being obstructed, such as in Matthew 19:14 and Acts 8:36. The lexicons do not present significant disagreements about its meaning or usage.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

κωλύω

(< κόλος),

[in LXX for כּלא, מנע, etc.;]

to hinder, restrain, forbid, withhold: c. acc. et inf., Mt 19:14, Lk 23:2, Ac 8:36 16:6 24:23, I Th 2:16, He 7:23; inf. om., Mk 9:38, 39 10:14, Lk 9:49, 50 11:52 18:16, Ac 11:17, Ro 1:13, III Jo 10; acc. om., I Ti 4:3; c. acc. pers. et gen. rei, Ac 27:43; c. acc. rei, I Co 14:39, II Pe 2:16; id.…

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

κωλύω; impf. 1 pers. plur. ἐκωλύομεν (Mk. ix. 38 T Tr txt. WH); 1 aor. ἐκώλυσα; Pass., pres. κωλύομαι; 1 aor. ἐκωλύθην ; (fr. κόλος, lopped, clipped; prop. to cut off, cut short, hence) to hinaer, prevent, forbid ; [fr. Pind. down]; Sept. for 873, twice (viz. 1 5. χχν. 26; 2 S. xiii. 13) for yy: τινά foll. by an inf. [W. § 65,2 β. ; cf. B. § 148, 13], Mt. xix. 14; Lk. xxiii.2; Acts xvi. 6; xxiv. 23; 1 Th. ii. 16; Heb. vii. 23; τί κωλύει pe βαπτισθῆναι ; what doth hinder me from being (to be) baptized? Acts viii. 36; the inf. is omitted, as being evident from what has gone before, Mk. ix. 38 sq.; x. 14; Lk. ix. 49; xi. 52; xviii. 16; Acts xi. 17; Ro. i. 13; 3 Jn. 10; αὐτόν is wanting, because it has preceded, Lk. ix. 50; the ace. is wanting, because easily supplied from the context, 1 Tim. iv. 3; as often in Grk. writ., constr. w. τινά twos, to keep one from a thing, Acts xxvii. 43; with…

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

κωλύω. P Eleph τοῦ (B.c. 223-2) ἀπόστειλ[ο]ν . ., ὅπως μὴ διὰ ταῦτα κωλυώμεθα.. . . τοὺς [λ]όγους εἰς τὴν πόλιν [κα]ταπέμψαι, P Magd 2° (B.C 221) ἐμοῦ δὲ βουλομένης ἐπισυντελέσαι τὸν τοῖχον, . . . Πόωρις κεκώλυκεν οἰκοδομεῖν, P Petr IT. 11(1)? (1}8.6.} (= Se/ections, p. 7) μηθέν σε τῶν ἔργων κωλύει, P Oxy III. 471% (ii/a.D.) τί οὖν ὃ κατηφὴς σὺ καὶ ὑπεραύ[σ]τηρος οὐκ ἐκώλνες ; “‘ why then did not you with your modesty and extreme austerity stop him?” (Εα4.), | 2. VIII. 1101! (4.10. 367-70) ὅτι δὲ κεκώλυται παρὰ Tots γόμοις τοῦτο, δῆλον, ‘that this is forbidden by the law is clear’’ (Ed.). A good ex. of the conative participle is afforded by Pretsigke 4284® (A.D. 207) ᾿Ορσεύς tis ἀνὴρ βίαιος kal αὐθάδης τυ[γχάν]ων ἐπῆλθεν ἡμῖν... κ[ω]λύων τὴν κατεργασίαν: cf. Chrest. I. 3547%. For κώλυμα see P Hib I. 907° (B.c. 222) ἐὰμ μή [te βα]σιλικὸν κώλυμα ylévntat, ‘‘if there be no hindrance on the…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

κωλύω (kōluō) — to prevent.

κωλύω,

future -ύσω [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist ἐκώλῡσα [Refs 5th c.BC+]; perfect κεκώλῡκα [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—passive, future κωλυθήσομαι [LXX+2nd c.AD+]: also in middle form -ύσομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]: aorist ἐκωλύθην [Refs]perfect κεκώλῡμαι[Refs]. [ῡ always before a consonant: common before a vowel, κωλῡόμεσθα [Refs 7th c.BC+].]:—hinder, prevent:—Constr.:

1. with accusative et infinitive, κ. ἐκρέειν τὸν Νεῖλον [Refs 5th c.BC+]; κώλυεν [μιν] μεῖναι Pi.[same place]; τί δῆτα καὶ σὲ κωλύει <λαβεῖν> κέρδο; [Refs 5th c.BC+]:— passive, χρημάτων σπάνει [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τοῦ ὕδατος πιεῖν from drinking the water, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

κωλύω

koluo

from the base of 2849; to estop, i.e. prevent (by word or

act):--forbid, hinder, keep from, let, not suffer, withstand.

see GREEK for 2849

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

κωλύω

v.

I prevent, hinder

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

κωλύω kōlyō 23x

to hinder, restrain, prevent, Mt. 19:14; Acts 8:36; Rom. 1:13

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

κωλύω to let, hinder, check, prevent:

c. acc. et inf. to hinder or prevent one from doing, Hdt., Soph., etc.; with a negative added, κ. τινὰ μὴ θανεῖν Eur., etc.:—Pass. to be hindered, τοῦ ὕδατος πιεῖν from drinking of the water, Plat.; κωλυόμεσθα μὴ μαθεῖν Eur.; rarely with part., μὴ κωλύωνται περαιούμενοι Thuc.

c. gen. rei, κ. τινά τινος to let or hinder one from a thing, Xen.; so, κ. τινα ἀπό τινος id. Xen.

c. acc. rei, to hinder, prevent, impede, Eur., Thuc.:—Pass., μηδὲ δαπάνηι κεκωλύσθω and let there be no hindrance by reason of expense, Thuc.

absol., ὁ κωλύσων one to hinder, Soph.; τὸ κωλῦον a hindrance, Xen.

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Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Verb-PAM-2P — Verb · present · active · imperative · second person · plural
present active imperative — an action in progress.
Robinson's Morphological Analysis Codes

V-PAM-2P Part of Speech: Verb Tense: Present Voice: Active Mood: iMperative Person: second Number: Plural

Bible dictionarieson the English sense
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

for-bid' (kala; koluo):

Occurs very seldom in the Old Testament except as the rendering of chalilah (see below); it is once the translation of kala', "to restrain" (Nu 11:28, "Joshua .... said My lord Moses forbid them"); twice of tsawah, "to command" (De 2:37, "and wheresoever Yahweh our God forbade us"; De 4:23, "Yahweh thy God hath forbidden thee," literally, "commanded"); once of lo', "not," the Revised Version (British and American) "commanded not to be done" (Le 5:17). In the phrases, "Yahweh forbid" (1Sa 24:6; 26:11; 1Ki 21:13), "God forbid" (

Across the New Testament11 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 9 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

Outside the New Testamentthe same word in the Greek of its own century
Josephus Philo of Alexandria
Philo of AlexandriaOn the Confusion of Tongues 158c. AD 40

11,8), οὐ δήπου τελειώσαντες, ἀλλὰ τελεσιουργῆσαι κωλυθέντες διὰ τὴν ἐπιγενομένην σύγχυσιν.

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 3.236c. AD 75–95

κωλύει δὲ ὁ νόμος θύειν ζῷον αὐθημερὸν μετὰ τοῦ γεγεννηκότος ἐπὶ ταὐτό, οὐδʼ ἄλλως δὲ πρὶν ὀγδόην ἡμέραν γεννηθέντι διελθεῖν.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
2nd c. AD 1st c. AD 3rd c. AD 3rd c. BC 4th c. AD
P.Coll.Youtie 1 19Ptolemais Euergetis (Arsinoites)AD 44

καὶ μηδένα ἐμποιούμενον αὐτοῦ μηδὲ μέρους μηδὲ τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐσομένων καὶ μηδένα κωλύοντα Εὐδαιμονίδα μηδὲ τοὺς παρʼ αὐτῆς κυριεύοντας τῶν παρακεχωρημένων ἀρουρῶν καὶ τοῖς ποτισμοῖς καὶ ταῖς

P.Amst. 1 35Soknopaiu Nesos ? (ArsinoitesAD 55–AD 68

Νέρωνος Παῦνι θ … Παῦνι ϛ … Σοκνοπαίου ἱερεῖς φασι νῦν κωλύεσθαι … ν ὑπὸ τελωνῶν τινων τὴν συνήθειαν παρὰ … εἰς τὴν τῶν ἁγνειῶν

P.Lond. 2 p. 178-180 no. 154Karanis (Arsinoites)AD 68

ἀρχείου καὶ μηδὲν ἐμποιούμενον αὐτῆς μηδὲ μέρους μηδὲ τῶν ἐξ αὐτῶν τρόπῳ μηδένι μηδὲ κωλύοντα Φιλήμονα μηδὲ τοὺς παρʼ αὐτοῦ κυριεύοντας αὐτῶν καὶ εἰσοδεύοντας καὶ ἐξοδεύοντας καὶ κατασπῶντας καὶ

So, brothers of mine, do earnestly desire <the> to prophesy, and <the> to speak not do forbid in tongues.
γλώσσαις. in tongues. G1100
50× 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 tongue refers to the organ of speech, as seen in Mark 7:33 and 35. It can also mean a language, such as in Acts 2:11. The Bible talks about the tongue as a powerful tool for communication and expression.
Amplified meaning
languages, special languages, with other languages
Tyndale gloss
tongue
Greek lexiconskeyed to Strong's numbers
Layman’s summary of all Lexicon entries.generated

γλῶσσα refers primarily to the tongue as the organ of speech, but it also denotes language and, in some contexts, a group of people defined by their language. The New Testament uses it in various ways, including references to speaking in tongues (Acts 2:11) and the metaphorical use of the tongue in discussions of speech and communication. Notably, it appears in contexts related to spiritual gifts and the expression of praise.

Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the NT

γλῶσσα, -ης, ἡ,

[in LXX chiefly for לָשׁוֹן ;]

the tongue, as the organ of speech: Mk 7:33, 35 Lk 1:64 16:24, Ac 2:26 (LXX), Ro 3:13 (LXX) 14:11 (LXX), I Co 14:9, Phl 2:11, Ja 1:26 3:5, 6, 8, I Pe 3:10 (LXX), I Jo 3:18, Re 16:10; of a tongue-like object, Ac 2:3.

a tongue, language: Ac 2:11; joined with φυλή, λαός, ἔθνος, freq. in pl., Re 5:9

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

γλῶσσα, -ns, ἡ, [fr. Hom. down], the tongue ; 1. the tongue, a member of the body, the organ of speech: Mk. vii. 88, 35; Lk. i. 64; xvi. 24; 1 Co. xiv. 9; Jas. i. 26; iii. 5, 6, 8; 1 Pet. iii 10; 1 Jn. iii. 18; [Rev. xvi. 10]. By a poetical and rhetorical usage, esp. Hebraistic, that member of the body which is chiefly engaged in some act has ascribed to it what belongs to the man; the tongue is so used in Acts ii. 26 (Πγαλλιάσατο ἡ γλῶσσά pov); Ro. iii. 13; xiv.11; Phil.ii. 11 (the tongue of every man) ; of the little tongue-like flames symbolizing the gift of foreign tongues, in Acts ii. 3. 2. a tongue, i. 6. the language used by a particular people in distinction from that of other nations: Acts ii. 11; hencein later Jewish usage (Is. Ixvi. 18; Dan. iii. 4; v. 19 Theod.; vi. 25; vii. 14 Theod.; Jud. iii. 8) joined with φυλή, λαός, ἔθνος, it serves to designate people of various…

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

γλῶσσα. Most of the occurrences of this noun, which retains both form and meaning in MGr, need no particular comment. P Oxy I. 138 (A.D. 183 or 215) saefe, the monthly meat bill of a cook, tells us that ‘*‘tongue”’ was a favourite article of diet ; so also the numerous passages in inscrr. where in the ritual of sacrifice the victim’s tongue is mentioned as a special perquisite. The word figures prominently in magical documents. P Lond 1245} (iv/v A.p.) (=I. p. 122) βάλλε εἰς αὐτὸ γλῶσσαν βαθράκου shows whe frog’s tongue playing the same part as ‘‘ tongue of dog” in the witches’ spell in Macbeth: so also τό. 46°84 (iv/a.p.) (=I. p. 74). There are niany curses which ‘*‘ hind” the tongue of their object : thus Syd/ $08 (Corcyra) Σιλανοῦ τὸν νόον kal τὰν γλῶσσαν τουτεῖ KaTaypadw—Silanus himself and three witnesses who enabled him to win a suit are cursed with this leaden tablet in mind and…

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Liddell-Scott-Jones, full edition

γλῶσσα (glōssa) — tongue.

γλῶσσα,

Ionic dialect γλάσσα, [Refs 3rd c.BC+], Attic dialect γλῶττα, ης, ἡ, tongue, [Refs 8th c.BC+]

__b γ. λάρυγγος, ={γλωττίς}, larynx, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]

2. tongue, as the organ of speech, γλώσσης χάριν through love of talking, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; γλώσσῃ δεινός, θρασύς, [Refs 5th c.BC+] by frankness of speech, [Refs 6th c.BC+], of fraud opposed to violence, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; also, by word of mouth, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τὰ γλώσσης ἄπο, i.e. our words, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἀπὸ γ. φράσω by heart, opposed to γράμμασιν, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; οὐκ ἀπὸ γλώσσης not from mere word of mouth, but after full argument, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; μὴ διὰ γλώσσης without using the tongue, [Refs 5th c.BC+] —phrases: πᾶσαν γλῶτταν βασάνιζε try every art of tongue, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; πᾶσαν ἱέναι γλῶσσαν let loose one's whole tongue, speak…

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Strong's Greek Dictionary

γλῶσσα

glossa

of uncertain affinity; the tongue; by implication, a language

(specially, one naturally unacquired):--tongue.

Dodson Greek-English Lexicon

γλῶσσα, ης, ἡ

n.f.

the tongue, a language, nation

Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary

γλῶσσα glōssa 50x

the tongue, Mk. 7:33, 35, et al.; meton. speech, talk, 1 Jn. 3:18; a tongue, language, Acts 2:11; 1 Cor. 13:1, et al.; meton. a language not proper to a speaker, a gift or faculty of such language, Mk. 16:17; 1 Cor. 14:13, 14, 26, et al.; from Hebrew, a nation, as defined by its language, Rev. 5:9, et al.; lit. a tongue-shaped flail, Acts 2:3

Intermediate Liddell-Scott-Jones

γλῶσσα deriv. uncertain the tongue, Hom., etc.

the tongue, as the organ of speech, γλώσσης χάριν through love of talking, Hes., Aesch.; ἀπὸ γλώσσης by word of mouth, Hdt., Thuc.; οὐκ ἀπὸ γλώσσης not by word of mouth, not from mere hearsay, Aesch.; so, οὐ κατὰ γλῶσσαν Soph.; ἱέναι γλῶσσαν to let loose one's tongue, speak without restraint, id. Soph.; pl., κερτομίοις γλώσσαις, i.e. with blasphemies, id. Soph.:—for βοῦς ἐπὶ γλώσσηι, v. βοῦς.

a tongue, language, Hom., Hdt., etc.

the tongue or mouthpiece of a pipe, Aeschin.

Morphologythe parsing behind the code
Berean parsing
Bible dictionarieson the English sense
Thompson Chain Reference topics

(1) Confusion of

Ge 11:9

(2) Gift of

Mr 16:17; Ac 2:4; 10:46; 19:6; 1Co 12:10; 14:5

Into Englishhow translators actually render it
50%tongues
tongues50% · 25×tongue40% · 20×a tongue10% · 5×

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

What it does in the sentencefrom the Nestle 1904 treebank
adverbial50%subject30%object18%predicate2%

Parsing tells you the form; the treebank tells you the job. Counted over all 50 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,ἅπτωI touch or handlδεσμόςa bond, chain
λαλέωI speak, say
Article theαὐτόςγάρfor
καίand, even, also, nam
φυλήa tribe, raceλαόςa people, the crἔθνοςa race, people,
πᾶςall, the whole, ever
καίand, even, also,μήNeg
γένοςoffspring, family, r
ἕτεροςanother, differeκυβέρνησιςgoverning, gover
γλῶσσαin tongues.50×
what comes after →
καίand, even, also, nam
λαόςa people, the crἔθνοςa race, people, μεγαλύνωI enlarge, magni
αὐτός
καίand, even, also,δολιόωI act deceitfullἐκ
λαλέωI speak, say
καινόςfresh, newμήNegτίςIrg
Article the
μεγαλεῖοςgrand, magnificeἄνθρωποςa man, one of thπνεῦμαwind, breath, sp
ἐγώ
ὅτιthat, since, becἔτιstill, yet, even

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

Concordanceγλῶσσα · 50× in the New Testament
1 Corinthians Revelation Acts James Mark Luke Romans 1 John 1 Peter Philippians
Across the New Testament10 of 27 books
MtMkLkJnAcRo1Co2CoGaEphPhpCol1Th2Th1Ti2TiTitPhmHebJas1Pe2Pe1Jn2Jn3JnJudRev
The Hebrew behind itwhat the Septuagint translators were rendering

Counted over the 69 Old Testament verses where this Greek word stands: which Hebrew word keeps standing there too. A correspondence of verses rather than a word-by-word alignment, so read the percentage as strength of evidence, not as a claim about any single verse.

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

ἑπτὰ δὲ νοῦν καὶ γλῶσσαν ἐν ἑβδομάσιν μέγ’ ἄριστος ὀκτώ τ’, ἀμφοτέρων τέσσαρα καὶ δέκ’ ἔτη·

JosephusAntiquities of the Jews 2.108c. AD 75–95

ταῦτα δʼ ἔλεγον πρὸς ἀλλήλους οὐχ ἡγούμενοι τὸν Ἰώσηπον γλώσσης τῆς αὐτῶν συνιέναι.

Clement of RomeFirst Clement 15.4c. AD 96

καὶ πάλιν λέγει: Ἠγάπησαν αὐτὸν τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν καὶ τῇ γλώσσῃ αὐτῶν ἐψεύσαντο αὐτόν, ἡ δὲ καρδία αὐτῶν οὐκ εὐθεῖα μετ̓ αὐτοῦ, οὐδὲ ἐπιστώθησαν ἐν τῇ διαθήκῃ αὐτοῦ.

In the everyday Greek (the secular world, not the church)letters, leases, receipts — nobody writing one is trying to sound biblical
6th c. AD 3rd c. AD 3rd c. BC 4th c. AD
P.Petr. Cahier 69Arsinoites261 BC–237 BC

Μενεμάχωι ὅτι οὐκ ἐγδείρας ἀποστέλλει πρὸς σὲ αὐτούς. τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ ὅσα κατὰ τὴν γλῶσσαν παρακαλεῖν ἐκέλευέν σε κ … εἶναι πρὸς τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς παρὰ σοὶ εὐτονώτερον

P.Oxy. 1 108OxyrhynchosAD 215

rColumn 1 Θὼθ δ κδ ἔτους, κρέως μναῖ δ, ἄκρα β, γλῶσσα μία, ῥυγχίον α. ϛ, γλωσσοπωγώνιον. ια, κρέως μναῖ β, γλῶσσα μία, νεφρία β. ιβ,

SB 5 7872AD 306–AD 337

θῆναι … … ου γλωσση … … διὰ20 στόματος … … ἐν καμίνῳ … … ἐγκώμια … ι

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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